Every December, our kitchen fills with warm spices and excited little helpers. We follow a lovely recipe from @fiona_egan_cookery_school. Thank you, Fiona. These gingerbread cookies have become a much-loved Christmas tradition.
Baking with the kids is busy but always great fun! My two, always help roll the dough and choose their favourite cutters. We always make stars, trees, and plenty of gingerbread people. After baking, I let the cookies cool and then freeze them. This really helps when the busyness of Christmas sets in!
When Christmas gets hectic, I know the freezer is stocked and I can pull out batch anytime. We often pull out a batch over the next few weeks and spend an evening adding icing and decorating them, my kids absolutely love doing this!
If their friends are visiting, I often set up a small Gingerbread Christmas Cookies station. Bowls of icing, melted chocolate and sprinkles are my go to. The children love choosing colours and adding their own details. It’s a fun way to pass a winters evening.
I also enjoy giving these cookies as edible gifts. I pack them in little cello bags with a festive ribbon. Teachers, friends, and family always appreciate something homemade. Also I think edible gifts feel thoughtful and a more sustainable way of gifting .
This simple tradition brings us together each year. We make memories, share laughter, and fill the house with Christmas the most beautiful smell. It’s one of my favourite parts of the Christmas.
Enjoy every moment of baking, decorating, and gifting these gingerbread treats. And please tag @littleloucooks if you make a batch—I’d love to see your creations!
Gingerbread Christmas Cookies
Equipment
Ingredients
- 112 g soft butter unsalted
- 140 g soft brown sugar
- 1 medium egg lightly beaten
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 340 g self raising flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- To decorate
- 150 g chocolate dark or milk melted
- Sprinkles
Instructions
- In a bowl, beat the butter and sugar until light and creamy (you can do this in a standing mixer, using an electric beater or with a wooden spoon). Add the egg and honey beat again. Sieve in the self raising flour, baking powder, ginger and cinnamon, mix until the dough comes together.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured worktop. Flatten and wrap in a food bag and chill for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven 180ºC and line 2 baking trays with parchment paper.
- Lightly flour the worktop. Break off ¼ of the dough at a time and shape into a round ball. Roll out with a lightly floured rolling pin to the thickness of a 1 euro coin. Use cookie cutters to press into the dough. Transfer onto a baking tray and bake for 10-12 minutes approximately – they should be lightly golden. For even baking you can turn the tray after 8 minutes.
- Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- To decorate, dip in the melted chocolate, and top with sprinkles. Chill for 30 minutes in the fridge and enjoy.
- This cookie dough will keep wrapped in the fridge for 1 week. It freezes perfectly just defrost in the fridge overnight and continue from step 3. Or make and bake and freeze for up to 3 months.
- **For my cookies I used regular salted butter and omitted the salt in the recipe**
2 thoughts on “Gingerbread Christmas Cookies”
Made these today with my 6yr old – very easy to follow, recipe came together great and the biscuits are lovely! He gave them two big thumbs up. I actually like them too which is a surprise considering I don’t usually like gingerbread biscuits!
This is just the best to hear thanks so much. Lou :)