Gingerbread Cookies with Lemon Glaze

Step 1

In a large mixing bowl. Combine 10 tbsp. soft butter, ¾ cup dark brown sugar and ⅔ cup molasses. Use a hand mixer to combine well until smooth. Use a spatula to scrape down the sides when necessary. Add 1 egg and 1 tsp. vanilla extract. Continue to mix until smooth.

Step 2

In a separate bowl, combine 3½ cups all purpose flour, 1 tsp. baking soda, ½ tsp. salt, 1 tbsp. ground ginger, 1 tbsp. ground cinnamon, ½ tsp. ground allspice and ½ tsp. ground nutmeg. Gradually add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, stirring with a mixing spoon. The dough will begin to become sticky, hard and a little crumbly. I usually end up using my hands to completely combine the last bit of dry ingredients.

Step 3

Separate dough into 2 parts, and either wrap each in cellophane or place them in ziplock bags. Flatten them out a bit - this will allow the dough to cool and harden faster. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours. Don’t skip the cooling step.

Step 4

Preheat oven to 350 F. (177 C.). Remove dough bags one at a time - it warms very quickly, so you want to keep the other refrigerated while you roll and cut the other. On a floured surface, roll the dough to ¼-inch thick. As you roll, the dough may crack a little. Use the warmth of your fingers to smooth out cracks before cutting if the rolling pin didn’t quite roll smoothly. Use your cookie cutter to cut shapes. I used a 2 inch wide snowflake. I find it’s helpful to use a spatula to shimmy underneath the dough to lift the shape cleanly, even when the surface is well floured.

Step 5

On Silpat or parchment-lined baking sheet, lay cookie shapes (you may have to bake in batches). Bake for 10 minutes. Once done, remove and cool for 5 - 10 minutes.

Step 6

Once cookies are no longer warm, stir 1 cup powdered sugar (I know it seems like a lot, but it will really melt in the lemon juice) and 2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice, until a glaze forms. Glaze cookies with a pastry brush. Refrigerate for 10 minutes.

Step 7

Place 6-10 ginger candies in a food processor and process on a “chop” setting for about 3 seconds to create ginger sugar. If you don’t have a food processor, you can also place candies in a bag and use your rolling pin to grind them into sugar. Sprinkle ginger sugar evenly on cookies. Place cookies in a container with a lid.