This post is also available in（こちらの言語版もある）: Japanese
Sugar cookies and gingerbread cookies are traditional staples for the holiday season, and when I was a child we had the tradition of making frosted sugar cookies every year for Christmas. Every year I looked forward to cutting out cookies with our stash of festive cookie cutters and decorating them with different icing colors to my little heart’s content, but looking back, making and decorating them was always much more fun than eating them. Frosted sugar cookies are definitely super cute, but they’re also super sweet so it’s easy to get tired of them after a few bites. However, it wouldn’t feel like Christmas without cookies, so for the last couple of years I’ve been making these gingerbread cookies instead, which are a bit less sweet and packed with spicy ginger, cinnamon, and cloves flavor. Plus, I started adding limocello to the icing, so they really are the perfect adult Christmas cookie. If you’re bored of traditional Christmas cookies definitely give these a shot★
As people who follow me on Instagram or Facebook may remember, I ended up using my Halloween cookie cutters to make gingerbread bats, cats, ghosts, etc. for Christmas last year since I did not own any Christmas cookie cutters.
I wound up receiving some Christmas cookie cutters as a Christmas present last year so I was able to make some Christmas-appropriate cookie shapes this year too. Still, I could not resist making just a few bats, ghosts, cats, and other spooky-cute Halloween cookies as well this year.
Speaking of last year, I used to always use a normal royal icing that contains lemon juice on these cookies, but I forgot to buy a lemon this year and it’s been cold so I didn’t want to go back outside to buy another one (lame, I know). However, I did still have a bottle of limoncello (lemon liqueur) leftover from another baking experiment so I decided to substitute the lemon juice with that. The result was just as tasty as the lemon juice version, and of course much boozy-er. I will definitely use limoncello instead of the lemon juice again next year★
- Cookie dough:
- 3 cups (384 g) all-purpose flour
- ¼ tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp ginger
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- ¾ tsp ground cloves
- ½ tsp ground pepper
- ¾ tsp salt
- ½ cup butter (113 g)
- ½ cup (110 g) packed brown sugar
- 1 egg
- ½ cup (100 ml) molasses
- Icing:
- 1 egg white
- 2 cups (256 g) powdered sugar
- 1½ tbsp limoncello
- Make cookies: whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and spices in a bowl and set aside.
- Beat butter and brown sugar together in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy.
- Add eggs and molasses and mix well.
- Add flour mixture and mix on low speed until just combined.
- Divide dough in half, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate overnight to two days (if you don't have time you can chill it in the freezer instead).
- Preheat oven to 350F (180C) and line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface to about ¼ inch (0.6 cm) thickness.
- Cut out cookies with floured cookie cutters and place on parchment paper lined baking sheets. Put in refrigerate to chill for 10-15 minutes.
- Bake cookies 12-14 minutes.
- Let cool on sheets for about 5 minutes and then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.
- Make icing:
- Beat egg whites with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until stiff.
- Add sugar and limoncello and beat for a minute.
- If the icing is too thin, add more sugar; if it is too thick, add more limoncello.
- Pipe icing onto completely cooled cookies.
- Enjoy!
Cookie recipe adapted from http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2010/12/spicy-gingerbread-cookies/
Icing adapted from http://www.marthastewart.com/857635/royal-icing
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