Makes about 24 medium size cookies. Popular for holidays and year-round. Makes 1 standard-size gingerbread house, ( about 6-inch tall, 5-inch long, 5.5-inch wide)This recipe can also be used to make delicious edible gingerbread houses. Check notes.
Prep Time10 minutesmins
Cook Time8 minutesmins
Chill4 hourshrs
Total Time4 hourshrs18 minutesmins
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: Slovak
Keyword: edible dough for gingerbread houses, gingerbread, honey cookies, medovnicky
Servings: 12
Author: Hani Bacova
Ingredients
HONEY COOKIES
Cookie Dough
5tbsproom temperature butter (70grams)
1⅓gramspowdered sugar (160 grams)
3tbsp honey
2whole eggs at room temperature
2¾ to 3cupsall-purpose flour (400 grams)
1tspvanilla extract
1tspbaking soda (use only 1/8 to 1/4tsp when making an edible gingerbread house)
1 1/2tspground cinnamonpreferably Saigon
1/2tspground star anise (optional)
1/4tspginger
1/4tspcloves
pinchsalt
2tsplemon zest (optional)
Egg Wash
1egg(optional)
Instructions
Honey Cookie Dough
In a medium bowl, sift flour (2 cups and 3/4cup to 3 cups, 400grams), baking soda (1tsp), ground cinnamon (1tsp and 1/2tsp), ground star anise (1/2tsp), ginger (1/4tsp), cloves (1/4tsp), salt (pinch).
Cream room temperature butter (5tbsp, 70grams) and powdered sugar (1cup and 1/3cup, 160 grams). Beat till fluffy. Then beat in eggs (2 whole eggs), one at a time. Scrapping bowl a few times. Then gradually pour in honey (3 tablespoons), vanilla extract (1tsp), and lemon zest (2 teaspoons), optional). Scrape the bowl with a spatula and beat for a minute or so.
Then on low speed and gradually add flour sifted with spices and baking soda. Beat till combined. Invert the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for a minute. If the dough appears too sticky add a little more flour. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.
Preheat oven to 350F - 360F (176C-182C).
Line your cookie sheets with parchment paper or perforated mat.
Roll the dough between 2 pieces of parchment paper to 2/16 (3mm). If needed very lightly flour your bottom parchment paper. Roll the dough into approximately 3-4 mm thick. Cookies puff up in the oven. For even thickness use rolling guides.
Cut out cookies and transfer onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Bake cookies for 6-8 minutes until puffy and golden.Larger cookies may take a little longer to bakeTry to bake smaller shapes and larger shapes separately, smaller shapes will be baked before larger ones. Remove from the oven, let cool for a couple minutes on the baking sheet, and then transfer to a cooling rack
Egg Wash (optional, use for shiny cookies)
Whisk the egg well, and then strain the egg to remove any egg bits.
Applying Egg Wash
To create a shiny finish on cookies, brush the cookies right after you take them out of the oven while they are still hot. Be sure not to add too much egg wash as it can drip down the sides and under the cookies.
Gingerbread House
This recipe can be use to make tasty gingerbread houses. When using to make gingerbread house use only 1/8 tsp to 1/4 tsp baking powder.
Bake Gingerbread House Panels
Roll the cookie dough for gingerbread houses to 1/8 inch (3mm) to 4mm. Bake large gingerbread house panels for 10-14 minutes, or until golden and light brown. Smaller cookies take shorter time to bake. Let panels cool on a baking sheet for 10 minutes then transfer them onto a cooling rack to cool completely.
Notes
DO I HAVE TO USE STAR ANISE? I DON'T HAVE IT. - I love using star anise, but if you don't have it or can't find it's okay to skip it. The flavor of the finished cookies will still be delicious because of the other spices used.
HOW DO YOU GRIND SPICES? -I use a small coffee grinder. Then I sift ground spices thru a fine mesh sieve.
HOW LONG DO HONEY GINGERBREAD COOKIES LAST? - Stored in an airtight container, they last up to 4 weeks.
HOW WOULD YOU DECORATE THESE WITHOUT ICING? -Decorate cookies before baking with walnuts, pecans, almonds, pumpkin seeds, chocolate chips, coconut, or dried fruit. Brush a little egg wash on the cookies before they are baked, and then embellish them with toppings. Or brush cookies with a little bit of water instead.
I WANT TO DECORATE THESE COOKIES WITH ROYAL ICING, BUT THEY ARE SLIGHTLY DOMED, WHAT'S THE BEST WAY TO DECORATE THESE WITH ROYAL ICING? - Yes, cookies bake slightly domed. They are known for their rounded edges. If you plan to decorate these with simple piped designs, having the dough exposed, decorate the rounded top. Especially if you brushed it with an egg wash, it looks very pretty. However, when decorating a whole cookie with icing you have to be careful not to add too much icing onto the cookie, or it can overflow. The best course of action is to decorate the underside as it's flat. I used this method to make my Easter Gingerbread House. Or use slightly thicker icing to outline and flood with the thinner icing.
WHAT ICING FLAVORS DO YOU RECOMMEND? -Lemon, Vanilla, Almond, Chocolate.
CAN I USE THIS RECIPE TO MAKE A GINGERBREAD HOUSE? - Yes, absolutely. You are going to love it. You can use this recipe to make a gingerbread house. Use 1/8 tsp to 1/4 tsp baking soda instead of 1 tsp. Here isStep by Step Tutorial on how to build a Simple Edible Gingerbread House using this recipe.
CAN I USE MOLASSES? - I'd recommend using honey and molasses (1:1 ratio).