Spiced Christmas Cookies

Spiced Christmas cookies are ideal for a bit of festive baking at this time of year. These deliciously spiced molasses cookies combine rich molasses (or black treacle) with warming winter spices for the perfect soft cookie.

This spiced cookie recipe is based on my friend Michelle's recipe for molasses cookies. She was born and brought up in Nova Scotia, where these soft cookies are always popular, particularly around the festive holidays.

They are traditionally made with molasses, which I've substituted here with black treacle as that’s easier to get your hands on here in the UK.

My spiced Christmas biscuit recipe combines ground ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and clove. Michelle said the amount of spices used was left to the individual cook's own taste. Some would use as little as ½ a teaspoon of ginger, others as much as 2 tablespoons.

I like to decorate these traditional Christmas cookies, so I also include my easy cookie icing recipe later in this post.

Soft cookies full of the flavour of warm Winter spices. Is there anything better with a cup of tea on a cold Winter afternoon? For an extra special treat, why not serve these cookies with my 2 Ingredient Nutella Hot Chocolate.

Why you'll love this recipe

• A simple bake as the cookie dough is easy to make, making this an ideal bake with children.
• Decorate the cookies any way you like, or leave them plain. They are delicious either way.
• This recipe easily makes around 40 cookies so bake some cookies to enjoy now and freeze some of the cookie dough and enjoy freshly baked cookies another day.

Spiced Christmas cookies recipe ingredients

• Butter - I use salted butter which balances out the sweetness in these cookies.
• Sugar - I like to use light soft brown sugar as it results in a richer cookie dough.
• Eggs - I use 1 medium sized egg to bind the cookie dough.
• Raising agent - I use bicarbonate of soda, mixed with boiling water to help the cookie dough rise. I also add cream of tartar.
• Vanilla extract - adds great flavour to these cookies, you could also use vanilla paste. Vanilla essence would also work but it won’t have the same depth of flavor.
• Flour - I use plain flour (all purpose flour) in the cookie dough.
• Vanilla extract: adds great flavour to these cookies, you could also use vanilla paste. Vanilla essence would also work but it won’t have the same depth of flavor.
• Salt - I add a teaspoon of sea salt to balance the sweetness in these cookies.
• Ground spices - I use a combination of ground cinnamon, ginger, cloves and nutmeg to flavour the dough.

How to make spiced Christmas cookies

• Cream together the butter and brown sugar until light and well combined.
• Blend in the molasses (or use black treacle if you can't find molasses) and the egg.

• Dissolve the bicarbonate of soda in the boiling water and add to the mixture then stir through the vanilla extract.
• Meanwhile sift together the remaining dry ingredients in a separate bowl then add gradually to the wet mixture.

• Continue mixing and it will come together into a soft dough.
• DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP: Cover the bowl and place the cookie dough into the fridge for at least 2 hours or overnight.
• When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 160C/140CFan/320F. Line the baking sheets with baking parchments or use a silicone liner.

• Roll out the dough on a floured surface to 1 cm (½ inch) thickness. Cut to shape using a cookie cutter, and place on the lined baking sheet.
• Bake the cookies for 15 minutes. They will puff up in the oven and settle again once rested.
• Remove from the oven, place on a wire rack and allow to cool.
• OPTIONAL: Once the cookies have cooled completely you can decorate the cookies with some cookie icing.

How to make easy cookie icing

You can decorate the cookies as I've done here by making a simple powdered sugar icing. Combine 200g/2 cups icing sugar (powdered sugar) with some cold water.

Add the water to the sugar a teaspoon at a time until you reach a thick icing consistency. You don't want the icing to be too thin or it will run right off the cookie. You can also add food colouring if you wish.

Place the icing into an icing bag and decorate your cookies.

Recipe variations

• Molasses - molasses and black treacle are interchangeable in this recipe you can use either. Here in the UK, it easier to find black treacle so I always use that.
• Sugar – I like to enhance the molasses flavour in these cookies, so I use soft brown sugar. However, you can swap the sugar for any other other sugar, just keep the total weight the same. Granulated and golden caster sugar would work.
• Spices - I use ground cinnamon, ginger, clove and nutmeg, but you could also add a pinch of allspice or even chilli powder. However, if there is a spice you don't like, simply leave it out.
• Icing - I use a simple cookie icing to ice the cookies, but you can add other decorations like sprinkles, gold and silver balls, or leave them plain if you prefer.
• Cookie cutters - use any shape of cookie cutter. I sometimes use round cutters and decorate the cookies like Christmas baubles.

Useful hints and tips

1. You must chill the cookie dough. The dough will be warm and very soft and sticky, so it is important to allow the dough to chill prior to rolling it out. Place in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours or overnight.
2. Line the baking tray with a silicone baking sheet or baking parchment as this will stop the cookies sticking to the tray.
3. Cool the cookies for 10 minutes before placing on the wire cooling rack. This will allow the soft cookies to set a little and stop them from breaking up when you lift them off the tray.
4. Enjoying the cookies warm, straight from the oven, but I think they are best eaten the day after they are baked as the flavour develops.
5. Freeze the cookie dough. This recipe makes a large ball of cookie dough. You can half the dough, using some to bake fresh cookies, and freezing the second ball to make fresh cookies another day.
6. Allergy advice: soya free and nut free. For comprehensive and detailed allergy advice go to Allergy UK.

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Additional recipe suggestions

If you like this recipe then try some of my other easy bake recipes:

• Best Mincemeat Cookies
• Date Oat Cookies with Ginger
• Chocolate & Hazelnut Cookies
• Orange Butter Biscuits
• Ginger & Chilli Biscuits
• Christmas Craft – Making Reindeer Food with the Kids

Try some of my other favourite bakes in my Fun Baking with Kids post.