Butterscotch Gingerbread Cookies Recipe {Merry Christmas} (2024)

FAQs

What makes gingerbread cookies crack on top? ›

You have a few things that can go wrong: The oven isn't hot enough. (it needs to set the top before the middle's fully risen) Not enough leavening (it needs to be strong enough to crack the top once it's set)

Expert-Verified Answer

The main ingredient in gingerbread cookies are flour, ginger or molasses, honey, cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, and sweetened with sugar. Although it was first brought to Europe in 992 AD by an Armenian monk named Gregory of Nicopolis, gingerbread in Europe really comes from Torun, Poland.

Chill and Bring to Room Temperature: Chill the dough for at least two hours or overnight, but make sure to bring it back to room temperature before rolling and cutting. Space Out on Baking Sheet: Leave enough space between each cookie on the baking sheet to prevent them from spreading into each other.

Should gingerbread cookies be hard or soft? Soft gingerbread biscuits are ideal. They ought to be flexible. However, they should still be somewhat elastic, and if you hold them too firmly because you're so excited to eat them, you might even be able to leave your fingerprints on the cookie!

Too much butter made for sticky dough, but delicious cookies. I had to use a spatula to lift these people-shaped cutouts from my flour-dusted countertop and onto a baking sheet. The dough was sticky, which resulted in slightly swollen cookies, but the finished product was nearly perfect.

Chill in the refrigerator for at least two hours to allow the dough to firm up, and up to three days ahead.

If your cookie dough is too dry and crumbly, it might not have enough fat. This is a common problem with recipes that use all-purpose flour. To fix this, you can add more fat to the dough. This can be in the form of butter, shortening, or even olive oil.

Gingerbread cookies became a sign of the more elegant side of England because of the gold leaf that was used to decorate them. Gingerbread houses began in Germany during the 16^th century. These cookie houses were decorated with foil and gold leaf and quickly became a Christmas tradition in the country.

Originally gingerbread was made with honey and breadcrumbs

One of the earliest English recipes for gingerbread, written down in the fifteenth century, didn't actually contain any ginger! Instead bread crumbs or 'gratyd brede' were mixed with boiled honey and formed into a stiff paste with saffron and pepper.

Why refrigerate gingerbread cookie dough? ›

Chilling it for at least two hours or overnight gives the ingredients a chance to absorb one another, making it a whole lot easier to roll out the dough without it cracking. Follow this tip: Let the dough chill in the refrigerator, well-wrapped, for at least two hours or overnight before rolling it out.

Q: Why are my cookies so puffy and cakey? Whipping too much air into the dough. That fluffy texture you want in a cake results from beating a lot of air into the room temperature butter and sugar, and it does the same for cookies. So don't overdo it when you're creaming together the butter and sugar.

Anyhow, there are two ways you can cook gingerbread, but there is only one right answer. Gingerbread cookies should be soft. They should be supple. They should bend to your teeth before the cookie skin breaks and the crumbs fall all over you.

“It shouldn't look flat or dry,” he said. “There are some gingerbread recipes that are hard right after baking and need to sit for a few days to soften. Molasses and honey hardens gingerbread, but as the sugar absorbs moisture, it will get softer.”

Light colored cookies with dark speckles typically indicates that the cookies are underbaked. You can stick the stone back in the oven for another few minutes and they should finish baking. So how do you know when to bake longer than the recipe calls for? It helps if you have a thermometer in your oven.

Don't overcook the cookies!

They should still be soft when removed from the oven but will firm up on cooling. Don't be tempted to cook them until firm as they will be very hard and dense!