Butterscotch Gingerbread Cookies Recipe {Merry Christmas} (2024)

FAQs

How do I stop my gingerbread cookies from spreading? ›

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.

Flour is the main ingredient in gingerbread cookies, as in most cookies. However, ginger and molasses are important ingredients as well, as they contribute to the cookies' unique taste. Gingerbread was brought to America with settlers from Europe, and has been a popular addition to the American diet ever since.

Why did my gingerbread cookies crack? Cracks usually occur when the flour has been over-scooped (resulting in a drier dough) or the dough was rolled too thickly. If the dough is too soft, you can get cracking. If you roll too thickly, you can get cracking.

Divide the dough into two thick disks and wrap each disk in plastic wrap. Refrigerate until chilled, about 3 hours. (The dough can be prepared up to 2 days ahead.) To roll out the cookies, work with one disk at a time, keeping the other disk refrigerated.

“Shortening can cause cookies to spread less due to its higher melting point,” Dawn explains. “Substitute it one-for-one by volume in a butter-based cookie recipe.

In Germany, gingerbread cookies called lebkuchen were heart-shaped and decorated with romantic messages. The city of Nuremberg became known as the "gingerbread capital of the world" in the 1600s, with master bakers creating elaborate works of art.

While molasses cookies and gingersnaps are rolled into dough balls and then baked, gingerbread is rolled flat then use cookie cutters to cut your desired shape. This Gingerbread Cookie recipe is foolproof and SO easy to make.

it's going to beat too much air into the butter. and it will cause the cookies to spread way too much. so those are the main issues that can cause too much spreading.

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!

Should you chill gingerbread 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.

If you'd like to get ahead, you can also freeze the gingerbread dough for up to three months. To freeze gingerbread dough, create small flat discs of dough balls and wrap each disc tightly in plastic wrap. Then thaw them at room temperature until they're able to be easily rolled out.

Molasses is a thick, goopy ingredient, so it wasn't a surprise that my dough came out on the stickier end of the texture spectrum when I used too much molasses. Even though it was thick, I was still able to form each cookie successfully with the person-shaped cutting tool.

After the gingerbread is cut out, Lomas recommends putting it into the fridge for at least 30 minutes and up to three days. Chilling the dough before it goes into a hot oven gives the butter a chance to firm up and reduces how much it spreads when baking.

If your oven is too high/too cold, then this can cause the dough to lose its shape and spread. If you're using a fan assisted oven, then drop the temp by 10 -20 degrees, the recipe you're using calls for the temp to be 180 degrees so try that and see if it solves the issue.

Fats in the dough melt in the oven, and if there aren't enough dry ingredients to hold the fat, it spreads, and the gingerbread loses its shape.