Gingerbread Cookies

Ingredients

3 cups all-purpose flour ( I like to use organic all-purpose)
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3/8 teaspoon all-spice
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
5/8 cup (10 TSBP) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup light or dark brown sugar 

1 large egg (free range, #savethechickens)
1/3 cup mild or regular molasses ( I like to use organic)

3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract (I use thrive market!)

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1) Make the dough

Sift dry ingredients 

• In a large bowl, sift together 3 cups of all-purpose flour, 1 1/2 teaspoons of ground ginger, 1 1/2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon, 3/8 of a teaspoon of all-spice, 1/2 of a teaspoon of baking soda, and 1/2 of a teaspoon of salt. Set aside.

Cream Sugar and Butter 

• In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream 5/8 cup (10TBSP) of softened unsalted butter, and 1/2 cup of light or dark brown sugar on medium speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes.
• Beat in 1 large egg, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed.
• Add 1/3 cup of molasses and 3/4 of a teaspoon of vanilla. Beat until fully mixed.
• Reduce mixer speed to low and add flour mixture until thoroughly combined about 30 seconds. The dough should be tender (not dry or crumbly) but not sticky. It should feel just like Play-Doh!! ‍
• If sticky, add flour one tablespoon at a time until the dough softens
• If dry and crumbly, add molasses one tablespoon at a time until the dough starts to stick together better.

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2) Prep and cut the dough

• Roll dough between two pieces of lightly floured parchment paper to the desired thickness (this helps you get a nice flat surface without the dough sticking to the roller)
• Chill rolled dough until it is cold and stiffer (too stiff and it won’t cut easily, so you will want some measure of softness). **(see note at the top for a shortcut)
• Cut desired shapes and transfer to parchment-lined baking sheets. I like to use a simple biscuit cutter since I will be adding browned butter- nothing fancy. 
• Chill shapes until ready to bake.

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3) Bake

• Preheat oven to 350º
• Bake until the edges just start to brown—8 minutes for medium cookies and 10 minutes for large cookies.
• You will notice the cookies go from a sheen on the top to matte. My go-to with cookies is usually once I start smelling them I know they are close to done. I also like a softer center so I am not afraid of pulling them out unfinished. They will be soft to the touch but maintain their flat shape. 
• Cool them completely since we will be putting butter (which will melt with any level of warmth on the cookie, trust me because I have 100% done this and flopped haha) 

Browned Butter Icing

• 1 stick salted butter, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 -2 cups powdered sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 pinch cinnamon
• Flaky sea salt

Brown the butter: 

• Heat the butter on the stovetop until it starts to brown (and smell DELICIOUS). If you let it brown too long, it starts to evaporate a bit or burn so just keep an active eye on it. It only takes a few minutes (think like you are using a broiler- that’s kind of how butter is on the stove, any second could be a second too long)
• I like to add the butter to my stand mixer and then add the rest of the ingredients: 

• 1 ½-2 cups of powdered sugar 
• 2 TSP vanilla 
• 1 pinch cinnamon

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Most icing bases are just butter and sugar, and it is very forgiving. So you can play around with consistency by the ratio of liquid to sugar ratio. You can always loosen up icing with a dash of milk, or thicken it with more powdered sugar. For this recipe, I wanted a more drip-like texture so that I could either dip the cookies or quickly ice them with piped lines back and forth.

• If you aren’t doing the dip method, you can pipe the icing on with an icing bag or a Ziploc bag (just snip one of the corners!).