Every year, I dream of baking Christmas cookies with my kids, snow softly falling outside and each of us decorating cookies together, laughing, while Christmas carols play in the background….and then December hits, we furiously bake cookies, I forget to add baking soda and I realize that Henry’s version of cookie decorating is dunking each cookie in icing and scattering sprinkles haphazardly on top. Are my days of baking beautiful Christmas cookies long gone?! I refuse to let it be so.

And so last year, as I was scrubbing the sticky remains off my floor, I promised myself that I would create a cookie that requires a good icing dunk, and a haphazard dump of sprinkles. I call this the perfectly-imperfect gingerbread because one simple batch makes well over a hundred small cookies, your children can decorate them as wildly as they want (with the supplies suggest of course) and you can share with all the people in your life and tell them, truthfully, that your children made them (with care😂) Don’t worry, you will still get to enjoy the Christmas tradition stepping on sprinkles for the next three weeks!

Recipe

Lemon-Glazed Gingerbread Snowflake Cookies

Ingredients

2/3 cup butter, softened
1 cup dark brown sugar
1/3 cup blackstrap molasses
2 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/2 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp ground cardamom
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
4 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups icing sugar
Juice of a lemon

Directions

Cream together butter, sugar and molasses in the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat in each egg, one at a time.
Add the salt, ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, baking soda, and baking powder to the bowl and mix.
Slowly add flour, 1/2 cup at a time, while the mixer runs on low, until all the flour is incorporated.
Form the dough into 4 flat balls, cover and chill for at least 2 hours or overnight.
When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 F. On a floured surface, roll out the dough to about 1/8” thickness, and cut out using a detailed cookie cutter (these were the type I used!)
Bake on a parchment-lined sheet for 8 minutes. Allow to cool on the sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a baking rack.
Once fully cooled, whisk together icing sugar and lemon juice to make the glaze. Place baking rack over a piece of parchment or a large cookie sheet (for easier cleaning). Dip the top of each cookie in the glaze, and set on the baking rack to drip off. Sprinkle with sprinkles, as many as you like! Store in an airtight container, if you don’t eat them all right away!