Decorated Nutcracker Cookies
I couldn’t resist; a few weeks ago I put up a Christmas tree (yes, I know, ahem, a few weeks ago), with some of these nutcracker ornaments.
This little guy got me thinking about nutcracker cookies.
Or cookie I should say. I only ended up making the one… He took a little longer than usual to finish. This pic shows the beginning stages of decoration.
Since I’m not very skilled at drawing (or adept at chosing the right side of the cookie apparently), I used an image of Christmas stickers with my KopyKake projector. First piped the dark outlines, then flooded the first layer. After that dried I added more layers of detail.
I’m thinking I’d like to try another one with him {below} as the inspiration:
Gingerbread has never been my favorite cookie, but I do like the taste of the recipe I use from my sister-in-law. It had a bit of a ‘bite’ to it originally (spicy), so I’ve changed it a bit over the years to make it a little more neutral. (Especially for kids!) If you like a bit more of a ‘kick’, add one teaspoon more of the ginger, cinammon and cloves and one teaspoon of pepper.
It’s a great recipe for gingerbread houses as well. If you’d like to try it out, check out the recipe below.
For the royal icing recipe, click here.
For a video on how I made the dough click here.
*Happy baking!
xo,
Marian
Gingerbread Cut Out Cookie Recipe
Ingredients
- 800 g all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder *omit if you don't want cookies to spread/rise
- 250 g unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup dark brown sugar, packed
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup molasses
- 3 tsp ground cinnamon
- 3 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp ground cloves
- 1 tsp salt
Instructions
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix butter and brown sugar on medium speed until fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and spatula as needed.
- Mix in eggs, one at a time, and then molasses. Reduce speed to low. Scrape down bowl as needed.
- Sift together flour, spices and salt and add to bowl; mix on low until just combined. Note that you would sift in the baking powder here as well, if you aren't concerned about the cookies spreading. Even environment and ingredients used affect baking, so if your dough is a bit sticky add flour until it's soft to the touch but doesn't stick to your fingers.
- Roll dough out between parchment or the Dough E-Z mat, and let it rest by refrigerating until cold, about 1 hour.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Cut out cookie shapes and place on baking sheet lined with parchment paper, approximately 2 inches apart, and re-roll out dough and cut shapes as needed. Refrigerate until firm; at least 15 minutes to 1 hour.
- Bake cookies until lightly golden; 10 to 14 minutes, depending on the size and thickness of the cookie. Let cool on sheets on wire racks and serve as is or decorate with royal icing.
Olivera says
Hi, Marian! The recipes are wonderful you. So nicely explained. Decoration is fantastic you. Well done. Just explain what it is molasses? 🙂
Marian (Sweetopia) says
Hello@ Olivera, Wikipedia can explain it better than I can:
Molasses is a viscous by-product of the beating of sugar cane, grapes or sugar beets into sugar.
Substitutes
Cane molasses is a common ingredient in baking, often used in baked goods such as gingerbread cookies. A number of substitutions can be made for molasses. For a given volume of molasses, one of the following may be used (with varying degrees of success):
black treacle (which is very similar to molasses)
honey
sweet sorghum syrup
barley malt syrup
maple syrup
¾ of the volume of firmly packed brown sugar, especially soft dark brown sugar
dark corn syrup
kecap manis, a sweet, syrupy soy sauce from Indonesia (which is also salted, unlike a sweetener)
You can find more information on it on the wikipedia link I used here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molasses
Olivera says
Tnx Marian 🙂
fran says
I adore your work and visit your site regularly. I’ve just noticed something hillarious about the nut cracker. His two sets of teeth are above his mouth! lol
Linda says
What a joy it is to see your decorated cookies! Thanks for sharing with everyone.
Is this recipe for a soft gingerbread or hard type?
marian says
HI @ fran: Funny!
HI @ Linda: The longer you bake them and the thinner you make them the crispier they will be. So, they can be either! 🙂
violeta says
Hi Marian, I am in love of this cookie, more than the others, I saw one at the Sugar Show and I will like to try it. Just a little question how tall, big is your cookie? Is more than 7″??? thanks.
marian says
Hi @ violeta: He is packed away deep in my boxes again, sorry, but I am guessing he is about 9″ tall. Hope that helps and have fun decorating!
Kathleen Hopper says
@ marian:
If you use a small touch of white to your base icing, then add the color, the color seems to pick up stronger and becomes more vivid without using to much product. (Just from my experience). Also powdered coloring is amazingly vivid without changing the consistency of the icing.
Illona says
Hi Marian,
Your works are absolutely gorgeous! And I truly appreciate the time and effort going into these works of art.
I have a question about the recipe. How far ahead can I make it? I have an event in about three weeks that I was thinking of making gingerbread houses for (to be eaten) but I don’t want to be rushed at the last minute, and want to make as many as possible. Your thoughts appreciated.
Thanks!
Phoebe says
looks so adorable!
Tatiana says
Hi Marian,
Your work is absolutely fantastic! Just one question, you say at the video we must leave house structure to dry between 12-24 hours before adding the roof. How do you avoid gingerbread to get too soft? Many thanks for answering, and brgds feom Spain.
Sweetchoca says
THANKS FOR SHARING YOUR LOVELY WORK,I’M YOUR FAN!GOD BLESS YOU…..
marian says
Hi @ Illona: Here is a post for you:
https://sweetopia.net/2012/02/how-long-do-decorated-cookies-stay-fresh-what-is-the-shelf-life-of-decorated-cookies/
Thanks, @ Phoebe!
Hi @ Tatiana: If you live in a humid environment, follow the tips from these post:
https://sweetopia.net/2012/01/video-how-to-dry-cookies-decorated-with-royal-icing/
https://sweetopia.net/2011/07/how-to-avoid-spots-on-icing/
Thanks, @ Sweetchoca! 🙂
Danielle says
Hi Marian!
I’m attempting to make these cookies for the first time this weekend and I’ve always heard that baking is a science…that being said- I have two questions!
1.) Do you sift your flour before or after you measure?
2.) I’m wondering how best to convert the measurements above since I don’t have a scale to weigh my ingredients and the recipe is listed in grams?
Thank you so much! I can’t wait to see how they turn out!
Marian (Sweetopia) says
Hi @ Danielle!
1) If I sift, I sift after I’ve measured my ingredient
2) That’s a tough one… I don’t really advise on converting without trying the ingredients (each ingredient has a different weight). I’m sorry, I’ll have to do this recipe in cups in the future (soon!).
Deanna says
Hi Marian 🙂 I’m really excited to try making my own gingerbread house with this recipe. When rolling out the dough is 1/4″ also a good thickness when making houses? Or is that only for shaped cookies.
Thanks!
Terri says
800 g—Is that grams?
Charlene says
@ Terri:
Yes g is grams
Tina says
Hi Marian,
Is this enough to build a ginger bread house or should I double the recipe?
marian says
Yes, @ Tina, it’s enough to build the small house I have/template I have posted. Happy decorating!
marian says
Hi @ Deanna: Yes that thickness if fine for a gingerbread house. Honestly you can make it as thick or thin as you like, keeping in mind really thin is more fragile, and thick walls harder to keep standing due to their weight.
Gina says
Hi Marian! You are the cookie queen, seriously. I have been addicted to your youtube video’s lately, trying to get myself ready to decorate cookies for christmas. I’m baking these gingerbread cookies as-we-speak and I just took a peek and they are all puffy and huge, the shape is totally distorted 🙁 any idea why this is happening? After I cut out the shapes I put them back in the fridge for about 20 minutes to firm up. They seemed firm to the touch, but maybe I didn’t let them chill long enough?? Please help! Thankfully I did a small test batch first so not too much dough is wasted…yet!! 🙁
marian says
Hi @ Gina: Yes, chill them more and here is a post for you on preventing spreading:
https://sweetopia.net/2011/04/top-8-tips-on-preventing-cookies-from-spreading/
If it’s too late for the dough you’ve made, bake the shapes and then cut them with the cutter again once they come out of the oven.
Hope that helps!
Liz says
Hi Marian, Apologies if you have had this question before, my computer won’t let me go back to all of the old questions from this post. I would love to make this gingerbread recipe but am in Australia and molasses is an ingredient that is pretty hard to come by. Is it possible to use something else? Golden syrup perhaps? Also do you have a recipe for chocolate cookies? Thanks so mch, your posts are inspring for this very new cookie baker!
marian says
No worries, @ Liz. I’ve had a few people ask me, and I’m not 100% sure actually. I thought Golden syrup would work best, but a few people were discussing it on my facebook page, and one person mentioned this link: http://frugalliving.about.com/od/makeyourowningredients/qt/Molasses_Sub.htm
Hope that helps!
marla says
Marian, this nutcracker cookie is gorgeous!
Sarah says
Marian, I’ve used Golden Syrup in several recipes from Australia, and I’ve also substituted molasses for the golden syrup and it works fine. Molasses, of course, makes the gingerbread darker and more traditional. The golden syrup is paler but still delicious…I added cloves for more zing. Good luck Aussie friends!
Lucia says
Hi, I was looking for a gingerbread cookie recipe and I found yours, I tried the past weekend and the cookies turned out amazing although I had to substitute molasses with golden syrup since I’m from Italy and molasses isn’t easy to find here.
Jessica says
I’m baking these cookies now. It was refrigerated for over an hour and now I’m trying to cut the shapes hut the dough is sticking to the cookie cutters even with flour everywhere. It’s seems too doughy. Any suggestions?
Tiffany says
Hi Marian,
Sorry if this has been asked already. Do you use fancy or blackstrap molasses? I find they’re quite different.
Thanks!
marian says
Thanks, @ marla!
Super, thanks, @ Sarah!
@ Jessica: Roll it between parchment and chill it periodically. xo
@ Tiffany: There’s one comment a few up from yours with an answer, and, since lots of people have been asking, I posted the question on facebook two days ago, and got lots of answers. I can’t copy and paste the link, but it was posted on Wed. Dec. 19th/12.
marian says
Ooops, @ Tiffany: I meant to answer that question elsewhere… i use fancy molasses.
Tiffany says
@ marian:
Thanks Marian, Merry Christmas!
Leyda says
Dear Marian,
I followed your gingerbread recipe and the cookies ended up very tasty, but a bit hard. Any idea why this may have happened? Also, is it possible to follow the exact recipe with light brown sugar instead?
Thank you!
Marian (Sweetopia) says
Hi @ Leyda: The longer you bake your cookies, the harder or crispier they will be. Try baking them a little less… Only bake them until the middle no longer looks ‘wet’. (Use your oven light to peek at them).
And yes, you can follow the recipe with light brown sugar – the color will just be lighter.
Jenny H. says
Hello,
is that the same recipe you were using for your gingerbread houses?