Tis’ the season to spread love, forgiveness, gifts and, well – Christmas gingerbread cookies!

If you’re planning to bake up some Christmas gingerbread cookies, then this article has the perfect recipe, along with easy-to-follow directions.

Let’s spread the love and make a batch!

The thing about Christmas gingerbread cookies is that they are not only very easy to bake (once you know how), but you can also make them as soft or crispy as you like. In fact, they’re even great for cutting out your favourite gingerbread people.

The Christmas gingerbread recipe we’ve talked about below will surely be loved by everyone in your family – made with mouth-watering spices, including plenty of cinnamon and ginger. Oh, and as a bonus, if you make yours in the oven, it’s guaranteed to make your home smell more homely and Holiday Season-like!

Time to make a batch, let’s get to it.

Christmas Gingerbread Cookies – Ingredients

To make a fantastic batch of Christmas gingerbread cookies, you’ll need:

• Flour – Most folks tend to use all-purpose flour, but you can use white whole wheat flour too.
• Spices – Cloves, ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg (or anything else you feel might add character).
• Salt, egg, baking soda and vanilla cookies – Because, well… it’s cookies, after all!
• Molasses – Make sure you use non-sulphured molasses.
• Brown sugar – We’ll Need this to add a more molasses-ish flavour to your cookies.
• Butter – Softened to room temperature.
• Orange Zest – Subtle citrus notes go really well with the cinnamon, although this is optional.

You can make the taste and presentation extra special by adding powdered sugar, sprinkles or candies and any kind of icing, which can be added before or after baking. A very simply icing can be made using just milk, vanilla and powdered sugar.

Christmas Gingerbread Cookies – Cooking Tools

You’re going to need these cooking tools or equipment to bake those irresistible Christmas gingerbread cookies:

• Cookie cutters – Wilton cookie cutters happen to be very popular and are used in nearly every home.
• Rolling pin – Any type of regular rolling pin is fine although a marble rolling pin is preferable.
• Mixer – Either a hand mixer or stand mixer would do just fine.
• Pastry bag – For extra detailing with the icing. Try to find one with tips in different shapes and sizes, although you could use a simple ziplock and snip off a tiny corner using a pair of scissors. The choice is yours.

And now, the fun stuff: Directions for making Christmas Gingerbread Cookies

Now you can see how easy and how much fun it is to make gingerbread cookies:

1. Gather the dry ingredients – The ginger, flour, baking soda, salt, cloves and nutmeg.

2. Beat the dough – Beat the butter and sugar until it becomes light and fluffy. A hand mixer or stand mixer is fine for the job.

Now add the eggs and molasses. Beat them on medium speed until mixed well. Gradually add the flour mixture and beat on low-medium speed until they just mix.

3. Cool off the dough – Divide up the dough into two portions, forming each one of them into a ball. Use your hands to gently flatten the ball until it’s a 1” thick disc. Wrap firmly in plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator for an hour or until the dough feels chilled to the touch but still a little pliable.

4. Roll & cut the dough – Unwrap one of the discs. Place it on a lightly-floured surface. Roll the dough evenly using a floured rolling pin, until it is about 1/8” thick. Then use the Wilton cookie cutters to cut out the desired shape. Re-roll the dough as required to cut out more. Now transfer the newly-cut dough shapes to a parchment-covered baking sheet.

5. Bake the dough – Bake at 176 degrees Celsius for approximately 8-10 minutes or until the cookies take a crisp appearance on top and around the edges. Remove them from the oven and allow to cool off initially for 5 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to let them cool off completely.

6. Adorn and decorate the dough – Now that your cookies have come down to room temperature, you can decorate them with icing before serving.

If you don’t want to dive straight in, then store in a sealed container or freeze them.