For me, Christmas is just not the same without cute, decorated cookies. Sometimes I make both sugar cookies and gingerbread men, but this year I decided to simplify things and just make one kind of roll-out cookies. Of course, gingerbread won, hands down.
I ripped this recipe out of The Philadelphia Inquirer’s food section a few years ago and I’ve been making it every year since. This year I decided to replace the all-purpose flour with white whole wheat, which I’ve been doing with a lot of recipes lately, and they turned out great. Now all I have to do is decorate them… and make the rest of the cookies on my list.
Notes
Adapted from the Philadelphia Inquirer
Ingredients
- 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup molasses
- 1 egg
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tbsp ginger
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp ground cloves
Instructions
- Beat the butter with a mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in the brown sugar, then the molasses. Add the egg and mix well.
- Sift together the remaining ingredients and gradually add to the butter mixture, mixing well.
- Divide the dough in half, form into 2 discs, and chill for a few hours or overnight.
- Preheat oven to 375°F.
- Roll out on a floured surface to about 1/8 inch thick. Use cookie cutters to cut out desired shapes, transferring to a cookie sheet with a spatula. Bake for about 6 minutes, rotating the pan after 5 minutes for even browning. Cool cookies on a wire rack.
- Decorate with royal icing.
