With everyday Christmas is getting closer and close. While there may be many recipes that symbolize the coming together of family and friends, there is one cookie, that simply must be made. Gingerbread cookies. This homemade gingerbread dough for homemade gingerbread cookies is the best. I have made my own gingerbread dough for a few years now, and when I make it I make a lot so I can either give it to my friends before the holidays or keep it in my fridge for next year. Yes, that is how long it keeps. Probably even longer if you don’t eat it. While there are hundreds of recipes, some featuring treacle, pork fat, and even sour cream, this one is pretty basic. I have made other versions too, but the honey, muscovado, and malt version is my favorite by far. If you want to learn more about the origins of gingerbread, I suggest you check out this article.
How to make gingerbread cookie dough?
First of all, you will have to gather all your ingredients. You have to carefully choose what spices you are going to put in your dough and how much. I like my dough to have quite a kick so I add lots of spices. Now there is one ingredient that will determine the type of gingerbread you will get. By adding baking soda, this gingerbread recipe will give you soft and chewy cookies. If you don’t add soda, you will be able to roll your dough thinner and it will stay that way without puffing up. That will give you thinner and crispier cookies. So that point is up to you. To make homemade gingerbread you will have to melt the butter, sugar, honey, and malt extract in a pot, add the spices, flour and stir with all your strength. The perfect way to make homemade gingerbread cookies.
After the dough will be cooled, the eggs and the rest of the flour are added, you will need to knead it on a hard surface. Just like any other dough, it will get smooth and soft, and pliable. Now you can divide it into as many pieces as you would like. I divided the dough in half and baked half of the cookies now and left the rest for Christmas and New years. There are no precise amount of cookies that can be made from this dough. Depends on your cooky cuter shapes and plans.
Once your dough has been sitting in the fridge for ideally a few weeks, it is time to bake. I suggest taking the dough out of the fridge in the morning of the day of baking. It will be really hard to handle, so bringing it to room temperature will help. After that just roll it out on a hard surface. You shouldn’t need much flour, I try to not use any and just work quickly. Roll, press, remove and bake. If you don’t add any flour it is super easy to knead the scraps together again and press out more homemade gingerbread cookies.
Happy Holiday baking!
Homemade gingerbread cookies
Ingredients
- 300 g malt extract
- 200 g butter
- 200 g dark brown muscovado sugar
- 200 g honey
- 2 eggs
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 800 g flour
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground cloves
- 2 tsp nutmeg
- 2 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 2 tsp ground allspice
- Zest from 1 orange
Instructions
- In a pot add the butter, honey, sugar and malt extract, bring to a boil, then immediately remove from heat
- Add ½ of the flour, add the spices and mix with a wooden spoon until the dough sticks off the sides of the pot
- Beat the eggs and soda with a fork
- Let the dough cool slightly, add the egg mixture and the rest of the flour
- Throw out the mixture on a hard surface and knead for 5 minutes
- Wrap in plastic wrap and let it age so the flavors come together
- It can keep in the fridge for years even, I have found that it is the best a few months in
- Alternatively, make a week or two before Christmas
- When you are ready, bring the dough to room temperature, roll it out to your desired thickness
- Cut out hearts or stars or any other shapes you want
- Bake at 180 for 10-15 minutes