UBS Virtual Cooking Class: Soft, Chewy Gingerbread Cookies & Royal Icing

NOTE: This event is for UBS employees only. Be sure to register using your ubs.com email address. One registration per employee please.

This event is optional and not firm-mandated.

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• No-Shows: Please cancel if you are unable to attend or you will be marked as a ‘no show’. After five no-shows without notification, access to further classes will be paused for 30 days.

Gingerbread Cookies

Sally McKenney

Makes 24 (4”) Cookies

3 and 1/2 cups (440g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 Tablespoon ground ginger (yes, 1 full Tablespoon!)

1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

10 Tablespoons (142g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature

3/4 cup (150g) packed light or dark brown sugar

2/3 cup (160ml; about 200g) unsulphured or dark molasses (do not use blackstrap; I prefer Grandma’s brand)

1 large egg, at room temperature

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, and cloves. Set aside.

2. In a large bowl using a handheld mixer or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter for 1 minute on medium speed until completely smooth and creamy. Add the brown sugar and molasses and beat on medium high speed until combined and creamy. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. Next, beat in egg and vanilla on high speed for 2 full minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. The butter may separate; that’s ok.

3. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients, and beat on low speed until combined. The cookie dough will be quite thick and slightly sticky. Divide dough in half and place each onto a large piece of plastic wrap. Wrap each up tightly and pat down to create a disc shape. Chill discs for at least 3 hours and up to 3 days. Chilling is mandatory for this cookie dough. I always chill mine overnight.

4. Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line 2-3 large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. (Always recommended for cookies.) Set aside.

5. Remove 1 disc of chilled cookie dough from the refrigerator. Generously flour a work surface, as well as your hands and the rolling pin. Roll out disc until 1/4-inch thick. Tips for rolling—the dough may crack and be crumbly as you roll. What’s helpful is picking it up and rotating it as you go. Additionally, you can use your fingers to help meld the cracking edges back together. The first few rolls are always the hardest since the dough is so stiff, but re-rolling the scraps is much easier. Cut into shapes. Place shapes 1 inch apart on prepared baking sheets. Re-roll dough scraps until all the dough is shaped. Repeat with remaining disc of dough.

6. Bake cookies for about 9-10 minutes. If your cookie cutters are smaller than 4 inches, bake for about 8 minutes. If your cookie cutters are larger than 4 inches, bake for about 11 minutes. My oven has hot spots and yours may too—so be sure to rotate the pan once during bake time. Keep in mind that the longer the cookies bake, the harder and crunchier they’ll be. For soft gingerbread cookies, follow my suggested bake times.

7. Allow cookies to cool for 5 minutes on the cookie sheet. Transfer to cooling rack to cool completely. Once completely cool, decorate as desired. Cookies stay fresh covered at room temperature for up to 1 week.

Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: Baked and decorated (or not decorated) cookies freeze well – up to three months. Unbaked cookie dough discs (just the dough prepared through step 3) freeze well up to three months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator then continue with step 4.

Cookies can be rolled or scooped like a drop cookie, they do not have to be rolled out and shaped with a cookie cutter. Bake with same instructions as above.

*See More Cookie Tips Below

Icing

Eggnog Icing:

Mix 1 ¼ cups sifted powdered sugar with about 3 tbsp eggnog.

Please note that this will not dry completely like royal icing.

Royal Icing

Makes 1 ½ cups

½ lb (1 ¾ cups) powdered sugar (more may be needed), sifted

2 large pasteurized egg whites (1/4 cup liquid egg whites)

½ tsp vanilla or maple extract optional

1. Place egg whites in a large mixing bowl and use an electric mixer on medium high speed to whip them until they double in size and form soft peaks, about 2 minutes.

2. Add half of the sifted powdered sugar (it is important to make sure the sugar is well sifted). Mix on low until the sugar is fully dissolved, 1 – 2 minutes. Add remaining sugar and repeat until everything is fully and evenly mixed.

3. Increase seed to high and continue whipping until mixture is smooth, glossy, and thickened, about 4 – 5 minutes. The icing should hold a soft peak and run off your tools slowly. If mixture is too thin, add a little more powdered sugar, a few tablespoons at a time, and continue to mix until thickened. Once icing is used to decorate cookies, allow it to dry for at least 4 hours before touching.

Tips for Making Gingerbread Cookies

Molasses

• Moisture & Texture: Molasses is hydrophilic, meaning it absorbs moisture. This keeps gingerbread cookies moist, soft, and chewy.
• Extra Flour Needed: Because molasses adds so much moisture, gingerbread dough typically needs a bit more flour than other cookies. The extra flour helps the dough hold its shape and structure.

Creaming Butter and Sugar

• Why We Cream:
• • Creaming incorporates tiny air pockets into the butter and sugar, creating a light, fluffy base that helps the cookies rise and maintain their shape- this process is called ‘mechanical leavening’. It creates a lighter texture to the cookies as the trapped air bubbled expand in the hot oven.
  • Creaming also helps break down the size of the sugar crystals and dissolves them, for a smoother overall texture and helping to avoid a gritty texture. This helps the butter and sugar become a homogeneous texture, and therefore helps it combine more easily with the other ingredients.
• Butter Temperature: Butter should be softened but cool, ideally 65–68°F. If the butter is too cold, you can grate it on a box grater to help it soften quickly.

Preventing Butter Separation

· Avoid overly warm butter and don’t over-whip. Both can break the emulsion, causing the fat and liquid to separate. When butter separates:

o The dough loses its velvety texture and becomes greasy.

o Creaming won’t work properly, causing cookies to spread too much, lose shape, and bake up flat. Once the fat is liquified, it can’t hold air well, so the dough has less structure.

· If Your Butter/Sugar Mixture Breaks

· Don’t panic—cookie dough is forgiving! The cookies will still be delicious. If you’re okay with the texture changes, keep going.

· If you want to fix it:

1. Chill the mixture for about 20–25 minutes.

2. Knead until smooth and cohesive.

3. If it’s still crumbly, add 1 teaspoon of milk or an egg yolk to re-emulsify.

Chilling the Dough

· Chilling cookie dough helps in a few ways: It helps the flavors marry and become more amplified, and it helps the flour fully hydrate. Also, it helps the cookies hold their shape during baking, preventing too much spreading. The resulting texture of chilled cookies is more chewy and thick than unchilled.

· Chilling the dough is really needed for this dough as the molasses makes the dough quite sticky; without chilling, it’s nearly impossible to roll out cleanly. Warm dough behaves like warm butter—soft, sticky, and unable to keep its shape during rolling or baking.

• Shape the dough into a flat disc before chilling. If the disc is flat, it will chill faster as the cold air won’t have to travel far to get to the middle of the dough. Also, starting with a flat, oval shape makes rolling easier and more even.

Rolling

• Before rolling, let chilled dough sit at room temperature until just pliable—this usually takes only a few minutes depending on how nig the disc is. When rolling, if the dough cracks, it’s too cold. Let it sit for a few minutes; press cracks together with your fingers. If the dough tears or sticks, it’s too warm. Chill it (covered) for 5–10 minutes and continue.

• Flouring for Rolling: Gingerbread dough is sticky, so use a generous—but not excessive—amount of flour when rolling. When re-rolling scraps, avoid working in too much extra flour or the second round of cookies may become tough or dry.

Baking Tips

• Verify Oven Temperature: Use an oven thermometer for accuracy.
• Give Space: Leave at least 1 inch between cookies so they don’t spread into each other and lose their shape.

How to Tell When Gingerbread Cookies Are Done

· Edges are golden brown and look firm.

· Centers are just set and spring back when lightly touched.

· The surface looks dry and matte, not glossy.

· You may see small cracks forming around the edges—this is normal.

Cooling

· Transfer cookies to a cooling rack shortly after baking. This prevents the bottoms from overbaking and helps the cookies set evenly and cool faster.