Soft Gingerbread Cookies

5 from 1 vote

These soft gingerbread cookies are made using Nordic Ware cookie stamps and then finished with a lemon glaze for a festive holiday treat. Recipe by Yotam Ottolenghi & Helen Goh from the baking book Sweet

Prep Time20

Cook Time10

Total Time30

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: British

Servings:

Calories: 186kcal

Author: Janice Lawandi

Equipment

Ingredients

Soft gingerbread cookies

85 grams unsalted butter at room temperature
90 grams dark brown sugar
100 grams Lyle's black treacle
1 large egg yolk(s)
235 grams bleached all-purpose flour plus extra for pressing
1 tablespoon Cacao Barry extra brute cocoa powder
2.5 mL baking soda
5 mL ground ginger
2.5 mL ground cinnamon
0.625 mL ground cloves
1.25 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
1.25 mL freshly ground black pepper

Lemon-Butter Glaze

80 grams icing sugar
15 grams unsalted butter melted and warm
15 mL fresh lemon juice
5 mL warm water

Metric - US

Instructions

Place the butter, sugar, and treacle in the bowl of an electric mixer with the paddle attachment in place. Beat on medium speed until smooth and incorporated. Add the egg yolk and continue to beat until fully combined.
Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, salt and pepper into a separate bowl. Turn the speed of the mixer to low, and add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture. Once the mix comes together, tip the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knead gently. Refrigerate the dough if it's too soft to roll. Roll out the dough so that it is about ¼ inch/ 0.5 cm thick. Remember, if the dough is very soft, you will need to chill it.
Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
Dip the cookie stamps in a small bowl of flour, shake off any excess and then press them firmly into the dough, one at a time, to create a deep imprint. How far you need to press to get an imprint will depend on your stamp; the patterns on some are more deeply cut than others. Bear in mind that the cookies rise a little when cooked, so any soft imprints will disappear. Using a round cookie cutter that is slightly larger than the pattern, cut out the pieces of imprinted gingerbread. Transfer the cookies to the lined baking sheets, spaced about ¾ inch–½ cm apart. Reroll the dough and continue to stamp and cut cookies until all the dough is used up.
Bake for 9–10 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway through, until firm to the touch. They will continue to firm up as they cool, so don’t be tempted to bake them for any longer.
To make the lemon-butter glaze while the gingerbreads are in the oven, as the glaze needs to be brushed onto the cookies while they are still warm, sift the confectioners’ sugar into a small bowl. Add the melted butter, lemon juice, and water, and mix with a spoon until smooth. The glaze will thicken slightly if it sits around, so stir through a little more warm water if you need to—it should be the consistency of runny honey.
Remove the cookies from the oven, leave them to cool for 5 minutes, then brush the glaze all over with a pastry brush. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Notes

This recipe calls for Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If using regular table salt, add half the amount or the recipe may be too salty!
Dark treacle: I used Lyle's black treacle, which comes in a can, but you can use blackstrap molasses if you can't find treacle. Treacle is a British product that is quite similar to molasses. You can order Lyle's black treacle from Amazon.
Cookie stamps: I like Nordic Ware cookie stamps. They have a wooden handle, are easy to use, and easy to clean. I like to stamp out as many of the designs as possible, then using a round cookie cutter of the same diameter, I cut out the cookies. The Starry Nights Nordic Ware cookie stamps I used for this post are available on Amazon. I also love the All Season stamps available on Amazon. I used those to make these stamped chocolate cookies.
Glaze: Feel free to replace the lemon juice with some rum to brush these gingerbread cookies with a rum glaze instead. Up to you!
Make-Ahead: Once the dough is made, it can be covered in plastic wrap and kept in the fridge for up to 2 days before baking.
Storage: These will keep for several days in an airtight container. The glaze will whiten, and may dry out and crack a little, but the cookies will still taste great!

Nutrition