Gingerbread Cut-Out Cookies

These cookies were a huge hit at our house. My 5-year old and I had a great time prepping the dough, rolling out the cookies, and baking these tasty treats up. Of course decorating was probably her favorite part. She was really into polka dots this time around! And she wanted to use quite the assortment of shapes - including lips and hearts. And as much fun as prepping these cookies was - eating them was the best of all. We pulled out two once they were decorated and set, and put them in the freezer to save for Santa - the rest disappeared in about 2 days flat.

These gingerbread cookies bake up super tender and with a wonderful warm flavor that's not overpowering. There's no sharp bite of spice, just warmth. They are absolutely the perfect tea or coffee cookie (totally valid for breakfast, right?!) This recipe will be made again soon, for sure. Perfect to share with your family and friends this time of year. Any cookie exchange would be lucky to have these! :)

Gingerbread Cut-Out Cookies from Taste of Home

Ingredients
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/3 cup molasses
1 large egg
2 tablespoons water
2-2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

Directions

1. Cream the butter and brown sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer, scraping down the sides as needed. Blend in the molasses, egg, and water.
2. In a separate bowl, combine remaining dry ingredients and mix well.
3. In batches, slowly add in the dry ingredients into the blended sugar mixture, again scraping down the sides as needed. Blend just until combined.
4. Scrape out dough onto a large sheet of plastic wrap, and cover completely. Stash in the refrigerator at least 2 hours, or until ready to roll out and bake.
5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and line a large baking tray with a silpat.
6. Break chilled dough in half (work with one half at a time). Sprinkle counter, rolling pin, and dough lightly with flour (adding more as needed to prevent sticking to counter and rolling pin). Roll out to about 1/4" thickness, and cut into desired shapes. 
7. Place prepared shapes onto lined baking sheet, about 1-2" apart. Any remaining dough should go back into the refrigerator until you're ready to bake the next batch to keep the dough from becoming difficult to handle and spreading during baking.
8. Bake in single batches about 8-10 minutes (10 minutes worked well for mine) - the edges should be dry, but the cookies still soft. Allow to cool about 5-minutes on the tray, and then remove to a wire rack to finish cooling. Continue with additional batches until all dough has been used.
9. Decorate as desired after they've cooled.