Trisha Yearwood’s gingerbread cookies are a thin, snapping ginger cookie made with shortening, molasses and cider vinegar, iced with royal icing. That makes them a good Christmas cookie exchange batch or a gift tin filler, since one dough gives five dozen cookies. No butter goes in at all.
Start with 4 cups of flour and stop as soon as the dough is firm. The recipe allows 4 to 5 cups, which is a swing of 115 grams, and every extra quarter cup pushes the cookie drier and tougher.
This is a snapping cookie, not a soft one, and the title never says so. Rolled to an eighth of an inch and baked 5 to 6 minutes at 375 degrees, it comes out thin and crisp like a gingersnap.
Trisha Yearwood Gingerbread Cookies
Course: DessertCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Easy4
servings30
minutes40
minutes300
kcalShortening creamed with sugar, molasses and vinegar, spiced and chilled three hours, then rolled thin and baked fast. Finished with a whipped royal icing you can tint.
Ingredients
- For the Cookies:
1 cup vegetable shortening
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup molasses
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 large egg
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 to 5 cups sifted all-purpose flour, plus more for flouring
Nonstick cooking spray, for the baking sheets and rolling pin
- For the Royal Icing:
3 large egg whites, room temperature, or 2 tablespoons meringue powder with 6 tablespoons water
2 1/2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
Food coloring, for tinting, optional
Directions
- Cream and mix: Cream the shortening and granulated sugar in an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add the molasses, vinegar and egg and beat on high until the mixture is smooth. It will look loose at this stage, which is normal.
- Add the flour: Sift the ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, salt and 4 cups of the flour together. Add it to the creamed mixture and beat to a firm, manageable dough, adding more flour only if it still sticks to your hands. Wrap it in plastic and chill about 3 hours, until firm.
- Roll thin: Heat the oven to 375 degrees F and spray two baking sheets. Spray the rolling pin and flour the work surface lightly, then roll the dough to 1/8 inch thick and cut your shapes. Reroll the scraps for a few more.
- Bake fast: Space the cookies 1 inch apart and bake 5 to 6 minutes. At this thickness another minute will scorch the edges, so stay with the oven. Leave them 2 minutes on the sheet, then move them to a rack to cool completely.
- Whip the icing: Beat the egg whites with 1/3 cup of the confectioners sugar. Add another 1/3 cup with the cream of tartar and beat 10 minutes more. Add the rest of the sugar and beat until smooth and thick, tint if you like, and ice the cooled cookies.
Notes
- The 116 calories a cookie on the original checks out against the ingredients. Start at 4 cups of flour, not 5. Use meringue powder instead of raw whites if children will eat these.
FAQs
How much meringue powder replaces the 3 egg whites?
She offers meringue powder but never says how much, which is the one number you need. The usual swap is 2 teaspoons of powder plus 2 tablespoons of water for each white, so 2 tablespoons powder and 6 tablespoons water here. It also makes the icing safe for children.
Why all shortening and no butter?
Shortening has a higher melting point, so the shapes hold their edges in a hot oven better than butter does. The trade is flavor, because shortening brings none of its own. The molasses and spice carry this dough, so you miss it less than you would expect.
What is the cider vinegar doing?
Baking soda needs acid to work, and the two tablespoons of vinegar guarantee it reacts fully for lift. It also adds a faint sharpness that keeps a cup of molasses and a cup of sugar from tasting flat. You will not taste vinegar in the baked cookie.
Can I make them soft instead of crisp?
Roll the dough a quarter inch thick instead and pull them at 7 to 8 minutes, while the centers still look slightly underdone. They firm up as they cool on the sheet. For a soft gingerbread by design, try these gingerbread thumbprint cookies.
How do I store five dozen cookies?
Un-iced they keep two weeks in an airtight tin and freeze for three months. Iced, let the royal icing dry hard overnight before you stack them, with parchment between layers. Pair them with Danish butter cookies if you are filling a tin as a gift.
