Christmas is coming and I’ve just completed my Christmas gingerbread cookie baking. And that means it’s time to share my trusted recipe, in case some of you are still looking for a recipe to try out this year. My Mum has been using this recipe for years – probably over 20 years now, so I believe we’ve tested it enough to swear by it.

Cookies from this recipe puff up, but they don’t spread to the sides too much. As you can see in the photos, they keep their shapes pretty well, but I wouldn’t necessarily use them with super-dooper detailed cookie cutters.

Ingredients for simple gingerbread cookies

For a few dozens of cookies you’ll need:

• 500g plain flour
• 1 egg
• 200ml natural honey, liquid (if your honey has crystallised, heat it up first so it turns into liquid again)
• 1.5 teaspoon baking soda
• 150g icing sugar
• 100g butter, softened to room temperature
• 1 tablespoon gingerbread spice mix (I recommend using spice mixes that don’t contain flour or sugar – they are way more aromatic. If your mix contains extra fillers like flour or sugar, you’ll probably need to add more.)

How to make shaped gingerbread cookies

Preheat the oven to 180ºC.

The instructions are simple. Mix everything together, kneading the dough with your hands. Roll it out to about 2mm thickness, cut out shapes… and that’s all. 🙂

Bake for 8 (small cookies) – 10 (medium cookies) – 12 (big cookies) minutes. Once they’re baked, remove your gingerbread cookies from the oven and leave on the baking tray for a short while. Then move them to a wire rack and leave there to cool.

Enjoy! 🙂

How to soften gingerbread cookies

Here’s a bonus tip for you. Gingerbread cookies (not specifically from this recipe, but in general) can sometimes harden up to almost rock hard. If it’s a problem you encounter with your cookies, there’s an easy way to fix it! Put the cookies in a closed container, leaving a few pieces of tangerine or orange peel inside. A few days later your cookies will be soft again! Replace the peel every few days, when the previous one has dried up.

How to decorate gingerbread cookies

These cookies are great as they are, but you can try decorating them with chocolate or royal icing. Check out my guide for melting chocolate and the guide for working with royal icing.

You may also want to check out my edible gingerbread Christmas trees (see the recipe and instructions here) – the recipe for the dough is a bit different, although the one from this post should work too. 🙂

• Christmas
• Sweet