I want to take a moment to wish you a very Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and a beautiful weekend! Thank you so much for following along over the last year (well, for the last twelve years really!). I have been focused on making videos lately, and improving my editing skills in that field – I enjoy it SO much and hope to do more video work in the future. I thought it would be a shame to not share some of the photos from the last couple of months though, so here goes! Maybe you’ll find some inspiration in the photos or videos, and I’m also sharing my favorite gingerbread cookie recipe + the icing that I use for piping these cookies. Sending love to you all!

Gingerbread Cookies with royal icing

Makes 30-50 cookies, depending on size

This recipe makes delicious, crispy, thin gingerbread cookies! The gingerbread recipe can easily be halved. Feel free to use pasteurized egg white for the icing.

INGREDIENTS

Gingerbread dough

100 g (1 scant stick) salted butter
75 ml (1/3 cup) molasses, dark or golden syrup
135 g (2/3 cup) granulated sugar
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. ground cloves
3/4 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

Royal icing

1 egg white (about 30 g)
200-240 g (about 1 2/3 cup) powdered sugar
1 tsp. vinegar

INSTRUCTIONS

Gingerbread cookies

Combine butter, syrup and sugar in a saucepan and place over medium heat. When the mixture is melted, stir in cinnamon, ginger, cloves and cardamom. 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.
Remove the dough from the fridge about 20 minutes before rolling out the cookies. Preheat the oven to 390°F (200°C).
On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough (I usually roll out 1/4 of the dough at a time as I find it easier to control the thickness) to about 5-6 mm thickness. The cookies need to be quite thin or they will puff up. Gently remove the doily and cut out cookies using cookie cutters or a knife. Transfer the cookies to a baking sheet with baking paper.
Bake the cookies for 5-7 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.

Royal icing

Combine the egg white, powdered sugar (start with the smaller amount and add as needed) and vinegar in a medium bowl and beat until fluffy using a hand mixer
Spoon some of the icing into a piping bag (don’t overfill the bag) fitted with a small, round piping tip. I’m using Wilton 1S which is very small. Cover the bowl with the remaining icing well and place it in the fridge.
Ice the cookies as you wish! If you still have icing left in your piping bag when you are finished, you can place it in an airtight bag and place it in the fridge where it will be ok for a few days (although you may need to remove any dried icing in the tip using a toothpick).