Everyone loves gingerbread, but not everyone has the patience or skill needed to roll out dough and decorate little men. Gingerbread Crinkle Cookies has all of that classic flavour in a soft, pillow-y cookie. And, no decorating skills or rolling pins needed!
Happy Monday, Dear Reader! Welcome to a brand new week of more Christmas cookie recipes. To be perfectly honest, the day of the week matters none to me. I bake and cook almost every single day. But, I go into full on baking mode on the weekends. And, that’s just what I was doing this weekend. What did you do?
Now, it might come as no surprise to my readers that I’m back with a third installment of Lord Byron’s 24 Cookies of Christmas. Should you be new here, let me tell you a bit about how this works. This is my third annual Christmas cookie extravaganza. Like the previous two years, I will post a brand new Christmas cookie recipe for 24 consecutive days. Yes, that means Saturdays and Sundays too! For your reference, you can find links to the first two years further down the page.
Fresh off of my 12 Biscotti of Christmas series, I’m excited to get this new series started. Last year, I also did 12 Bundt Cakes of Christmas. Now, who’s ready to get started on this journey with me? Have you had your morning coffee? Did you kick everyone (including the cats!) out of the kitchen? Is your apron on and your oven preheated? Good! Let’s get to it!
GINGERBREAD AND CHRISTMAS
I think we start eating gingerbread flavoured baked goods in late September. And, it really does continue until well into January. (That’s because I’ve baked so much, that our fridge is probably still running over with it until mid-January!)
Gingerbread are most commonly eaten at Christmastime. Why is that? Why do we only eat the most delicious things once a year? It’s like those of us who save our best China for when company comes to visit? Why does company deserve better than your own family? Anyway; I digress. Let’s get back to these Gingerbread Crinkle Cookies!
MORE CHRISTMAS COOKIE RECIPES!
Did you know that I’ve been posting a 24 Cookies of Christmas series for a few years now? There are over 100 Christmas cookie recipes that you can find right here at Lord Byron’s Kitchen! To make it easier to find, I have created a page for each series. Just click on the image below and you’ll find the full series for that volume all one page!
THE ORIGINS OF GINGERBREAD
The history of gingerbread is quite the story, and quite lengthy too. I love to learn about where food comes from and why we make food items the way we do. Gingerbread is no exception. The origins of gingerbread can be traced back to the year 992. It was created by an Armenian monk. He was responsible for teaching the French how to bake gingerbread.
In the 13th century, the Germans brought gingerbread to Sweden. Swedish nuns adopted gingerbread; they believed it to be medicinal and would help with issues like indigestion. They were responsible for the decoration of gingerbread and would paint them to look like church windows.
Fast forward to the 17th century. Gingerbread was being sold in pharmacies and town squares, again for medicinal purposes. Eventually, gingerbread found its way to North America and was first recorded in a cookbook dated 1796.
WE LOVE GINGERBREAD!
Lord Byron’s Kitchen is certainly no stranger to the wonderful spices that make up the awesomeness that is gingerbread. But, when it comes to gingerbread recipes itself, I’m afraid my blog is lacking. I have my Gingerbread Bundt Cake and my Gingerbread Truffles. There’s just so much more to do with the flavours of gingerbread!
I think when most of us hear the term gingerbread, we automatically think of an icing-covered, candy-coated, barely-standing-up-straight, too-tough-to-bite, cookie house at Christmastime. I use to love helping and watching McKenna decorate those when she was a kid, but Lord, it was messy!
My worry was that the cats were going to eat the icing and we all know just how that would end up! The gingerbread house was never eaten. It was always too hard, and by the time we got around to it, it had been sitting for a few days. Gross.
Trust me, these Gingerbread Crinkle Cookies won’t be sitting around for too long at all. They are delicious and it’s hard to eat just one!
MORE CHRISTMAS CONFECTIONS!
In some cases, we want more than a cookie. That’s why I have two more Christmas-themed collections you might want to consider. The first, is my 12 Bundt Cakes of Christmas, and the second is my 12 Biscotti of Christmas. Click on the image below to see each collection all on one page with links to each recipe!
STORING, PACKAGING, AND FREEZING
These cookies will stay fresh for about 5-7 days in a covered container and in a cool place.
If you plan to freeze these cookies, use a food-safe container that can be frozen. You’ll want to ensure a very tight fitting lid too. (I use these quite often when freezing baked goods.) I like to place a sheet of plastic wrap over the top of the container before pushing the lid on. This helps to create a better seal. The goal is to keep all of that cookie freshness locked in!
You can freeze these cookies for up to three months. A warning, however: in some cases, the confectioner’s sugar won’t look so great the more they are handled. If these are for you and your family, there’s really no big deal. It’s the taste that matters! But, if you plan to give them as a gift, I would not recommend freezing them first. Gift them as soon as they are cooled and packaged.
CONCLUSION:
As I said, every day I will be posting a new recipe. If you miss one, don’t fret. You can find my entire collection of Christmas Recipes right here! There are over 100 Christmas recipes and counting. There’s something for everyone! Cheers!
Gingerbread Crinkle Cookies
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup salted butter, softened
- 1 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1/4 cup molasses
- 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl, use a hand-held mixer to beat together the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy – about 3-5 minutes.
- Add the egg and molasses. Beat in until combined.
- Sift together the flour, baking soda, nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves. Add to the butter mixture and beat until just combined.
- Form dough into large disk and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 2 hours.
- When ready to bake, pre-heat oven to 350°F. Prepare a baking sheet by lining it with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Set aside.
- Sift the confectioner's sugar over a wide, shallow bowl. Set aside.
- Portion off enough of the chilled dough to roll into 1 inch balls. Roll the ball into the confectioner's sugar. Place on baking sheet, leaving 2 inches of space between each cookie.
- Bake for 14 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to rest for 3 minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack to finish cooling.
Nutrition
Debbie says
Byron, Just had to write and tell you that I made two of your cookies! One was the “Blue Christmas Cookies” and the other was the “Sweet Vanilla Biscotti”. My family and I will rate both of these as “10’s”,…oh I can only go as high as a five-star rating! The “Blue Christmas Cookie” totally intrigued me when I saw it on your website because there were no eggs in it at all, but it had sweetened condensed milk (one of my favorite things for cooking with). They were so soft and buttery, this is now one of my all-time favorite cookies! These will be made all year long. And, the “Sweet Vanilla Biscotti” was really great too…am anxious to try some of your other biscotti flavors now. Thank you for sharing your cookie recipes!
byronethomas@gmail.com says
Thank you, Debbie! 🙂
Shannon says
These are really good cookies. Baked up perfectly