Starry Night Gingerbread Cookie Recipe

Day 212 of 365

by Crystal Sands

I have always wanted to love gingerbread cookies during the holidays, but I could never quite get there. The recipes for gingerbread cookies I found always seemed too crunchy, too bland, or too spicy. Then, I found a beautiful recipe called “Soft Glazed Gingerbread Cookies” from the wonderful site The View from Great Island. The author there had adapted this recipe from a different cookbook, and you will find many adaptations of this recipe on the internet. My personal adaptation takes out a bit of the hot and spicy, leaving you with a mildly spicy but sweet cookie that is more palatable for children’s tastebuds—and mine as well. 

Plus, they are so beautiful it’s like making cookie art. I made these for Christmas Eve one morning a few years ago, and my kiddo announced that it was the best Christmas Eve ever. So that’s a pretty good review. look

Ingredients and Materials

cookie sheet
parchment paper
Nordic Ware Starry Night Cookie Stamps (but any snowflake or starry cookie stamp will work)
1 and ¾ cups flour (heaping)
1 Tbsp cocoa powder
½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground ginger
½ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp cloves
¼ tsp salt
6 Tbsp unsalted butter (softened)
1/3 cup molasses
1/3 cup + 2 Tbsp packed brown sugar
1 large egg yolk

for glaze

1 cup powdered sugar
1 Tbsp butter (melted)
½ tsp vanilla extract
1 Tbsp plus 1 tsp warm water

Directions

Before you begin making your cookie dough, place your stamps in the freezer and let them chill while you work on the dough. 

1. Pre-heat your oven to 375 degrees
2. With an electric mixer, cream the butter, sugar, and molasses—add the egg yolk at the end. 
3. In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Sift them together, and then add the mixture gradually to the wet ingredients, running your mixer as you add. 
4. The dough will be stiff and a bit crumbly. It may feel dry, and that’s okay. 
5. Set the dough out on a clean surface and knead it just until it starts to stick together better. The dough should be stiff. If it isn’t, you can chill it in the fridge for a little bit (about half an hour). Then, roll out the dough to about ¼ inch thickness, maybe a little thicker if you like softer cookies, as I do. 
6. Using your cookie stamps, stamp down into the dough firmly. Then, grab a knife and, with the stamp still on the cookie dough, cut out the cookie using the stamp as your guide. 
7. When you lift the stamp, if you have a good impression from the stamp, then you are all set. If you do not, you can try again and just make sure you press harder. Do this until you have used all of your dough. 
8. Place your cookies into the lined cookie sheet and bake for 8 minutes. I would start checking at 7 minutes, as you do not want hard cookies. Pull them before they start to change color. Pull them even if they seem a little under done. They will continue to cook a bit after you have pulled them from the oven. 
9. While your cookies bake, make your glaze. You want the glaze to be the consistency of honey. If it’s too thick, add a tiny bit of water. Too thin, add a little more powdered sugar. 
10. When the cookies are still slightly warm, transfer them to a cooling rack and brush them with the glaze. The glaze will dry in about half an hour. You are then ready to enjoy a beautiful and delicious winter holiday treat. 

*This recipe was originally published in the Farmer-ish Print Annual Volume I.