christmas gingerbread cookies

 This gingerbread cookies are  (gingerbread)  easy to decorate, they are very easy to prepare, use cutters with Christmas motifs or you can make your own molds to build houses.

Gingerbread dates from the 15th century, and figural biscuit-making was practiced in the 16th century.The first documented instance of figure-shaped gingerbread biscuits was at the court of Elizabeth I of England. She had the gingerbread figures made and presented in the likeness of some of her important 

Today it is not only a Christmas sweet it is also a symbol of holidays. You can ice them with royal icing. Use brown sugar  only if you cannot find molasses or honey. And use a attractive shape to cut cookies. 

Preparation time: 20 minutes, plus cooling time for the dough, 1 hour approx.

Cooking time: 12-13 minutes

Quantity:  36  approx.

Ingredients

1/2 cup (100 grams) of white sugar

1/2 cup (170 grams) molasses or honey or melted brown sugar 

1-1 / 2 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon cloves, ground

1/8 teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground

2 teaspoons (8 grams) of baking soda

1/2 cup (8 tablespoons, 113 grams) unsalted butter at room temperature, cut into chunks

1 egg, lightly beaten

3-1 / 2 cups (420 grams) all-purpose wheat flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

To decorate: icing and colored sprinkles

Preparation

In a medium saucepan, over medium heat, place the sugar and molasses, mix, add the spices and heat until it begins to boil, stirring the mixture a little.

Remove from heat, add the bicarbonate and mix well. Keep in mind that the mixture will rise a little and will form like a foam, continue mixing and add the butter in two or three parts, so that it melts easily and helps to lower the temperature of the mixture. Add the egg as we beat quickly so that it does not set.

In a large bowl place the flour with the salt, stir and add the molasses and spices mixture. Mix with a wooden spoon and then continue kneading with your hands, if necessary change the dough to a surface to knead better and form a ball (if your pot is large enough, you can add the flour directly if you need to change it to a bowl ).

Divide the dough into two or three parts and wrap in plastic wrap or waxed paper. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour. When cutting the cookies, take the portion of dough to work about 5 minutes before.

Preheat the oven to 325 ° F / 160 ° C. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface, cut the cookies and place them on two trays prepared with greaseproof paper. 

Bake for 12-13 minutes, remove from the tray with the help of a spatula (the cookies will be soft) and place them on a rack to cool, once cold they will have more consistency.

To decorate, prepare the icing and decorate freely using the colored sprinkles. 

Notes:

To make the icing  can use powdered meringue, following the recipe on the package. You can make the traditional royal icing with preferably pasteurized egg white, or the simpler icing that is icing sugar and milk or lemon juice until it reaches the desired consistency. I have used this icing in sugar cookies to decorate .

The number of cookies depends on the size of the cutters.

The texture of the biscuit is smooth, if you want it more crunchy, you just have to make it thinner and leave it in the oven a little longer, it's a matter of testing how toasted you want it