Easy Gingerbread Cookies with Royal Icing

Recipe by The View From the Great Island

Easy Gingerbread Cookies with Royal Icing ~ it's that time of year and nothing gets me in the mood quicker than baking up a batch of gingerbread cookies!

Ingredients

• dry ingredients
• 4½ cups all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp ground ginger
• 1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp cloves
• ¼ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• wet ingredients
• ¾ cup (1 and a half sticks) unsalted butter (at room temperature)
• ¾ cups light brown sugar (packed)
• 1 large egg (at room temperature)
• 1 cup unsulphured molasses
• royal icing
• ¼ cup egg white or meringue powder
• ½ cup cold water
• 4 cups confectioner's sugar,

Method

1. Whisk dry ingredients to blend.
2. Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
3. Beat in egg and molasses and mix until smooth.
4. Gradually add the dry ingredients while mixing on low, and mix until the dough comes together.
5. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead the dough a couple of times until it becomes smooth. Divide in two and form into disks. Wrap in plastic and chill for at least 3 hours, or overnight.
6. Preheat oven to 350F
7. Roll the dough out on a floured surface to about 1/4 inch. Cut out your cookies and place on a parchment or silpat line baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes, rotating the tray halfway through if your oven cooks unevenly. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before moving them to a cooling rack.
8. To make the royal icing, put the egg white powder and water in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat until soft peaks form. Then add the sifted sugar gradually and beat until the frosting is spreadable and glossy. If the frosting gets too thick you can add a bit of cream, milk, or water to thin.
9. Spoon some of the frosting into a squeeze bottle, pastry bag, or baggie if you would like to pipe it around the outline of each cookie. Otherwise you can spread the frosting with a spreading knife. You will have more frosting than you need with this recipe, but if may come in handy if you are decorating with a group. Note: you can make the frosting up to an hour or so ahead, just keep covered with plastic.
10. Decorate your cookies with sprinkles, etc, while the icing is still wet. It will harden as it dries.

View the recipe instructions at The View From the Great Island