If you’re a fan of homemade gingerbread cookies but don’t love molasses, I’ve made a delicious maple syrup cookie recipe for you! All the flavor of gingerbread in a melt in your mouth, soft, holiday cut out cookie dough. These are the perfect holiday cookies for frosting or royal icing.
I’m hoping the more Maple Syrup Cookies I bake, the greater my chances are for lots of snow! Yes, I’m a huge fan of white winters, building snowmen, and making snow cream. There’s just something about watching it fall and cover the trees that I find so magical. Very cliche I know, but I get excited when I hear winter weather advisory!
Unfortunately in the south, we are rarely blessed with a winter wonderland. Therefore, I compromise most of the season with snowflake cookies. Sparkling sugar looks like ice crystals anyway right?
Maple Syrup Cookies are very similar to gingerbread cookies, except I replace the molasses with maple syrup and honey. The result is a soft texture with a lighter ginger maple flavor. Honestly, I prefer a softer gingerbread to a crispier one. Eat them plain or decorate with white cookie icing and sprinkle with sugar. Trust me, they’re fabulous either way. This recipe bakes almost three dozen snowflakes, so you will have plenty to eat and give as presents!
What You’ll Need
- Snowflake cookies cutters or shape of your choice.
- Kitchen scale for weighing ingredients. I’m all about weighing my flour to be exact.
- Rolling pin, cookie trays, silicone mat or parchment paper for lining trays.
- Maple syrup and brown sugar!
- Sparkling sugar for decorating your iced cookies.
Tips for Cookies Success
- Use pure amber maple syrup for the best flavor!
- Wrap cookie dough in plastic wrap and freeze for at least 30 minutes before rolling. It is much easier to work with cold dough. Warm dough is harder to cut and transfer to cookie tray.
- If your cookie dough becomes too soft, simply place back in the freezer to chill. Cookies will be soft out of the oven but harden some as they cool to the perfect texture.
- Colder dough also keeps the cookies from spreading. After you cut the cookies and place them on the cookie sheet. Pop them back in the fridge for about 10 minutes before baking.
- Pipe icing on to cool cookies.
- Use homemade easy royal icing.
- Pip a thin trace line around the edges of the snowflake.
- Then pipe icing to fill in star shape. Take a toothpick and move icing to cover bare spots.
- Sprinkle wet icing with sparkling sugar.
Store Cookies
Store cooled plain and iced cookies in an air tight container at room temperature for 4-5 days. You can also freeze non iced cookies by wrapping in plastic wrap, placing in a freezer safe plastic bag for 2-3 months.
Homemade Maple Syrup Gingerbread Cookies
Ingredients
- 3 cups (384 g) All Purpose Flour
- 1 ½ tsp Baking Powder
- ¾ tsp Baking Soda
- ¼ tsp Kosher Salt
- 1 Tbsp Ground Ginger
- 1 ¾ tsp Ground Cinnamon
- ¼ tsp Ground Cloves
- ¾ cup (150 g) Dark Brown Sugar
- 6 Tbsp Unsalted Butter softened
- 1 Egg
- ½ cup (125 ml) Maple Syrup
- ¼ cup (125 ml) Honey
- 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
Topping
Easy Royal Icing Recipe
- Sparkling Sugar for sprinkling
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 F (190 C) and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves.
- In bowl of stand mixer with paddle attachment, beat softened butter, brown sugar, and egg until well blended.
- Add maple syrup, honey, and vanilla.
- Gradually spoon in dry ingredients, continuing on medium high until blended and smooth.
- Wrap dough plastic and refrigerate for 2 hrs
- Sprinkle rolling surface and rolling pin with flour.
- Roll dough out to ¼-inch thickness.
- Cut out cookies using a 3.5 inch snowflake cookie cutter.
- Space cookies 1 ½-inches apart on cookie sheet.
- Bake 8-10 minutes until edges start to brown.
- Place pan on rack to cool for 10min before removing cookies.
- Use homemade or store bought royal cookie icing.
- Pip a thin trace line around the edges of the snowflake.Then pipe icing to fill in star shape. Take a toothpick and move icing to cover bare spots.
- Sprinkle wet icing with sparkling sugar.