There’s no better way to dive into the holiday season than with a fresh batch of traditional gingerbread cookies served with a cold glass of milk. And these classic holiday cookies serve as the perfect edible gift and decorating them is a perfect holiday activity.
So basically, traditional gingerbread cookies are perfect in every way. And this recipe is perfectly easy, even if your cookies look more “nailed it” than award-winning.
Makes:
3 dozen cookies
Recipe: Traditional Gingerbread Cookies
You’ll Need
- ¼ cup margarine or butter, softened
- ½ cup packed brown sugar
- ¾ cup dark molasses
- ⅓ cup cold water
- 3½ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- ½ tsp ground allspice
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- Smooth vanilla frosting (optional)
- 2½ cups confectioners' sugar
- ¼ cup hot water
- 1 teaspoon light corn syrup
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
Prep and Cook
- 1Beat margarine, sugar, molasses, and water with electric mixer or by hand until smooth.
In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, salt, and cloves. - 2Add flour mixture to molasses mixture, stirring by hand just until soft dough forms.
- 3Divide dough in half, shape each piece into a disk, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate 2 hours or overnight.
- 4When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- 5On a lightly floured surface or between 2 pieces of wax paper, roll out one disk about 1/8" thick.
Cut out cookies using 5" gingerbread man cookie cutter. - 6Place 1" apart on baking sheet coated with cooking spray.
Bake 10 to 15 minutes, until set. (Bake a few minutes longer for crispier cookies). - 7Transfer to rack to cool.
Repeat with remaining disk, re-rolling scraps once to get as many cookies as possible.
When cookies are completely cool, decorate with smooth vanilla frosting, if using.
