Decorated Spice Cookies
Submitted by blimp
Spice cookies with cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, and clove rolled and cut into festive shapes. The perfect Christmas cookie for decorating with royal icing.
YIELD
48 servingsPREP
40 minCOOK
10 minREADY
These are the workhorse cookies of the holiday season, sturdy enough to roll, cut, and decorate without breaking, with a warm spice profile that pairs beautifully with bright royal icing. Five spices (cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, and clove) give the dough depth that simple sugar cookies can never match.
The critical move is the chill time. Refrigerating the dough for at least an hour, divided into thirds, is what makes these cookies roll cleanly without sticking and hold their cut shapes during baking. Skip the chill and your reindeer turn into amoebas in the oven.
Working with one third of the dough at a time, keeping the rest chilled, is the smart way to roll. Butter softens fast at room temperature, and warm dough is impossible to cut cleanly. Keep it cold, work fast, and the cutouts come out crisp.
Rolling to a quarter inch thick is the sweet spot. Thinner cookies turn crisp and snap easily under icing. Thicker cookies stay too soft to hold up to elaborate decorating.
Using room-temperature butter, not melted, is what gives these cookies their tender, melt-in-the-mouth texture. Melted butter would produce a denser, less rollable dough.
Pro Tips
- Use a light hand with flour when rolling, too much makes the cookies dry and tough
- Re-roll scraps once or twice, but no more, the dough toughens with each handling
- Bake until edges are just starting to brown for soft cookies, longer for crispier ones
- Cool completely before icing, warm cookies melt the icing into a glaze instead of holding piped detail
Variations
- Add a quarter cup of finely chopped crystallized ginger to the dough for a chewier, gingerier cookie
- Swap half the granulated sugar for brown sugar for a deeper, molasses-tinted flavor
- Sprinkle the rolled-and-cut cookies with sanding sugar before baking for a glittery finish without piping
Ingredients
Directions
In a large bowl mix flour, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, salt, allspice and cloves until blended.
In another large bowl beat butter and sugar with electric mixer until light and fluffy.
Beat in egg and vanilla.
Reduce mixer speed to low and gradually add flour mixture, beating until well blended.
Divide dough in thirds.
Shape each into a ball and flatten to a 1-inch-thick round.
Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate 1 hour or until firm enough to roll.
Heat oven to 375℉ (190℃).
Have cookie sheets ready.
On a lightly floured surface roll one third of the dough at a time (keep remainder refrigerated) to ¼ inch thickness.
Cut dough in desired shapes with floured 3-inch cookie cutters.
Place 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
(Chill and reroll scraps.)
Bake about 12 minutes or until cookies are golden on undersides and edges are just starting to brown.
Cool completely on sheet on wire rack.
Ice and decorate as desired.
Let stand until icing hardens, about 2 hours.
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