Gingerbread Cookies Without Molasses Recipe

4.84 from 87 votes

Gingerbread Cookies Without Molasses Recipe

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A delicious classic gingerbread cookie recipe that doesn't contain molasses but has a wonderful depth of flavor that you expect

Prep Time40

Cook Time10

Chilling Time8

Total Time50

Servings: cookies

Author: Marcellina

Ingredients

2¾ cups (360 grams) all purpose (plain) flour (plus extra for rolling (See Notes 1 and 2))
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
¾ teaspoons baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons ground ginger (See Note 3)
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoons cloves
¼ teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
6 tablespoons (¾ stick/85 grams) unsalted butter ((at room temperature or softened) See Note 4)
¾ cup dark brown sugar (or light brown sugar)
1 egg (See Note 5)
½ cup (120 ml) dark honey (or regular honey)

Instructions

Important step before beginning this recipe. All my recipes use US measuring cups and spoons. Flour is measured by stirring to lighten, then spooned into the measuring cup and leveled with a knife. For greater accuracy, please use kitchen scales and weigh measurements.
Whisk (or sieve) all-purpose flour with baking powder, baking soda, salt, ground ginger, ground cinnamon, ground cloves, and ground nutmeg.
In an electric mixer, beat together butter, brown sugar and egg until well combined and lightened in color. Scrape down the sides.
Add honey and mix on medium speed until well combined.
Add the mixed dry ingredients then mix on low speed until completely incorporated. It may look dry at first but keep mixing until it combines. The dough should be thick but sticky. If the dough is very sticky, a little extra flour flour can be added to create the correct consistency.
Reader recommendation: Some readers have found the dough dry and corrected it with a little milk. That has never happened when I make this recipe, so I can't offer my personal recommendations.
Scrape the dough out onto plastic wrap. Cover with plastic and refrigerate overnight or for up to 5 days. Or freeze for 3 months.
Return the dough to cool room temperature before using so that it's not too hard to roll.
Preheat oven to 375ºF/190ºC. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
Divide the dough in half. Return one half to the fridge while you roll out the other half.
Place one half of the dough on a lightly floured surface.
Dust with a little flour over the dough and on the rolling pin. Alternatively, roll out between two sheets of non-stick parchment paper that has been dusted with flour. The dough may be quite sticky so don't be worried about using extra flour to keep the dough from sticking.
Roll dough to a ¼ inch (or just under ½ cm) thick, then cut out with your desired cutter - of course, gingerbread men are my favorite!
Press any scrapes of dough onto the remaining half and repeat rolling and cutting.
Continue pressing scrapes of dough together, rolling and cutting until all the dough is used up.
Transfer cookies to the prepared baking sheet, spaced a little bit apart.
Bake for 8-11 minutes - 8 minutes for softer cookies or longer for more crispy cookies. If your cookie cutters are small, the baking time will be less.
Remove cookies and allow to cool until they are firm enough to transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Decorate as you like. Read my tips below and more thorough instructions in the post.

Notes

Please note that this recipe, like all my recipes, uses US measuring cups and spoons.

Be sure to measure the flour carefully if using cups. Do this by stirring the flour to fluff it up, then spoon it into the measuring cup without packing the flour down.
I recommend using kitchen scales for this recipe. The correct weight is 360 grams. Usually, I find that one cup of flour weighs 120 grams. However, recently I made this recipe, and as I usually do, retested the weight versus cups. On that occasion, the weight for one cup was 130 grams. Therefore, I have changed the cup measurement down by 1/4 cup. Nevertheless, it is always 360 grams.
The ginger flavor is quite noticeable in these cookies. If you prefer a milder cookie, reduce the powdered ginger to 1½ teaspoons.
I use butter with at least 82% fat. This does make a difference. Butter with a lower fat content can affect the texture of the dough.
Use the correct size egg. I use eggs that weigh around 2 ounces (58 grams) each, which is 24 ounces (700 grams) for a dozen eggs. Check the package.

Tips for Success

Make the dough for this gingerbread cookies recipe without molasses ahead of time. This will give the spices time to develop and deepen, plus firm up the dough so that it's easier to roll out.
I prefer an electric mixer to make this gingerbread cookie recipe. However, you can also use just a wooden spoon and a bowl.
The longer you bake the cookies, the crispier they will be. For soft cookies, bake for 8-9 minutes. For crispy cookies, bake for 10-11 minutes, but watch carefully that they don't burn. Ovens vary, so times may be different.

To Decorate

Purchase cookie icing or writing icing in ready-to-use tubes or pouches from supermarkets.
If you can't find icing pouches, make a simple icing of 1 cup powdered sugar, ½ teaspoon vanilla extract, and 1-3 tablespoons water. Spoon this icing into small squeeze bottles to make decorating easier.
Alternatively, use a #3 or #4 piping tube and a disposable bag and royal icing, which is made with powdered sugar and egg white (the recipe is in my Snowflake Cookies recipe.

You'll find more information on substitutions, variations, and storage in the post above.

Nutrition