Description
Molasses-and-spice cutout cookies with a simple powdered-sugar icing.
Ingredients
Scale
- 3 cups All-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- 1 teaspoon Baking soda
- 2 teaspoons Ground ginger
- 1 1/2 teaspoons Ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon Ground cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon Fine salt
- 3/4 cup Unsalted butter, softened
- 3/4 cup Packed light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup Unsulphured molasses, not blackstrap
- 1 whole Large egg
- 2 cups Powdered sugar for icing
- 2 tablespoons Milk for icing
- 1 tablespoon Additional milk to thin icing if necessary (optional)
- 1/2 teaspoon Vanilla extract for icing
Instructions
- Whisk flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves and salt. Beat softened butter and brown sugar until combined and lighter. Mix in molasses and egg, then add the dry mixture just until no flour pockets remain.
- Divide the dough in two, flatten into disks, wrap and refrigerate for approximately 2 hours until firm enough to roll. Keep one disk cold while working with the other.
- Heat the oven to 350 F (175 C) and line baking sheets with parchment. On a lightly floured surface, roll a disk approximately 1/4 inch thick. Cut with approximately 3-inch cutters, transfer with a little room between shapes, and chill a tray briefly again if pieces become soft. Gather and reroll scraps sparingly.
- Bake one tray at a time on a middle rack for an estimated 9 to 11 minutes, until the edges look set and the centers no longer appear wet. Rotate only if the oven browns unevenly. Rest on the sheet a few minutes, then move to a rack. Repeat for approximately three trays; record actual count and baking time.
- Cool completely, approximately 30 minutes. Whisk powdered sugar with 2 tablespoons milk and vanilla until smooth. Add some of the optional tablespoon of milk only as needed for a pipeable consistency. Decorate cooled cookies and let icing dry, approximately 1 hour before stacking; verify with a finger-touch test.
Notes
Recipe-development draft; not kitchen-tested. Timing and yield are estimates. Nutrition has not been calculated.
Additional chilling, resting or cooling time: 210 minutes, included in the total.
Development estimate: 2 hours dough chilling, about 30 minutes complete cooling, about 1 hour icing drying; oven time assumes three trays baked one at a time. Active decoration is included in prep. Actual yield, time and drying depend on cutter, thickness, humidity and icing.
- Prep Time: 45 minutes
- Chilling, resting or cooling: 210 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
Nutrition
- Serving Size: One approximately 3-inch cookie, assuming 30 cutouts