Best Spice Cookies Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease 2 baking sheets.
• Combine sugar, butter, eggs, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves in a bowl; beat with an electric mixer until creamy. Combine flour, currants, and baking soda in a separate bowl. Stir into the butter mixture alternately with tablespoons of milk until the flour is fully incorporated.
• Drop spoonfuls of batter onto the prepared baking sheets. Press down lightly with a fork. Dip fork in sugar or water if it sticks.
• Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown, 10 to 15 minutes. Let stand on the baking sheets for 1 minute before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Steps:

• Sift flour with baking soda, spices and salt.
• Cream cooking oil and sugar together. Blend in egg and molasses.
• Add flour mixture, mix well.
• Chill for 1 hour or longer.
• Form into balls about the size of walnuts. Roll in granulated sugar.
• Place on ungreased baking sheet about ½ inches apart.
• Bake at 350o for 10-15 minutes.

Steps:

• For the cookies: Whisk the flour, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, and salt together in a medium bowl.
• Beat the butter in a large bowl with a handheld mixer until fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the sugars, and continue beating until light, about 3 minutes. Add egg and vanilla extract, beating until smooth. Gradually add the dry ingredients while mixing slowly to make a smooth dough. Divide dough in half and press each half into a disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour.
• Transfer 1 disk of dough to a floured work surface and roll about 1/4-inch thick. Cut into cookies with a pinched tuna can (see below). Transfer cookies with an offset spatula to a nonstick or silicon lined baking sheet.
• Cut out eyes and a mouth with a pastry tip, fat straw, or a knife. Press the lollipop sticks into the narrow end of each cookie, if using. Repeat with remaining dough. Press excess dough together, roll and cut into cookies. Refrigerate cookies for at least 30 minutes.
• Evenly space the racks in the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Put the candies in a small plastic bag and hit with a rolling pin to break into little pieces.
• Bake the cookies just until they are set, about 20 minutes. Remove baking sheets from the oven and carefully sprinkle the broken candies into the eyes and mouth of the cookies. Continue to cook until the candy liquefies, about 3 minutes more. Cool cookies on pan for 10 minutes before removing from the pan. Cool cookies on a rack.
• For the icing: Whisk the water, egg white powder and orange extract in a medium bowl until foamy but smooth. Gradually whisk in the confectioners' sugar to make a smooth icing. Spread a layer of icing over the entire surface of the cookies with the back of a teaspoon. Let rest until the icing sets, about 30 minutes. Serve or store in a covered container for up to 3 days.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. In a shallow bowl, place 1/2 cup sugar; set aside.
• With an electric mixer, beat butter and remaining cup of sugar until combined. Beat in egg and then molasses until combined. Reduce speed to low; gradually mix in dry ingredients, just until a dough forms.
• Pinch off and roll dough into balls, each equal to 1 tablespoon. Roll balls in reserved sugar to coat.
• Arrange balls on baking sheets, about 3 inches apart. Bake, one sheet at a time, until edges of cookies are just firm, 10 to 15 minutes (cookies can be baked two sheets at a time, but they will not crackle uniformly). Cool 1 minute on baking sheets; transfer to racks to cool completely.

Steps:

• Sift flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, allspice, nutmeg, mustard, and cloves into large bowl. Using electric mixer, beat butter in another large bowl at medium speed until smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes. Add brown sugar; beat 1 minute. Add molasses; beat until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add egg; beat until well blended, about 1 minute. Reduce speed to low; beat in vanilla. Add flour mixture; beat on low speed just to blend. Gather dough into ball; divide in half. Form each half into ball; flatten into disk. Wrap disks separately in plastic; chill until firm, at least 4 hours. DO AHEAD: Can be made 2 days ahead. Keep chilled.
• Position rack in center of oven; preheat to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Working with 1 disk at a time, roll out dough between 2 sheets of waxed paper to 1/8-inch thickness for smaller (2-inch) cookies and 1/4-inch thickness for larger (3- to 4-inch) cookies. Using decorative cookie cutters, cut out cookies and transfer to prepared sheets, spacing 1 inch apart. If cookies become too soft to transfer to baking sheets, place in freezer on waxed paper for 5 minutes before continuing. Gather scraps, roll out dough, and cut more cookies, repeating until all dough is used. If not icing cookies, decorate with sprinkles or other sugar toppings, if desired. Bake 1 sheet at a time until cookies are firm on top and slightly darker around edges, about 8 minutes for smaller cookies and up to 12 minutes for larger cookies. Cool completely on rack. Line baking sheets with fresh parchment as needed. Decorate cookies with Royal Icing, then sprinkles or other sugar toppings, if desired. Let stand until icing sets. DO AHEAD: Cookies can be made 4 days ahead. Store between sheets of waxed paper in airtight containers at room temperature.

Steps:

• Cookies: Preheat oven to 375°F. Whisk together flour, cocoa, salt, ground ginger, cinnamon, and cloves. In a large bowl, beat butter with brown sugar, fresh ginger, and baking soda until creamy. Add egg; beat to combine. Reduce speed to low; beat in flour mixture.
• Scoop a scant 1/4 cup of dough (1.75 ounces); roll into a ball. Dust a cookie stamp with flour, tapping out excess. Place dough in center of stamp, then press evenly to cover shape of design. Place, dough-side down, on a parchment-lined baking sheet and press until dough is about 1/4 inch thick.
• Carefully remove (if it sticks, just gather up dough and start over). Repeat with remaining dough, arranging cookies 2 inches apart. Refrigerate 20 minutes; use a 2 3/4-inch round cutter to trim excess. Bake until firm to the touch, 11 to 13 minutes.
• Glaze: Meanwhile, whisk together confectioners' sugar, Cointreau, butter, and salt; glaze should have the consistency of honey. (If too thick, whisk in more Cointreau.) Let cookies cool on sheets on a wire rack 8 minutes, then brush with glaze. Let cool completely. Cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days.

Steps:

• Sieve the flour, spices and salt together into a bowl and set aside. Cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy, then add the honey and beaten egg. Stir to fully combine. Sift in the dry ingredients in a few batches. The mixture will be a bit stiff but still soft and not dry.
• Divide the dough into two batches and wrap the halves in cling film. Refrigerate overnight or for at least 3-4 hours.
• Preheat the oven to 170°C. Line several large baking trays with greaseproof paper, or if they are non-stick simply butter them and set aside.
• Lightly flour the work surface, then roll out one half of the dough. Stamp out festive trees using a tree-shaped cutter. Lay on the baking sheets with spaces between them, then add on the smarties or other coloured beans.
• When you have stamped out enough to fill the tray, place in the oven and bake for 8 - 10 minutes. They want to be golden in colour but still fairly soft as they harden up a little after cooking. Repeat this process until all the mixture has been used up. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack.

Steps:

• Combine flour, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, salt, nutmeg and cardamom in bowl.
• Beat butter and sugar in large bowl until creamy.
• Beat in eggs and vanilla until fluffy.
• Stir in flour mixture.
• Divide dough in half; flatten into disks.
• Wrap in plastic.
• Refrigerate for 1 hour.
• Heat oven to 350°.
• Coat 3 ½ - 4 ½-inch cookie-cutter molds with nonstick cooking spray.
• On lightly floured surface with floured rolling pin, roll out half of dough ¼-inch thick.
• Press cutter molds gently into dough.
• Gently pull cookies out of molds.
• Place on ungreased baking sheets.
• Brush with egg white.
• Reroll scraps.
• Repeat with remaining dough.
• Bake in 350° oven 10-12 minutes, until golden.
• Remove to racks to cool.
• Store at room temperature or freeze.

Steps:

• Soak the currants in the brandy for 10 minutes. Mix together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, spices, salt, and dark chocolate. Mix well with a whisk.
• Put the butter, sugar, vanilla, and lemon and orange zest in a stand mixer fitted with the beater attachment and beat to combine but not aerate much, about 1 minute. With the mixer running, slowly add the egg and mix for about 1 minute. Add the dry ingredients, followed by the currants and brandy. Mix until everything comes together.
• Gently knead the dough in the bowl with your hands until it comes together and is uniform. Divide the dough into 1 3/4-oz / 50g chunks and shape each chunk into a perfectly round ball. Place the balls on 1 or 2 baking sheets lined with parchment paper, spacing them about 3/4 inch / 2 cm apart, and let rest in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
• Preheat the oven to 375°F / 190°C. Bake the cookies for 15 to 20 minutes, until the top firms up but the center is still slightly soft. Remove from the oven. Once the cookies are out of the oven, allow to cool for only 5 minutes, and then transfer to a wire rack. While the cookies are still warm, whisk together the glaze ingredients until a thin and smooth icing forms. Pour 1 tablespoon of the glaze over each biscuit, leaving it to drip and coat the biscuit with a very thin, almost transparent film. Finish each with 3 pieces of candied peel placed at the center. Leave to set and serve, or store in an airtight container for a day or two.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 375 degrees. Line several baking sheets with parchment paper or nonstick liners.
• Using an electric mixer, beat 12 tablespoons butter with the granulated sugar, molasses and egg until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Slowly beat in flour, baking soda, spices and salt.
• Shape dough into walnut-size balls and place 2 inches apart on baking sheets. Bake until firm, about 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool on wire racks.
• To make the icing, beat remaining 4 tablespoons butter with the confectioners' sugar until smooth. (Go slowly so you don't create a sugar storm.) Beat in the vanilla and enough cream or milk, and whiskey (if using), to make a spreadable frosting. Slather on fully cooled cookies.

Steps:

• Sift flour with spices, salt and baking soda. Set aside.
• In large bowl of electric mixer, cream butter. Add vanilla and both sugars, and beat well. Add eggs and beat to mix.
• On low speed, beat in sifted dry ingredients.
• Stir in oats with spoon.
• Line two cookie sheets with aluminum foil, shiny side down. Measure out 1/4 cup of batter for each cookie and place 5 to 6 cookies on each sheet.
• Bake at 375 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes on racks that have been placed on the second and third rungs in the oven. Reverse sheets once during baking. The cookies should still be quite soft when they are done. Cool on rack before removing from sheet.