12 Days of Cookies Day 9: Orange Gingerbread Cookies with Rum Glaze

Ok, so I know that I just posted gingersnaps yesterday, but this was the original ginger cookie recipe that I had planned to make this Christmas! I almost always make a couple of ginger recipes this time of the year since I love ginger so much. So many people limit their baking with ginger to the holidays, but I bake with ginger all year long. The flavor is so great, how could you not?

These cookies are roll outs, but compared to the dough for yesterday’s cookies, this dough is not dry at all. It’s very soft dough and the cookies when baked are soft. You roll the dough between parchment sheets right after you make the dough, then chill it. I had thought about skipping this step, just refrigerating the dough and then rolling it out. It wasn’t too hard to roll out the dough and then it was very easy to cut into circles. Super easy clean up, too!

The orange gingerbread is fantastic. It’s amazing how adding orange brightens up the flavor so much. The glaze contains rum (that doesn’t cook out), so if you are making these cookies for kids, you might want to make the glaze with just powdered sugar and milk. I like the flavor the rum adds; I think it makes the cookies more sophisticated. 

Orange Gingerbread Cookies with Rum Glaze

¾ cup packed brown sugar

Zest of 1 orange

3 cups flour

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon ginger

½ teaspoon ground cloves

¾ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

¾ cup butter, softened slightly and cut into pieces

¾ cup molasses

2 tablespoons milk

2 cups powdered sugar

2 tablespoons dark rum

2 tablespoons milk

Place brown sugar and orange zest in a food processor, process about 30 seconds. Stop the food processor and add the flour, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, baking soda, and salt; pulse until combined. Sprinkle the butter evenly over the dry ingredients and process until sandy. Add molasses and milk; process dough until it comes together.

Divide dough in half and roll into ¼ inch thickness between two sheets of parchment paper. Refrigerate until firm, at least one hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

Remove the chilled dough from the refrigerator and cut into circles. I used a 2” round cutter.  Place the cut cookies on the prepared baking sheets, about 1 inch apart.

Bake until centers are just set, 8 to 11 minutes. If you bake two sheets at the same time, rotating the baking sheets halfway through the baking time. Allow to cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack.

Once the cookies are cool, prepare the glaze: in a medium bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, rum, and milk until smooth. If the glaze is too thick, add additional milk. Spoon a small amount of glaze on the center of each cookies and spread to the edges. Allow to set before serving.

Recipe from Sweet Pea’s Kitchen