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You are here: Home / Recipes / Holiday / Christmas / Gingerbread Cookies with Royal Icing

Gingerbread Cookies with Royal Icing

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How to Make Gingerbread Christmas Cookies with Homemade Royal Icing

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    One of the best parts of the holidays is the many different sweets that I get to make for photoshoots and the family. One of the most popular holiday sweets is the gingerbread cookie, which I made for this photoshoot. This recipe is short and simple, and the royal icing is sweet and easy to decorate with, which is one of the most important parts of the gingerbread cookie- the decorations. Both adults and kids love to decorate cookies, so this recipe is perfect for an all-day family gathering.

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    If you’re preparing cookies ahead of time, they are perfect for freezing anytime. The dough can be frozen for up to 3 months, wrapped in saran wrap and tin foil. Likewise, the baked cookies will stay fresh and chewy for 3 months in the freezer, decorated or not. When preparing the dough, I found that this dough is extremely thick and hard to work with, even with a stand mixer. Because of this, I would recommend working with only a single batch at a time and not doubling portions, since you might risk damaging your stand mixer. Since I’m at a much higher altitude, I prefer to bake the gingerbread cookies for 9 minutes. Be careful not to overcook the cookies, since they will be much harder and tougher than they are supposed to be.

    These gingerbread cookies are much softer than most, as some dislike how hard gingerbread cookies are. To ensure this, I always like to stay on the shorter times when baking these cookies, so they aren’t overcooked and hard. After decorating with royal icing, these cookies are perfect to put out for Santa for the kids or to send to friends and family through the mail. My family has a 15-year tradition to bake and decorate gingerbread cookies, which often leaves our kitchen table completely full of decorated cookies.

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    Royal icing recipe

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    Gingerbread Cookies with Royal Icing

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    Arina Habich
    How to Make Gingerbread Christmas Cookies with Homemade Royal Icing
    Print Recipe Pin Recipe
    Prep Time 15 minutes mins
    Cook Time 23 minutes mins
    Course Dessert
    Cuisine American
    Servings 24 Cookies

    Equipment

    • 3-Tier Cooling Rack for Cookies
    • Adjustable rolling pin
    • Christmas cookie cutter
    • Silicone Baking Mat
    • Baking sheet
    • Kitchen mixer
    • Needle Modelling Tool
    • Heat gun
    • Food brushes
    • Food paint palette
    • Royal icing piping bags

    Ingredients
      

    • 3 cups All-Purpose Flour
    • 1 tbsp Ground Cinnamon
    • 1 tbsp Ground Ginger
    • ¾ tsp Baking Soda
    • ¾ tsp Ground Cloves
    • ½ tsp Ground Nutmeg
    • ½ tsp Salt
    • ¾ cup Unsalted Butter at room temperature
    • ½ cup Brown Sugar packed
    • 1 Large Egg
    • ½ cup Molasses
    • 1 tsp Vanilla Extract

    Royal Icing

    • 1 lbs Confectioners Sugar
    • 3 tbsp Meringue Powder
    • 6 tbsp Warm Water
    • 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
    • Food Coloring

    Cookie decoration

    • Clear vanilla extract
    • Gold and white food glitter
    • Black food pen

    Instructions
     

    • In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, ginger, baking soda, cloves, salt, and nutmeg.
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    • In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or by hand), beat the butter and sugar for 2 minutes on medium-high, until light and fluffy.et aside.
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    • Add in the eggs, molasses, and vanilla, and beat on medium speed until combined.
    • Reduce the mix speed to low, and slowly add in the dry ingredient mixture until just combined.
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    • Divide the dough into two equal parts, and shape them into balls. Flatten each ball into a 1-inch thick circle, and tightly wrap in plastic wrap.
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    • Chill each dough disk in the refrigerator for 2 hours or overnight.
    • Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone liner, and preheat the oven to 350F.
    • Unwrap the dough, and on a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out evenly until it’s ⅛ of an inch thick. Cut out the desired shapes with cookie cutters, and transfer to the prepared baking sheets.
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    • Before baking, place the baking sheet of cookie cutouts in the fridge and let chill for 5-10 minutes. This is so the cookies will keep their form and not spread out while baking.
    • Bake for 8-10 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to completely cool.
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    • Royal icing. In a large bowl, combine confectioner’s sugar and meringue powder.
    • Add warm water, one tablespoon at a time, while mixing on low speed.
    • Add vanilla extract, and continue mixing until the mixture is shiny.
    • Mix at high speed and beat for 5-7 minutes, and add desired colors.
    • Transfer to piping bag.
    Keyword christmas, christmas cookies, cookies, food gift, gingerbread, gingerbread cookies, holiday seasons
    Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

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    #bakingwithkids#sugarcookies#baking#kidscookies#vhristmascookies#gingerbreadcookies#gingerbread#royalicing

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    Filed Under: Christmas, Christmas food gifts, Cookies, Dessert, Gingerbread Recipes, Holiday, Recipes Tagged With: Christmas, cookies

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    My blog is dedicated to giving you a glimpse of my busy kitchen through the lens of my camera. I break down my process for making the perfect food for any occasion and explain the art of how I manage to capture all of it on camera, plus some of my secrets for how I capture high-quality recipe videos for my food blogger and brand clientele. Let me show you how to become a master of recipes! Read More…

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