Gingerbread Cookies are a seasonal favourite in our family and this recipe is a classic that works great for both cookies and making a gingerbread house. It’s not too sweet with just the right amount of spice.
This is the first year that Lucy has had the chance to try it and she’s already hooked, just like her mama. She’s the fifth generation in our family to love these Gingerbread Cookies, as my mom has been making them for everyone in the family for over three decades.
My family’s beloved Gingerbread recipe is from a newspaper article my mother clipped out of the Toronto Star long before she was married or had a family of her own. In this clipping from the early 80s, Toronto Star Food Editor Jim White shared the gingerbread recipe from the McCall’s School of Cake Decoration, which still sells gingerbread house kits and runs classes in Etobicoke around Christmastime. Meta McCall brought the original recipe over from her parents’ bakery in Denmark in 1956 and its never changed since. Even in my own family, this newspaper clipping is sacred. Part of why I’m sharing the recipe on the blog today is that if we ever lost this piece of paper, I can’t imagine not having our favourite gingerbread every Christmas.
It makes a huge batch, giving us more than enough for several cookie trays to share with family and friends throughout the holiday season, a small gingerbread house, and even a few baggies to toss into our freezer for a winter treat. The cookies and the dough both freeze well. Everyone in my family loves these cookies (even the dogs!) and I hope you’ll try them for your family too.
A few years ago my sister made this huge gingerbread house using the recipe. It was so lovely and it was almost a shame to break it apart on Boxing Day.
At a time of year when there is so much sugar everywhere, I love that these are a fun festive treat I can give Lucy that isn’t covered in sprinkles.
Classic Gingerbread Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter
- 1-3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1-1/4 cup white sugar
- 1-1/2 tbsp dark molasses
- 5 medium sized eggs (approx. 4 large eggs)
- 2 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tbsp ginger
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
- 1 tbsp allspice
- 6 cups cake and pastry flour, unsifted
Instructions
- In a stand mixer or a large bowl with a hand mixer, cream together butter, sugars and molasses. Add eggs to the mixture, one by one, and continue creaming.
- In a separate bowl, sift together soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, allspice and flour. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients, mixing well until dough is formed. It will be quite thick and slightly sticky.
- Divide dough in half and shape each half into a disc. Wrap each disc tightly in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least three hours or overnight. Dough can be kept in the fridge for up to 5 days.
- Preheat oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Generously flour the counter, rolling pin and your hands with flour.
- Roll a disc of dough flat until it is the thickness of a pie crust – about ¼” thick. Cut dough into shapes and place cut shapes onto the prepared baking sheet, leaving an inch between all the pieces. Re-roll dough scraps until all the dough has been cut with shapes. Repeat with the remaining disc of dough.
- Bake cookies for 7-9 minutes. Smaller shapes will take less time. If you like them crispy, make them thinner and bake for more time, and if you like them chewy like I do, roll them thicker and bake for less time.
- Cookies are good at room temperature for a week, while baked cookies can be stored in the freezer for up to three months. Unbaked cookie dough discs can also be frozen for up to three months and thawed overnight in the refrigerator.
- GINGERBREAD HOUSE TIPS: Roll chilled dough 1” thick right onto the parchment lined baking sheet. Cutting it and then trying to transfer it could prove difficult. Use paper templates to make your shapes and cut with a sharp knife. Remove excess dough between the shapes and re-roll it to make more shapes. Bake house pieces for 20-25 minutes or until dough is done. Allow to cool.
In a stand mixer or a large bowl with a hand mixer, cream together butter, sugars and molasses. Add eggs to the mixture, one by one, and continue creaming.
In a separate bowl, sift together soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, allspice and flour.
Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients, mixing well until dough is formed. It will be quite thick and slightly sticky.
Divide dough in half and shape each half into a disc. Wrap each disc tightly in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least three hours or overnight. Dough can be kept in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Preheat oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Generously flour the counter, rolling pin and your hands with flour.
Roll a disc of dough flat until it is the thickness of a pie crust – about 1/4” thick. Cut dough into shapes and place cut shapes onto the prepared baking sheet, leaving an inch between all the pieces. Re-roll dough scraps until all the dough has been cut with shapes. Repeat with the remaining disc of dough.
Bake cookies for 7-9 minutes. Smaller shapes will take less time. If you like them crispy, make them thinner and bake for more time, and if you like them chewy like I do, roll them thicker and bake for less time.
Cookies are good at room temperature for a week, while baked cookies can be stored in the freezer for up to three months. Unbaked cookie dough discs can also be frozen for up to three months and thawed overnight in the refrigerator.
Gingerbread House Tips
- Roll chilled dough 1” thick right onto the parchment lined baking sheet. Cutting it and then trying to transfer it could prove difficult.
- Use paper templates to make your shapes and cut with a sharp knife. Remove excess dough between the shapes and re-roll it to make more shapes.
- Bake house pieces for 20-25 minutes or until dough is done. Allow to cool completely.
