Gingerbread Cookies w/ Browned Butter Buttercream

Gingerbread Cookies with Browned Butter Buttercream

I thought they might look cute stacked.

I kind of thought about making gingerbread cookies over the Christmas break, but I never got around to it. It's February, and I still have some cream cheese I wanted to try in cookies. The other day in the kindergarten class I work in, I noticed a cute picture of a gingerbread man on the color chart, and thought, "Mmmm...gingerbread sounds good." Then I thought since I like my gingerbread cookies soft, I'd try the cream cheese in them. Yep. It works. These cookies are wonderfully soft and fabulous tasting. The browned butter buttercream was just because I thought it would taste good. And it does. I'm hoping that my sister-in-law, who LOVES gingerbread, will take most of these off my hands. We also have the Superbowl gathering at her house tomorrow, so I'm sure they'll be welcome there too.

These are just a simple, soft gingerbread cookie, and the browned butter buttercream adds just the right amount of sweetness with the added dimension of toasty butter flavor that reminds me a little of English toffee. Mmm... I need to get these out of my house soon.

Gingerbread Cookies with Browned Butter Buttercream

     --adapted from ALLRECIPES.COM

Cookie Ingredients:

3 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour 2 teaspoons ground ginger 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup butter, softened 2 oz. cream cheese, room temperature 3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar 1/2 cup molasses 1 egg 1 teaspoon vanilla extract Buttercream Ingredients: 1/2 cup butter, softened & divided 2 cups powdered sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2-3 tablespoons cream Instructions:

Mix flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda, nutmeg and salt in large bowl. Beat butter, cream cheese and brown sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add molasses, egg and vanilla; beat well. Gradually beat in flour mixture on low speed until well mixed. Press dough into a thick flat disk. Wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight.

Brown half of the buttercream butter by placing 1/4 cup of the butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Heat for about 8 minutes, or until all of the milk solids are a nice deep golden brown color (see pic below). Keep an eye on it so you don’t burn the butter. Pour/scrape browned butter into a heat-proof bowl and set aside to cool completely.

When dough has chilled, preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Roll out dough to 1/4-inch thickness on lightly floured work surface. Cut into gingerbread men shapes with 5-inch cookie cutter. Place 1 inch apart on ungreased baking sheets.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until edges of cookies are set and just begin to brown. Cool on baking sheets 1 to 2 minutes. Remove to wire racks; cool completely.

While cookies cool, prepare buttercream by beating the other 1/4 cup butter with the cooled browned butter until well combined. Add the powdered sugar, vanilla, and 2 tablespoons of cream and beat on high until creamy. Add remaining tablespoon of cream, a little at a time, until you get a nice smooth, creamy consistency. Scoop buttercream into a piping bag or a quart size zip-top bag (cut 1/4 inch of a corner off once it’s in the bag).

Decorate cooled cookies as desired. Store cookies in airtight container up to 5 days.

Makes about 3 dozen large cookies

Just so you know how brown the browned butter should be.