Soft Gingerbread Cookies Baked Until the Edges Set

For Soft Gingerbread Cookies Baked Until the Edges Set, the counter starts with unsalted butter softened, granulated sugar, and kosher salt. Portion it for 35 Cookies.

Count on 30 minutes of prep, 6 minutes of cooking, 5 hours of resting, about 5 hours from the first measurement to the plate.

Ingredients Method

What goes in the bowl

For the Cookies

• 1 cup unsalted butter softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 whole egg
• 1 cup molasses
• 2 tablespoons vinegar I used apple cider vinegar
• 5 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
• 1 tablespoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves
• raisins optional for decoration

For the white icing

• 2 cups powdered sugar sifted
• ¼ teaspoon vanilla
• ½ cup whole milk or more as needed

How the cooking goes

Preparing the Dough

1. Beat together flour and spices. Keep it to one side.
2. Thoroughly cream butter, sugar, and salt. Stir in egg, molasses and vinegar; beat well.
3. Mix flour into butter mixture. It is easiest to add the flour in several additions, scraping down the bowl between each one.
4. Form dough into two balls and chill wrapped in plastic or in a covered mixing bowl over night or at least 5 hours. You have found that 3 hours of chilling time is okay but the dough will not be as easy to roll out without sticking. Overnight will make the rolling and cutting process a breeze!

Rolling the Cookies

1. Heat the oven to 375* and line two sheet pans with baking paper.
2. On a lightly floured surface, roll one ball out to 1/8 inch thick. Cut with cookie cutters and gently place cookies 1 inch apart on prepared sheet pans.
3. Decorate with raisins.
4. Oven-bake large gingerbread boys (~5” tall) 6 minutes in preheated oven; bake medium cookies (3-4” tall) 5 minutes; bake small to medium cookies (2-3” tall) 4 minutes but watch them because they could easily over bake; and bake the cute little 1” cookies like the angels only 3 minutes.
5. Cool 2 minutes on sheet pan and then move to a wire rack to cool until it is no longer warm.
6. Store for up to two weeks in a sealed plastic bag or a tightly closed container.

Make the Icing

1. Add powdered sugar into a medium bowl. Add vanilla and 2 tablespoons milk. Stir with a spatula to combine. Continue to add milk several teaspoons at a time until the icing is thickened but still runny enough to drizzle off your spatula.
2. Spoon icing into a piping bag fitted with a small circle tip or into a plastic baggie with one corner cut off into a tiny hole. Ice as desired.

After it comes off the heat

Cool the sheet on a rack before the pieces are stacked. A covered tin keeps them for a few days.

If you want another plate from Cookies, open Amaretti Cookies with a Soft Middle and Browned Butter Cardamom Snickerdoodles for the Dessert Plate.