Gingerbread or gingerbread cookies are a traditional Christmas treat. They are characterized by a spicy note and a unique taste compared to classic decorated Christmas cookies.
They are used as gifts or can be hung on the tree to decorate it. They are well-known in English-speaking countries but in recent years, they have been spreading worldwide!
To decorate the gingerbread cookies, I also recommend following this recipe
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Very economical
- Rest time: 30 Minutes
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 4
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Christmas
- Energy 703.75 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 119.62 (g) of which sugars 55.65 (g)
- Proteins 11.97 (g)
- Fat 22.85 (g) of which saturated 14.19 (g)of which unsaturated 8.10 (g)
- Fibers 3.43 (g)
- Sodium 368.89 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 150 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients for 4 servings
- 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 7/8 cup brown sugar
- 7 tbsps butter
- 1 2/3 tbsps honey
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 2 tsps ground ginger
Tools
- 1 Bowl
- 1 Teaspoon
- 1 Spatula
Procedure
The gingerbread dough is spiced with cinnamon and ginger, and in this recipe, I use a minimal amount. If desired, you can increase the spices for a result closer to the original.
First, pour the flour and baking soda into a bowl and mix well.
Add the sugar, honey, and spices and mix well with a spatula. Add the softened butter at room temperature (30-60 minutes) and start kneading.
First by hand (or with a mixer) until you get a compact dough. Let it rest in the refrigerator wrapped in plastic wrap.
In American recipes, Golden Syrup (Invert Sugar) or molasses is used. If you have these ingredients at home, you can substitute them in equal weight for the honey.
Roll out the dough with a rolling pin to a thickness of about 1/8 inch. Cut out the typical gingerbread shapes and place them on a baking sheet. The oven must be preheated to 356°F in static mode.
After 10-12 minutes, gingerbread, gingerbread cookies, are ready. Do not go beyond this, or the cookies will be very hard (almost rock-like) due to the high sugar content in the dough.
Let them rest for 1-2 hours on a wire rack.
When cool, you can store them in a metal tin to keep them for a long time
Now that the gingerbread, gingerbread cookies, are ready, all that remains is to decorate them. Use ready-made icing tubes or follow my recipe for cookie icing.
To start, follow the outer edge of the cookies and complete with dots or lines.
Here are your decorated gingerbread. If desired, you can make a hole before baking them to hang as Christmas tree decorations
