Snowmen Gingerbread Cookies

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Snowmen Gingerbread Cookies

Photo: Natalie Levin

Summer vacation is definitely here, and all around me I see happy kids enjoying (almost) endless freedom that has landed on them, along with some lost parents who wonder what to do with their kids until back to school.

So apart from summer camps, going to the beach, swimming, hiking or just watching TV, you can also bake with them! The truth is that as a child this was one of my favorite activities and I remember how on holidays and vacations I used to bake cakes and cookies with my grandmother.

These following gingerbread cookies can be a great way to spend an afternoon with the kids in the air conditioner at home. These are gingerbread cookies shaped like snowmen that kids would be happy to make, cut, decorate and – of course – eat! They are very easy to prepare and Gingerbread lovers will fall in love with them. With a delicate taste of spices and cinnamon, a light scent of honey or maple, and especially sweet and colorful shapes – you simply won’t be able to resist them.

Snowmen Gingerbread Cookies

Photo: Natalie Levin

Snowmen Gingerbread Cookies

For the cookie dough:

  • 100 grams (1/2 cup) cold butter, cut into cubes
  • 120 grams (1/2 cup) dark brown sugar
  • 420 grams (3 cups) all-purpose flour
  • ¼ tsp. salt
  • ½ tsp. baking soda
  • ¼ tsp. baking powder
  • 1 tsp. ground ginger
  • 1 ½ tsp. ground cinnamon
  • ¼ tsp. ground cardamom
  • A pinch of ground cloves
  • 1 large egg
  • 180 grams (1/2 cup) maple or honey

For royal icing:

  • 150 grams (1 cup) powdered sugar
  • 1-2 teaspoons very cold water (gradually added)

For decoration:

  • Funfetti

Dough:

  1. In a food processor with a steel blade, put butter, sugar, flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, and cloves and blend until you get a fine crumbly mixture.
  2. Add egg and maple and mix until large chunks of dough are formed.
  3. Transfer the dough to a work surface, bring it together with your hands and flatten to a disc shape. Wrap in plastic wrap and cool for about an hour in the refrigerator.
  4. On a floured work surface, roll out the dough about 3-4 mm thick and cut-out cookies according to the desired shape.
  5. Arrange the gingerbread cookies on oven trays lined with baking paper.
  6. Preheat oven to 170 degrees.
  7. Bake the cookies for 12-15 minutes or until they are set to the touch but are still slightly soft in the center.
  8. Cool completely before decoration.

Royal icing:

  1. In a small bowl, mix together powdered sugar with 1 teaspoon of water and add the water gradually while stirring until it is you get a texture of very thick and paste-like icing.
  2. Transfer the Royal icing to a small piping bag and decorate the cookies with eyes, mouth and clothes or as you like. Before the Royal icing dries, you can dip in funfetti.
  3. Allow the icing to set on the cookies for about an hour in a cool, dry place and store in a sealed box.
  • You can make the cookies without decoration and leave them plain.
  • You can use any type of candy for decoration.
  • Instead of honey or maple, you can use dark molasses, which will give the dough a deeper, darker color.
  • The cookies are kept in a jar for up to two weeks.

Snowmen Gingerbread Cookies

Photo: Natalie Levin