Gingerbread Ornament Recipe (Or Gingerbread House)
A simple gingerbread cookie ornament recipe to decorate for the holidays or use to make gingerbread houses. These gingerbread ornaments are made with less than ten simple ingredients and will hold up in dry or humid environments.
Servings: 4 dozen cookies
Ingredients
- 5 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons ginger
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon cloves
- 1 cup shortening
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 ¼ cup molasses
- 2 eggs, beaten
Instructions
Make the Cookie Dough
- Heat shortening over medium heat until almost melted. Remove from heat and let it continue to melt.
- In large bowl, combine the dry ingredients minus the sugar. I prefer to do this in my stand mixer, if you want a good arm workout, do this by hand. Set aside.
- Add sugar and molasses to shortening, mix well. Once it has cooled, add this and eggs to mixer. Mix well. Remove dough from bowl and form into a large disk, or 2 smaller disks. Wrap them in saran wrap and place in fridge.
- Chill at least 2 hours.
Roll and Bake
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Lightly flour work surface and roll out dough to desired thickness. I like it about ⅛-1/16 of an inch.
- If you are constructing gingerbread houses, make sure and put rolled dough onto baking parchment before cutting.
- For ornaments, make sure and poke the hole for the hanger to slide through before baking.
- Bake on parchment lined baking sheet until browned around the edges. This tricky to see, but you will be able to tell. My ornaments are generally baked about 10-15 minutes. This will depend on the thickness you cut your ornaments and house pieces at. I like them a little more crispy, especially when we lived in the South where it was so humid.
- Remove from oven. Let them cool for a few minutes on the pan, then place on a cooling rack. Allow house pieces to cool completely before starting construction.
- This dough can be made a week in advance. It freezes well too.
- Now, sit back and enjoy. You deserve it!
Notes
- Chill your dough. It takes at least a couple hours but I like to make mine the day before and let it chill overnight.
- Bake cookies on parchment paper. This will make it so much easier to remove after they are baked.
- Make sure you poke or cut holes in the ornament cookies BEFORE cooking. It should be large enough to insert a small ribbon or string, or an ornament hanger.
- For humid environments, I recommend baking your cookies a bit longer so they are crispier.
- Allow baked cookies to cool completely before assembling your gingerbread house or decorating your ornament gingerbread cookies.