Ginger Cookies with Royal Icing

22 Feb Ginger Cookies with Royal Icing

Cookies, cookies, ginger cookies!

What I love the most by making cookies is rolling the dough and then decorating. What I love the most about this particular recipe is the smell of ginger and cinnamon. This flavor is our family’s favorite after the chocolate cookies, I guess. The cookie dough is a really easy process to make. Same the royal icing!

What is your favorite cookie? Ginger?

Ingredients: 

• 4 1/4 cups or 500 gr of all-purpose flour,
• 1 cup or 200 gr of light brown sugar,
• 1 cup or 225 gr of unsalted butter (room temperature) cut into small cubes,
• 1 large egg (room temperature),
• 1 cup of molasses or Greek honey,
• 1 Tablespoon of ground cinnamon,
• 1 Tablespoon of ground ginger,
• 3/4 teaspoon of baking soda,
• 1/2 teaspoon of ground cloves,
• A pinch of salt

The method:

1. In the bowl of your mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the flour, the sugar, the cinnamon, ginger, baking soda, cloves and salt, on low speed to combine.
2. Then add the room temperature butter to the mixer. Mix on medium speed until the mixture is combined. 
3. Next add the large egg and molasses or the Greek honey. Mix on low speed until you have an even cookie dough. 
4. Cut the dough into 2 even pieces and wrap tightly with a plastic wrap. Now we are going to refrigerate for 30 minutes before using it.
5. Preheat the oven to 350°F/175°C .
6. Roll out the dough between two pieces of parchment paper or use flour on your counter to roll the dough. Use just a little flour only.
7. To cut shapes out of the chilled dough, use your favorite cookie cutter (I used the heart shapes). Remove the extra dough, and press it back together to use it for more cookies. 
8. Transfer the shapes to baking sheets over your cookie baking tray. 
9. Bake the cookies in batches. Bake until the cookies are brown lightly around the edges and appear set, 8 to 12 minutes (for the big ones).
10. Cookies will be soft when they come out of the oven. Cool them on the baking sheet for a couple of minutes and then use a spatula to move them to a cooling rack. 
11.  Meanwhile, you can prepare the royal icing to decorate your cookies, as long as they are cooling down. (This step is optional).

For the Royal Icing:

• 2 egg whites
• 480 gr confectioners sugar (sifted)
• ½ teaspoon cream of tartar
• ½ Vanilla extract or the flavor you like

The method:

In the mixing bowl of the electric mixer add the egg whites with the cream of tartar. Beat the egg whites until they become foamy. 

Then add the vanilla extract and gradually the sugar. Gradually, meaning few spoons at the time. Add more only when the sugar is completely combined. Use your spatula to move the sugar that sticks to the edge of the mixer to the center of it. This process might take a little long but only then you are going to get the consistency you are going for. 

The icing needs to be used immediately. If you are not going to use it right away, transfer it to an airtight container or add a plastic wrap exactly at the surface of the icing in your bowl, by not allowing any air to it. Royal icing hardens when exposed to air.

For the coloring, be creative. For the baby pink in these cookies I separated the icing in two and then I added 8 drops of food coloring in one of my bowls. 

Have fun adding sprinkles or making any kind of design you like. 

Note: Make sure that the mixer and the attachment are clean and dry before making the icing. You can use some vinegar to clean them in order to make sure that any remaining fat is gone before starting with the icing.

Enjoy!

Your Greek friend,

Theodora

You can watch the recipe here: