Gingerbread Cookies with Eggnong Icing | Easy Christmas Cookies Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Why are my gingerbread cookies puffy? ›

Q: Why are my cookies so puffy and cakey? Whipping too much air into the dough. That fluffy texture you want in a cake results from beating a lot of air into the room temperature butter and sugar, and it does the same for cookies. So don't overdo it when you're creaming together the butter and sugar.

How Long do Gingerbread Cookies Last. After you have baked your gingerbread cookies and they are decorated perfectly, they will last for 4-6 weeks. Gingerbread is a fairly dry type of cookie which extends it's shelf life. Less moisture means the cookies will be more resistant to mold.

“It shouldn't look flat or dry,” he said. “There are some gingerbread recipes that are hard right after baking and need to sit for a few days to soften. Molasses and honey hardens gingerbread, but as the sugar absorbs moisture, it will get softer.”

Any leftover royal icing can be frozen for up to 2 months. Place leftover royal icing into zipped-top freezer bags. If you have more than 1 color, each color should have its own bag. Before sealing, squeeze as much air out of the bag as possible.

An excessive amount of butter makes it where the flour is unable to absorb the combined fat, which causes the cookie to spread too widely and the sugar to carbonize more easily because it's surrounded by too buttery a dough.

The leavening power of baking soda is about three to four times stronger than baking powder. This means that you need a lot less baking soda in your recipes. If a recipe calls for baking soda and you only have baking powder, you need to use the right baking soda to baking powder conversion.

Chill and Bring to Room Temperature: Chill the dough for at least two hours or overnight, but make sure to bring it back to room temperature before rolling and cutting. Space Out on Baking Sheet: Leave enough space between each cookie on the baking sheet to prevent them from spreading into each other.

The general rule of thumb is a couple of weeks. It depends how its prepared and if you used a lot of icing. Also, gingerbread like any other bread turns stale quite fast. Eating it after 1–2 week with tea shouldn't be a problem.

From doubling up on molasses to using too much flour, there is a lot that can go wrong. Forgetting the molasses resulted in a crumbly cookie that was light in color. Combining all ingredients at once created lumps in the finished product.

Why is my gingerbread cookie dough so dry? ›

Not enough fat

If your cookie dough is too dry and crumbly, it might not have enough fat. This is a common problem with recipes that use all-purpose flour. To fix this, you can add more fat to the dough. This can be in the form of butter, shortening, or even olive oil.

After baking, allow cookies to cool completely. Place them in a single layer on a parchment-lined baking sheet to freeze them, then store them in a freezer-safe zip-top storage bag labeled with the name and date. Squeeze out extra air and place flat in the freezer. To save space, you can flat-stack freezer bags.

If you want to make your cookies in advance… totally doable! 1 week before event: I start the process UP TO 1 week before the event and don't do any freezing in this time period (either of the icing or cookies).

Corn syrup helps give shine and also a soft-bite to your icing. Without corn syrup, your royal icing can be as hard as a rock, and no one wants to chip a tooth on a cookie. I use 1 Tablespoon of Karo Light Corn Syrup in my icing recipe. I've seen some cookiers use more but this ratio works well for me.

It's relatively easy to store gingerbread cookies and decorated gingerbread people. Place cookies in a covered jar or tin or wrap in plastic or foil and keep in a cool, dry place. Gingerbread people require a bigger space and more careful wrapping because of their limbs.

Ideally, gingerbread should be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to three days or in the refrigerator for up to a week.

You'll find that most of your favorite Christmas cookie recipes can be made anywhere from a month to six months before the 25th of December. (Consult this handy how-to guide to the matter.) Generally, most recipes will be best if baked and then frozen.

Most recipes are edible for at least a week, some longer. Julia has this great tip: surround the house with piles of gingerbread cookies made with softer icing, which will stay tasty (and keep you away from the dentist's office) longer.