Favorite Soft Gingerbread Cookies
Nothing brings the spirit of the season quite like the scent of spiced gingerbread cookies baking in the kitchen. These puffy cookies are a perfect gift to share with neighbors, teachers, friends or simply to bake for your own family to decorate together!
Ingredients
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/3 cup Crisco shortening
- 12 oz full flavor molasses I like Brer Rabbit brand
- 2/3 cup water
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp ground allspice
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground cloves
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 7 cups all purpose flour
Gingerbread Decorating Glaze
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 3 Tablespoons milk
- 1/2 teaspoon orange extract Lemon or almond are also delicious!
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a stand mixer blend shortening and brown sugar. Pour in 12 oz bottle of molasses (see note). Add water, soda, spices and salt. Slowly add flour, one cup at a time until dough has incorporated it all.Spread 1/2 the dough on a floured counter. It will be sticky so use flour to cover counter, top of dough and even a little on your rolling pin. Roll to 1/4" thick. Use cutters to cut your favorite shapes. Use other half of dough and incorporate scraps. If the dough becomes to dry, simply wet your hands 2-3 times while working the dough to re-moisten it. Cut shapes and place on pan.Bake at 350 degrees F for 10-11 minutes. Cookies should be puffy and soft! Let them set on the sheet for a few minutes before you transfer them to a cooling sheet.Once cool, frost as desired. FOR GLAZE FROSTING:Mix together milk, powdered sugar and extract. Glaze should be thick enough that it doesn't run off of the cookies but thin enough that you can pull the spatula up and make a ribbon that doesn't break. If needed, just add 1/8-1/4 teaspoon water drops to thin slightly. The glaze should be easy to apply to cookies by using piping bags and cutting a small corner off the tip, or just using a gallon zip lock bag and cutting off a small corner. I typically just make one batch but if my kids want to decorate I make them each their own batch. I suggest adding gel food coloring to color!
Notes
One simple trick I like to use for this recipe is after I pour the molasses into the mixer, I add the 2/3 cup of water into the empty molasses bottle, replace the lid and shake it. I then pour that into the mixer. This just helps ensure I get every bit of the molasses out of the bottle that I want.