Wassail Spiced Cider Gingerbread
Wassail Spiced Gingerbread
Gingerbread with a spiced cider twist! We added Wassail Spiced Cider to the dough and then incorporated another three tablespoons into the icing to really bring the tidings of good joy. The dough requires at least three hours to chill so keep that in mind if planning to have a go at it all in one night.
Ingredients:
10 tbsp unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
¾ cup packed brown sugar (dark or light)
2/3 cup molasses
½ cup Wassail Spiced Cider
1 lg egg at room temperature
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
3 ½ cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 tbsp ground ginger
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground allspice
½ tsp ground cloves
For the icing:
1 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar
½ tsp pure vanilla extract
3 tbsp Wassail Spiced Cider
Pinch salt
Directions:
Beat the butter (in a stand mixer or in a large bowl with a handmixer) until creamed and smooth, about one minute. Add sugar and beat on high speed until light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes. Add the egg, vanilla, and cider and beat on high until fully combined, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl. Turn the mixer to low and add about half of the flour mixture, beating until just barely combined. Add the rest of the flour and continue mixing until combined.
Divide the dough into 2 equal parts. Roll each portion out onto a piece of parchment until about ¼ inch thick. Stack the pieces onto a baking sheet, covered lightly, and refrigerate for anywhere from 2 hours to 2 days.
Once chilled, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2-3 baking sheets with parchment paper. Remove one of the dough pieces from the refrigerator and using a cookie cutter, cut in shapes. Transfer the cut cookie dough to the prepared baking sheet. Re-roll the remaining dough and continue cutting until all is used.
Bake for 10-12 minutes (less time needed very smaller shapes!), until very lightly colored on top and around the edges. Allow to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before icing.
For the icing, whisk the confectioners’ sugar, vanilla, and cider in a medium bowl. It should be very thick. Add more confectioners’ sugar as needed to thicken further. Add food coloring if desired – we divided into several bowls and added different colors for decoration. Put icing in squeeze bottles for easy decorating. Since we didn’t have any around, we put the icing into different ziplock bags per color, squeezed the icing to the bottom corner of the bag after closing, and then made a small snip at the corner of the bag. Decorate the cooled cookies as you wish!
Adapted from Sally’s Baking Addiction
