Honey Gingerbread Cookies

I've always loved gingerbread cookies. For some reason they always taste best if they are cut into gingerbread boy or girl (or ninja!) shapes--biting off a head or leg creates more satisfaction than it probably should.

Gingerbread recipes vary greatly in texture, color, and spice. I remember some very strong gingerbread from my childhood (I think my great-aunt Myra made the ones I am thinking of), and I loved the pungent bite.

Not everyone is into strong and bitey gingerbread, including my family.  I found a milder recipe that includes the warm sweetness of honey. I tweaked the recipe slightly, and now the family has discovered the gingerbread love.

These cookies are gingery, but mild, and so incredibly tasty! They are fun to make because they require you to dig your hands right in. The texture in the finished cookie is flaky and crisp, and reminds me of shortbread.

The cookies are awesome on their own, but if you want to glaze them, this recipe for royal icing is perfect.

Honey Gingerbread Cookies                       Print Here

delicious and mild gingerbread that everyone will love!

1/2 c. sugar

3 c. all purpose flour

2 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

2 t. ground ginger

2 t. cinnamon

1/2 t. ground cloves

1/2 t. ground nutmeg

1 c. butter, cut into dots and brought to room temperature

1/2 c. honey

Combine sugar, flour, soda, salt and spices. Cut dry ingredients into butter with pastry blender. You can work the ingredients together with your fingertips if you do not have a pastry blender. Add honey and stir until well blended.

Cover bowl and refrigerate for at least one hour. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, or lightly oil with coconut oil.

When dough is chilled, heat oven to 350 degrees. On lightly floured surface, roll the dough out about 1/8 in. thick. (I have found it's helpful to take a handful of dough and spend a minute mashing it together into a ball before rolling it out. The dough will seem crumbly until you do this.) Use cookie cutters to cut out shapes and move the cookies to prepared baking sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes, or until just golden at the edges.

Leave plain...OR decorate with royal icing when cooled! Either way, these cookies will disappear, fast.