Day 6: Ginger Spice Cookies and Sugar Cutout Cookies

Its Day 6 of the 12 Days of Christmas Cookies posts, and its BONUS Day! That's right, TWO recipes today! Well, sorta. I decided to also post pictures of my cutout cookies today, since I have posted and referenced the recipe I used on here many times previously. So it wouldn't really be fair to take up a whole day on those cookies, since the recipe isn't new.

As for the ginger spice cookies - these tasted great! I really liked how they turned out. My only hesitation is that the dough was quite sticky and I worked quite a bit of flour and powdered sugar into it while I was rolling it out - and the cookies did spread a bit. Not too bad, but I did put this first batch aside as "defective cookies" (I worked in even more flour on subsequent batches). Poor Josh - he just HATES it when a batch of cookies doesn't turn out perfectly. Katie got good reviews on this recipe, so this time I'll just chalk it up to something I did wrong. When decorated nicely, these cookies make excellent gifts, and the dough is good in the fridge up to a week - another bonus in my book.

Sugar Cookie recipe for cut-outs (my go-to recipe)

Royal Icing recipe (with meringue powder)

Ginger Spice Cookies
from Katie at Good Things Catered

1 c. butter, softened (2 sticks)

1 c. sugar

1 c. molasses

1 egg

4 c. sifted all-purpose flour

1 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp ground cinnamon

2 tsp ground cloves

2 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground nutmeg

DIRECTIONS:

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Stir in molasses and egg. Combine the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg; blend into the molasses mixture until smooth.

Cover, and chill for at least one hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line baking sheet with parchment paper. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters. Place cookies 2 inches apart on cookie sheets. Bake for about 10 minutes in the preheated oven, until firm. Let cool for 10 minutes on pan. Remove from cookie sheets to cool on wire racks. Frost or decorate when cool.

REVIEW:

These taste delicious - a nice, soft, gingerbread cookie. Like I said, my dough was sticky and it spread a bit, but maybe my kitchen was too warm or something. Just work a little extra flour in if you experience that and it will be fine (they will still spread some, but not so bad that you can't tell what the shape is). I decorated mine like Katie's, just because I thought hers looked awesome. I also used some edible pearl dust to add a little sparkle. You can find this at most craft stores (like Jo-Anns or Michaels). I mixed with a little bit of vodka (the alcohol will evaporate as it dries), and painted it on with a small paint brush (I have a few set aside that I use only for baking). I really like how they shine!

And I will leave you with a few more cookie pictures: