Some years ago I thought lace doilies where.. uhm, let’s say something you would find at your grandma’s house (absolutely no offence to grandmothers, they’re the best). And now all of a sudden, you can find them in my house. It’s funny how some things change. I see lace doilies a lot since I go to flea markets every week, and one day when I saw a huge stack of them I got an idea.
The pattern is often quite beautiful and would translate well onto cookies. So I picked out a few, the trick is to choose the ones that are smooth and non hairy (in lack of a better word) or you’ll end up with hairs in you cookies. And of course, it should also be clean!
I see myself as decent at piping gingerbread houses, but cookies? Nope. Not sure why! That’s why I looove these cookies. They look fancy and there’s almost no extra work! I’ll be using some of them as gift tags together with wax paper and silk ribbons from Nåde.
Gingerbread cookies
Makes approximately 75 cookies
INGREDIENTS
- 100 g (1 scant stick) salted butter
- 75 ml (1/3 cup) molasses or dark syrup
- 135 g (2/3 cup) granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
- 1 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
- 1 tsp. ground cloves
- 1/2 tsp. ground cardamom
- 75 ml (1/3 cup) heavy cream
- 300 g (approx. 2 cups) all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- pinch of salt
INSTRUCTIONS
- Combine butter, molasses and sugar in a saucepan and place over medium heat. When the mixture is melted, stir in the spices, remove from the heat and let cool for 5 minutes. Stir in the heavy cream.
- Combine the flour, baking soda and salt in a bowl. Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and stir until a soft dough forms. Cover the bowl and let it rest in the fridge for at least 24 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 390°F (200°C).
- On a lightly floured surface, roll out pieces of dough to about 5-6 mm thickness. Dust some flour over the dough. Place a clean lace doily on top and gently press it onto the dough, then roll out the dough to 3-4 mm thickness. The cookies need to be quite thin or they will puff up too much in the oven and the pattern will fade. Gently remove the doily and cut out cookies using cookie cutters or a knife.
- Bake the cookies for 5-6 minutes depending on size. If you’d like to use them as gift tags, make a small hole with a toothpick as soon as the cookies come out of the oven. Let cool completely.
This is such a great idea! I just showed my mom, totally amazed that you thought of using lace doilies for this purpose and you know what, my cookie dough is chilling in the fridge right now so I will definitely be trying out this method asap! So excited!! Thank you for the inspiration!
Ohh, I’m so glad you like it! 🙂 I don’t know why I haven’t thought of it before. Next time I’ll use it for the marsipan on princess cake! Thanks for your kind comment!
Ive been looking for a gingerbread cookie that’s egg free for ages. This is perfect ! Could treacle be used instead of molasses ?
Yaay, great!! I’m not familiar with treacle but to my understanding it’s similar to molasses? I bet it’ll work just as well!
Oh my Goooosh! This is gorgeous! love love this idea! And the gift wrapping, and the bow, and all the photos are so stunning!! I’m soooo doing this!!
Thank you so much Jovan!! it was super fun and sooo easy! <3
This is so lovely. I am still in bed. It’s 5.35 am here in Dublin. I love it.! Merry Christmas 🎄. Wesołych Świat i Szczęśliwego Nowego Roku 🎄Beata
Merry Christmas Beata and thank you!!
Love this! It also works on fondant. I used the same technique a few weeks ago for cookies and a few years ago with air drying clay and made ornaments for Christmas gift tags. Love it!
Hi Rita! Thanks so much 🙂 Oh, yes it definitely does! I will be trying it on marsipan too!
Hi Linda. I am very short for time today and would love to bake these biscuits. Is it possible to refrigerate the mixture for a shorter period of time ? Thanks xx
Hi Leah! I’m sure it will still work almost just as well, they might just lose their shape a little when baking. Let me know how it goes! xx