Butterscotch Gingerbread Cookies

How to make a favorite holiday recipe

One thing I love about December is that it gives me a chance to make one of my favorite recipes, butterscotch gingerbread cookies. I suppose there is nothing stopping me from making the cookies anytime, but they wouldn’t feel as special as it does at Christmastime.

The recipe says it makes 12 large cookies or more small ones. I always at least double the recipe, and use small cookie cutters to maximize the number of cookies. I like to give cookies I bake away as gifts, so more smaller cookies is better for me.

The first step is to mix butterscotch pudding mix with the butter and brown sugar. This blends really easily, and then you add in the egg and remaining dry ingredients as you mix. I personally like to double the cinnamon and ginger amounts, because I really like a flavorful cookie. But that is totally optional.

Once everything is mixed, it is time to roll out and use cut with cookie cutters. I find that this goes much smoother if you refrigerate the dough for a bit before rolling them out. But if your dough is stiff enough without that, go ahead and skip it.

After you roll out dough, use cookie cutters to create any shape you desire. Just because they are gingerbread, doesn’t mean they have to be in the shape of people. I like to use other holiday themed shapes because they are smaller and create more cookies. It also gives more variety and creates a nice display if you are serving them or packaging them up.

Place the cookies on an ungreased cookie sheet and back at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes. Remove from oven when the bottoms start to turn golden brown.

Once the cookies have cooled, they are ready for decorating. I like to use frosting, along with colored sugar to create a festive look, but there are a lot of ways to switch of the decorating if you don’t have all the ingredients or if this is too sweet for you.

I make my frosting by mixing powdered sugar, vanilla, butter, and milk until the consistency seems right. Then to complement the taste of the gingerbread, I add cinnamon and a dash of ginger. I do this by taste, and adjust the other ingredients until it seems just right.

When it comes time to frost, use a small spatula to cover the cookies lightly with frosting. If you add too much, it will start to drop off the edges. Once the cookies are coated, immediately cover with colored sugar until you have achieved the visual you want. If you wait too long to sprinkle with sugar, the frosting will start to harden and the sugar will not stick. I like to coat the frosting entirely, so that the cookies actually look the color of the sugar. But I know this is too sweet for some people, so less is perfectly fine too. Once done, let cookies sit for awhile until the frosting hardens enough and allows the sugar to stick. Then you can stack the cookies and the frosting will not stick and the sugar will not fall off.