Soft Gingerbread Cookies
December 10, 2017
2 Comments
Soft gingerbread cookies packed with ginger, cinnamon, and molasses, and coated with sugar to make them sparkle!
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Soft and spicy cookies
Rich spices make these soft gingerbread cookies one of my favorite winter treats. The ginger, cinnamon, and molasses balance against brown sugar without overpowering, and the soft texture keeps them from getting dry. These are cookies you don’t need to dunk in milk.
Melt the butter
I find that using melted butter (instead of softened) adds a nice chewiness to the cookies. Plus, I’m much better at melting butter (rather than softening it), as my microwave has a split-second transition from cold and hard to oh-no-it’s-completely-liquid! I don’t leave butter on the counter (mostly because I forget to put it out), so using melted butter also means I’m always a little bit closer to having fresh-baked cookies 🙂
Refrigerate the soft gingerbread cookie dough
These cookies are simple and easy to make. One tip I do find helpful though, is to chill the dough before rolling into cookies. Molasses and melted butter make the dough very sticky, so firming it up in fridge makes rolling them into balls much, much easier. It also makes the cookies stay thicker in the oven!
A fun little addition is to roll the dough balls in granulated sugar before baking. It gives these soft gingerbread cookies a wonderful, festive sparkle!
Soft gingerbread cookie icing
Although I decided not to frost them, the spices in these soft gingerbread cookies lend themselves to interesting and wonderful icings — think cream cheese, citrus zest, and buttercream. I like using orange-ginger cream cheese frosting from my Gingerbread Cupcakes, vanilla bean buttercream, or this lovely cinnamon buttercream from sugar & soul.
Enjoy!
Soft Gingerbread Cookies
Ingredients
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3/4 cup butter
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1/2 cup packed brown sugar
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1/2 cup molasses
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2 teaspoons ground ginger
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2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
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1/2 teaspoon ground allspice or ground clove
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1/4 teaspoon salt
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1 egg
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2 1/2 cups flour
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1 teaspoon baking powder
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1/2 teaspoon baking soda
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granulated sugar for rolling optional
Instructions
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Melt butter in a sauce pan over low heat. Stir in brown sugar, molasses, spices, and salt until fully blended together. Remove from heat and transfer to a large mixing bowl. Let sit until cool. Once cooled whisk egg into butter-sugar-spice mixture. Set aside.
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In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and baking soda. Pour flour mixture into butter-sugar-spice mixture. Gently stir until combined. The dough will be very sticky at this point. Refrigerate dough for at least 45 minutes to allow it to firm up.
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Once dough has refrigerated, preheat oven to 350 degrees.
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Roll dough into 2 tablespoon balls. Roll dough balls in sugar to coat (optional). Arrange on a cookie sheet at least 2 inches apart. Bake until just set, about 10-12 minutes. Let cookies sit on cookie sheet for 5 minutes. Enjoy!
Bea
Delicious cookies! Great recipe.
Karen
Thanks Bea! I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe 🙂