I love Springerle cookies, they are so beautiful and delicious, white or painted they are perfect for holidays. But I like to try this year something different using Springerle molds.
Here is one very good recipe for Molded Gingerbread Cookies with Clear Sugar Glaze from House on the Hill.
They can be printed with Springerle molds. Be sure to choose a deeply and boldly carved design, one without really fine details. You’ll make the non-springerle lovers very happy!
You can easily adjust the spices. For instance, if you are not a fan of cloves, leave them out. Crazy about ginger? Then add an extra ½ to 1 teaspoon.
If you use all molasses (instead of molasses and dark corn syrup) add the extra flour as the all molasses version is stickier.
Molded Gingerbread Cookies with Clear Sugar Glaze
(109 votes, average: 3.53 out of 5)
Loading...Ingredients
- Ingredients for the flour mixture:
- 3 1/2 cups plus 4 tablespoons unbleached flour (if you using only molasses)
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- Ingredients for the liquid mixture:
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup molasses (you may use 1 cup molasses and no dark corn syrup if you prefer)
- 1/2 cup dark corn syrup
- 2 tablespoons water
- Ingredients for the clear sugar glaze:
- 2 1/2 cups powered sugar
- 2 tablespoon water
- 1 tablespoon butter, softened
- 1 tablespoon light corn syrup
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla if desired
- food coloring if desired
Instructions
Direction for the clear sugar glaze: Combine all wet ingredients together.
Direction for the gingerbread cookies: Combine the flour, sugar, spices and the liquid mixture together either by hand or in a heavy standard mixer using the flat blade (not the whisk). Mix until the dough holds together, adding 1 or 2 tablespoons of water only if necessary to bind the dough. Knead the dough into a solid mass and place into a tightly sealed zipper bag. Let the dough rest for 1 hour or refrigerate overnight.
On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough with a plain rolling pin about ½ to 5/8 inch thick, depending on the depth of your cookie mold. Using a pastry brush, flour the surface of your cookie mold. Press firmly onto the flat surface of the dough and then lift the mold straight up. Re-flour the mold for every pressing.
Cut and place the cookies on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Let cookies dry for 8 — 12 hours.
Bake at 300 degrees for 12 minutes. Large cookies will need 14-15 minutes.
If desired, glaze the gingerbread cookies as soon as they come out of the oven and before you remove them to a cooling rack.
If needed, soften cookies with slices of apple on firm bread (rye) for a day or two. Keeps well.
Notes
*If dough is too sticky, knead in small small amounts of flour until it is not sticky to the touch. ** You may use 1 cup molasses and no dark corn syrup if you prefer. You will need to add 4 Tablespoons of Flour since the molasses is very sticky. *** Let cookies cool completely before storing in airtight containers. My preference is rectangular cookie tins.
25 Comments
Maggie
December 13, 2011 at 8:33 pmAbsolutely positively beautiful! They are almost too beautiful to eat! Almost. 🙂
Margaret Murphy Tripp
December 13, 2011 at 8:55 pmAbsolutely gorgeous cookies! Just about the prettiest ones I've ever seen AND they look delicious!
Anonymous
December 13, 2011 at 9:41 pmWow, what a brilliant ides! I always filed Springerle away for just that kind of dough, but these are gorgeous. I also love your lace tea set 😉
Anonymous
December 14, 2011 at 6:30 amThey look like art work. how can you have the heart to eat them? So pretty
Anonymous
December 14, 2011 at 7:20 amAs always – stunning! The cookies are beautiful, but I particularly like the clear sugar glaze! I like the occasional surprising element in food!
Sue/the view from great island
December 14, 2011 at 8:52 pmThese are just enchanting, I have to try this dough. I have tried molding shortbread before and the cookies didn't hold the design when baked. These are amazing.
Magic of Spice
December 14, 2011 at 9:44 pmThese are just stunning! I don't know if I would rather eat them or hang them up to be viewed…beautiful!
Grubarazzi
December 15, 2011 at 1:03 amHow beautiful! Your cookies and your photos are stunning as usual 🙂
Cake
December 15, 2011 at 4:31 amAmazing! Another beautiful cookie!
Rachel @ My Naturally Frugal Family
December 15, 2011 at 2:14 pmOh how gorgeous these are. And I LOVE the tea set, where on earth did you get it? Just a great visual addition to your beautiful photographs.
Janet@FromCupcakesToCaviar
December 15, 2011 at 9:43 pmBeautiful cookies and beautiful photos! These sound delicious.
K&V
June 20, 2012 at 1:27 pmHey 🙂 Can you tell me where i could find cookie moldes like these? Thanx 🙂
Anonymous
May 16, 2014 at 12:50 pmYou can get the molds from wwwhouseonthehill.com
Cornelia H
October 28, 2017 at 1:27 amI had the same experience as many of the other commenters when I tried this recipe last winter. It was very easy to mold, but the cookies puffed into blobs and the images were completely lost when I baked them. I have made regular springerle many times, with wheat flour and gluten-free flours, with no problems. This was very disappointing since I wanted to give them to a vegan relative. I didn't see the empty bullet one commenter mentioned, but the recipe does show no eggs, which makes it fairly vegan, depending on the sugar source.
Did you ever weigh the flour? I made my cookies in the winter with low humidity and dried them with fans too before baking. I can't understand how your cookies can have turned out like the photos with the recipe as posted. The difference is too dramatic. (I used 1/2 c. dark corn syrup and 1/2 c. molasses).
I am going to try some variation on this recipe again, and bake a few cookies before using most of the dough. If it fails again, I may try alterations of my own.
melangery
October 28, 2017 at 2:35 amCornelia, I will bake them again very soon, and I will give you a full report!! I have no idea why yours are puffed up-((.
Cornelia H
October 28, 2017 at 12:56 pmThanks for trying the recipe again. Perhaps it was on another website with almost the same recipe–crediting House on the Hill–that I saw a bunch of comments reporting results like mine. (I can't seem to find those comments again.) Someone responded with suggestions to reduce the amount of baking soda, to increase the flour, to avoid baking in a humid environment, even to pre-dry the flour in the oven. But I didn't see any follow-up where any of these suggestions helped. There were a couple of requests to specify the flour weight in grams. In fact, on that website I did not see one comment where anyone was successful with both the molding and the recipe as written though several people commented on the tastiness of the dough/cookie.
Laurie
October 15, 2018 at 5:39 pmCornelia I used the mild Sturdy German Gingerbread from House on the Hill. I baked one batch immediately and another batch I let dry for about 20 hours. There is no baking soda in that recipe and my molded cookies did not puff up. The ones that I dried had the best definition of the details. Hope that helps!
melangery
November 30, 2017 at 6:00 pmCornelia, have you dried your cookies for 8-12 hours before baking them? I am planning to make them today, so i will let you know!
Alice Sanvito
November 16, 2018 at 6:11 amI just made these cookies for the first time and mine turned out beautifully. And I even accidentally added baking powder because I didn’t notice at first that it said baking soda. I let them sit out overnight (it’s cool and very dry here right now) and, after reading all the comments of those who had trouble with them puffing up and losing the design, I turned the heat on the oven down a bit lower to 275°F and baked them in the middle of the oven. They took a little longer but they turned out beautifully and they are absolutely delicious! I like cloves but it’s a little heavy on the cloves for me so next time I’ll cut back a bit. I added 1 tsp. ground cardamon because I love cardamon.
The only problem I had was with the glaze. It was way too thick so I thinned it a bit. It was too opaque and obscured the image so I thinned it even more. That was better but I still did not like the way it covered the image so I tried a different, simpler glaze – powdered sugar with a little water to melt, then heat it in a small pot and bring it to a boil until all the sugar is dissolved and it turns clear. However, it still turned out a little opaque and obscured the image, so I’ll have to work with this a bit. The unglazed cookie is perfect, though. I don’t even care that much for gingerbread but this is exceptional! Thanks for giving me an alternative to Springerle for molded cookies!
By the way, since the glaze can be made without the butter, I posted this in a vegan FB group since the recipe does not contain animal products. It’s perfect for vegetarians, vegans, and anyone with an allergy to diary or eggs.
I with I could upload the photos of m y cookies so you could see this recipe can produce great results!
Yelena Strokin
November 16, 2018 at 6:41 amDear Alice, I’m so happy that you’ve tried my recipe and I’m glad your cookies turned out beautifully. Thank you for your tips, and please share your pictures on my FB page: https://www.facebook.com/melangery/posts/1636989316402335 I’d love to see them!
Alice Sanvito
November 17, 2018 at 5:54 amFollow-up on the glaze: I made a simple solution of water and sugar (50/50), brought it to a boil to dissolve the sugar, the let it cool. I brushed it on one cooke and sprayed it on with a little spray bottle with the other – both worked. I had to let them sit and dry overnight but it’s a clear glaze that doesn’t obscure the design at all. I’m serving them at dinner tonight to a group of foreign guests, can’t wait!
Nancy
October 14, 2022 at 4:24 pmI am wrapping up these beautiful delicious cookies for our Farmers Market. They came out perfect, thank you for sharing this simple recipe. I do have one question, how many cookies did you make from one batch?
Yelena Strokin
October 15, 2022 at 12:17 amThank you for your comment, So glad you baked them, they are so beautiful and festive. I got every time a different number of cookies, it depends on the thickness of the cookie, and the size of the circle you are cutting. I get usually about 20-22 cookies.
Nancy
October 18, 2022 at 3:21 pmWow, I’m only getting 16. So does that mean I’m making them too thick. The cutter I use just fits the roses.
Yelena Strokin
October 18, 2022 at 8:53 pmI like them thick, they have wonderful texture when they are like that. I made them some time ago, so maybe I got less, or i doubled the recipe. Any way its all good! Sent me the picture, I would love to see it!