Blogmas Day 4: Recipe for Gingerbread Cookies

It’s National Cookie Day! And it’s Blogmas Day 4! Sharing a classic Christmas cookie recipe was an easy choice for today’s post. This recipe is a family staple. Each year my Mom and I do what her and my Grandma used to do- spend an entire weekend making cookies. We make several kinds of cookies, and multiple batches of each. (I think the record is 6 of each!) It’s exhausting, but so much fun, and so worth it.

This recipe for gingerbread cookies is written on an index card in my great-grandmother’s handwriting. It’s now beginning to fade, but I expect no one has the heart to rewrite this piece of family history.  So in an effort to protect the sacred artifact, it is kept in a plastic page protector 51 of the 52 weeks of the year, and is only allowed out of its casing when it is absolutely needed- for the baking of the cookies.

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Decorating

While each year we make gingerbread cookies, my family has never done any sort of decorating, or gingerbread house-making.  Why this is, I’ve never know. But I’ve never really cared.

Despite the lack of fancy decorating that occurs, the gingerbread cookies still remain a Christmas staple in our family, and the holiday season just wouldn’t be the same without them.  There is something about the taste of the spices in this cookie that is almost refreshing in your mouth. Pair them with some rooibos tea while reading in bed at night, and they’re just *chef’s kiss.*

Ingredients & Tools

This recipe isn’t difficult to make. There’s a decent amount of ingredients, but nothing that is difficult to find. The butter should be at room temperature, so that does require a little bit of planning.

The original recipe calls for 4 tbsp of grated orange peel. However, my Mom prefers to use 2 tbsp. She says it’s too overpowering, but I honestly have never noticed a difference in taste. The important thing to note, is that if you are using fresh peel from an orange (and grating it yourself), you should not use more than 2 tbsp. It will be overpowering. Both the fresh and dry peels work for the recipe if adjusted correctly.

When I make this recipe with Mom, we use the big Kitchen Aid mixer. It makes the mixing process super easy, especially since when we make our cookie doughs, we make several batches of each cookie, right after the other. But, since the mixer is not my own, next year I may be trying this with just a hand mixer. I think it’s doable, but it won’t be as easy. Guess we’ll have to wait until Blogmas 2022 to find out!

Final Notes

I highly recommend chilling the dough overnight. It makes it easier to work with when it’s time to roll the dough out. You may need to wait a little bit for the dough to warm up slightly, but it just works better when you give it more time. I also recommend breaking the dough into 4 balls before chilling it.

Do you make Christmas cookies each year? Do you like gingerbread cookies? I hope you try this recipe for gingerbread cookies! If you do, be sure to tell me what you think of it!

This post may contain affiliate links, which means I’ll receive a commission if you purchase through my links, at no extra cost to you. Please read full disclosure for more information.