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Soft Brown Butter Ginger Cookies with Lovely Lemon Icing

Traditional soft ginger cookies made a little extra special with the addition of brown butter, molasses and a lovely sweet and tart lemon icing. These chewy, soft ginger cookies are perfect with a cup of coffee for an afternoon treat and make the best Christmas cookies for sharing!

Course Dessert, Nut Free
Cuisine American
Keyword soft ginger cookies
Prep Time 45 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 55 minutes
Servings 20 cookies
Author Monique Volz of AmbitiousKitchen.com

Ingredients

  • For the dry ingredients:
  • 2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon allspice
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • For the wet ingredients:
  • 3/4 cup butter (1 ½ sticks butter)
  • 1 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 egg, at room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/4 cup molasses
  • For rolling:
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar, for rolling
  • For the icing:
  • 3/4 cup powdered sugar
  • 1-2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (start with 1 tablespoon!)
  • 1 teaspoon fresh lemon zest

Instructions

  1. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, and salt in a bowl and set aside.
  2. Make your brown butter: add butter to a saucepan and place over medium high heat. The butter will begin to crackle and then after a couple minutes, foam. Make sure you whisk constantly during this process. After a couple of minutes, the butter will begin to brown and turn a nice golden amber color on the bottom of the saucepan. Continue to whisk and remove from heat as soon as the butter begins to brown and give off a nutty aroma. Set aside to cool for 10 minutes or until cool enough to touch.
  3. With an electric mixer, beat the cooled brown butter and brown sugar until thoroughly blended. Beat in the egg, vanilla, and molasses until smooth and creamy. NOTE: Make sure your egg is at room temp before using! Just place in a bowl of warm water for 2 minutes.
  4. Add the dry ingredients slowly and beat on medium low-speed just until combined. Chill dough in the fridge for about 20-30 minutes.
  5. While your dough chills, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
  6. Grab a heaping large tablespoon or so of dough and roll into a ball then roll in sugar. Place dough balls on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for 10-12 minutes. It’s best to underbake these just a bit, so 10-11 minutes is usually perfect. If you like cookies with a crispier edge, bake for about 12 minutes.
  7. Remove from the oven and cool the cookies on sheets about 5-10 minutes then transfer to a wire rack. They will still remain soft on the inside. Repeat with remaining dough.
  8. Once cookies have cooled completely, you can make the lemon glaze: in a medium bowl, mix together the powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon lemon juice and lemon zest with a spoon. You may need to add more lemon juice to help reach the consistency you want for the icing, but it’s important that the icing isn’t too thin! Dip the top of the cookie in the icing, or spoon a little on top. Allow icing to harden, then enjoy! We love these with a cup of coffee. Makes about 20-22 cookies.

Recipe Notes

How to freeze soft ginger cookies

If you want to freeze ginger cookies that have already been baked, simply wait for them to cool completely, then transfer them to a reusable freezer-safe bag or container lined with wax or parchment paper. I like to place them in a single layer to avoid any cookies breaking. Cookies will keep well for up to 2 months. Once ready to eat, simply thaw out at room temperature and enjoy. These ginger cookies can be frozen with or without the icing!