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aerial photo of gingerbread cut-out cookies in a christmas tree tin
5 from 2 votes
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Gingerbread Cut-Out Cookies

Tender gingerbread cookies with crisp edges, lightly sweetened with brown sugar and completely loaded with spicy gingerbread flavors. Cut into your favorite holiday shapes and decorate with my go-to easy royal icing.
Prep Time15 minutes
Bake Time9 minutes
Chilling Time2 hours
Total Time2 hours 24 minutes
Recipe Author Lynn April
Servings: 36 2" cookies

Ingredients

COOKIES

  • 2 and ½ to 3 cups (300-360g) all-purpose flour be sure to measure properly
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ¼ teaspoon baking powder
  • 6 Tablespoons (85g) unsalted butter softened to room temperature
  • 2 Tablespoons (24g) vegetable shortening
  • ¼ cup (50g) granulated sugar
  • ¼ cup (50g) firmly packed brown sugar light or dark is fine
  • 1 and ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon ground ginger
  • ½ teaspoon ground cloves
  • ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • ⅛ teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 large egg room temperature1
  • ½ cup + 2 Tablespoons (90mL) unsulphered molasses
  • ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

ROYAL ICING

  • 2 Tablespoons (30mL) warm water
  • ½ Tablespoon (10g) light corn syrup
  • ⅛ teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 and ½ cups (180g) powdered sugar

Instructions

COOKIES

  • In a medium bowl, sift together flour (beginning with 2 and ½ cups), baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
  • In a large bowl with a hand mixer or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter, shortening, and both sugars on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula. Add spices and beat again on medium speed for 1 minute.
  • Add the egg and beat well, scraping down sides of bowl as necessary. Add molasses and vanilla extract and beat on medium speed until everything is incorporated, scraping down sides and bottom of bowl to ensure all ingredients are combined.
  • Add the flour mixture slowly and mix on low speed. Add additional flour in increments of 1 Tablespoon. You may need more than 3 cups, but stop after 3 cups plus 2 Tablespoons. When dough is thoroughly mixed, separate into equal halves, pat into 1" discs, wrap with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours (or up to 2 days).
  • When you are ready to bake your cookies, preheat oven to 375ºF (191ºC). Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mat. Set aside.
  • Lightly dust a flat surface with powdered sugar and roll dough to ¼" thickness (⅛" thickness if you prefer crunchy cookies). Use cookie cutters to cut out desired shapes and place on baking sheet. These cookies will not spread much, but do not crowd cookies. If your kitchen is particularly warm or you find that your cookies are spreading too much or losing shape, place baking sheet in refrigerator for 10 minutes or freezer for 5 minutes before baking.
  • Bake cookies for 9 minutes (3" cookies), 7 minutes (2" cookies) or 6 minutes (1" cookies). If your cookies start to turn dark brown, they're overdone. Add 2 minutes to baking time for crunchier cookies (⅛" cookies can follow listed baking times). It's best to run a "test batch" of 1 or 2 cookies to find the baking time that works best for you and your oven. Allow cookies to rest on baking sheet for 1 minute before transferring to wire rack to cool completely.
  • Once cookies are completely cool, decorate as desired. Cookies will stay fresh in an airtight container at room temperature up to 1 week. Cookies can be frozen up to 2 months.

ROYAL ICING

  • When you're ready to decorate2 your cookies, place powdered sugar in a medium bowl and set aside. In a small bowl, combine warm water, light corn syrup, and vanilla. Stir until corn syrup is dissolved.
  • Add sugar water to powdered sugar and stir until completely combined. Mixture will be thick. The consistency you're looking for is a slowly dripping icing that disappears into the bowl within about 12 seconds. Add water by drop if you think it's too thick. If it becomes too thin, add more powdered sugar by the teaspoon. Use immediately. If you need to wait to use your icing, cover tightly, and use within 1 day. You will need to stir it up again and possibly add more water before using.

Video

Notes

  1. Room temperature ingredients: when using room temperature butter, it is recommended you use room temperature eggs to ensure proper incorporation. To bring an egg to room temperature quickly, place in a cup of warm water for about 10 minutes.
  2. Easy royal icing: see my detailed easy royal icing recipe for a video of exactly how to make this icing and what the drizzle test looks like.
Did you make this recipe?Mention @freshaprilflours on Instagram or tag #freshaprilflours!

Nutrition Disclosure

All nutritional values are approximate and provided to the reader as a courtesy. Changing ingredients and/or quantities will alter the estimated nutritional calculations.

Serving: 1cookie | Calories: 83kcal | Carbohydrates: 19g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 3g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 10mg | Sodium: 55mg | Potassium: 84mg | Fiber: 0.3g | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin A: 65IU | Vitamin C: 0.004mg | Calcium: 16mg | Iron: 1mg