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Chewy, soft and fudgy. It must have a piping of sugary crunchy royal icing to complete this lightly spiced cookie. 
I will not eat store bought gingerbread cookies. Not only are they often very sweet and overly spiced, too many come in a range of rainbow coloured icing or are sprinkled or studded with Smarties, M&Ms, dragees, hundreds & thousands...
I spice my cookie dough just enough so that I can enjoy all the elements of the cookie. After all, besides the ginger and spices, the combinations of sugars are also what makes these festive cookies taste special and different.
What's gula melaka and why do I use it? So as to not clutter my introduction with text, please scroll down to my 'Tips' section.
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| Have you spotted Darth Vada? |
GINGERBREAD COOKIES MADE WITH GULA MELAKA
Prep:
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20 minutes
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Cook: | 13- 15 minutes |
Inactive: | 1 hour for dough to completely firm up |
Level: | Moderately easy |
Makes: | Every cookie you see up there, plus about 8 of the smallest ones. I ate them. |
Oven Temperature: | 320F 160C |
Can recipe be doubled? | Yes |
Make ahead? | Yes, keeps well in air-tight jars for over a week. |
Just the ingredients
130g gula melaka
1/4 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
130g unsalted butter
130g dark brown sugar
400g plain/all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 - 1.5 teaspoons ginger powder
1 teaspoon cardamon powder
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg powder
1/8 - 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon powder
a pinch - 1/8 teaspoon cloves powder
Royal icing
1/2 (~1 and 1/2 Tablespoons) egg white
3.17oz (90g) confectioner's/icing sugar
small pinch of cream of tartar
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130g gula melaka
This is also labelled as 'palm sugar' and is produced in Malaysia. 'Gula' means sugar. "Melaka' is a city in the south west of Malaysia. I use this in place of molasses, treacle or golden syrup. Better quality ones contain more palm and less refined sugar and are obviously sold in Malacca (anglicized spelling) itself.
Often sold in cylindrical blocks, that is ~ 4.58oz (130g), at most local supermarkets and at Asian grocery stores. It has a purer, richer yet softer taste compared to treacle, molasses or golden syrup. To put it in context, I will be very happy to munch on nuggets of gula melaka but I definitely will not put a spoonful of treacle, molasses or golden syrup down my throat. For more information, please scroll down to the 'Tips' section.
Substitutes: Treacle, molasses or golden syrup. I have not used any of the latter 3 ingredients in gingerbread cookies ever since I switched to using gula melaka and then refined my recipe. I am assuming it is still good for a 1:1 swap with weights remaining unchanged as the liquid texture of gula melaka is similar to treacle, molasses and golden syrup. There should not be a need to adjust the quantity of dark brown sugar.
1/4 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
130g unsalted butter
130g dark brown sugar
400g plain/all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 - 1.5 teaspoons ginger powder*
1 teaspoon cardamon powder*
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg powder*
1/8 - 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon powder*
a pinch - 1/8 teaspoon cloves powder*
* You could narrow down the spices to 3: ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg. Increase/adjust the amount to suit your taste.
Royal icing
1/2 (~1 and 1/2 Tablespoons) egg white
small pinch of cream of tartar
Cream of tartar is a stabiliser as such it makes the egg white/icing firmer (less runny) and it changes the colour of the icing from a greyish white to a 'whiter' white. Alternatively, replace with 3 - 4 drops of lemon juice although it will not have the effect of 'lightening' the icing sugar to a 'whiter' white. Do not add more cream of tartar/lemon as too much might sway the balance and have the opposite effect to what you want to achieve.
Method
Melt the gula melaka in a microwave on high power for 40 seconds. It will not have completely dissolved which is what you want. Let the remaining gula melaka melt in the residual heat.
Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda, salt and spices. Remember to adjust spices to suit your taste. I like the gingerbread lightly spiced so I go with the lowest measurements. Set sifted ingredients aside.
If you have a KitchenAid, on medium-high speed, use the flat beater to cream the softened butter with the brown sugar until a lighter shade and creamy. Alternatively, use a whisk to cream.
With the machine on low, add the cooled gula melaka/milk mixture and cream until thick and creamy.
Once it has been incorporated, turn off the machine. Do not over mix. If any further mixing is required, use a spatula instead. The dough would be soft and should look similar to the image below, if not add up to 1/4 cup of flour.
Roll out the dough between 1/4" to 1/8" (0.63 cm to 0.31cm). Fold in the open end of the plastic bag so that you can roll out a neat and even rectangle.
Do not skip this step otherwise the dough will be too soft to cut into neat gingerbread shapes. It won't hurt to refrigerate the dough longer either as it develops flavour.
Remove the dough from the refrigerator and onto a silicon baking sheet if you have one. This secures the plastic bag and prevents it from shifting.
With the dough still in the plastic bag, level out the dough with a rolling pin if necessary.
With scissors or a sharp knife, slice off the top of the plastic bag to reveal the dough. Dust your cookie cutters lightly with flour before using.
Have your silicon baking sheet/parchment paper lined baking sheet ready.
As this dough can be rather soft and pliable, it helps if you use a rectangle cake server/bench scraper to transfer and lift the larger sized gingerbread (those that are (6")(15cm)) onto the waiting baking tray. These cookies expand marginally. Spacing them 1/4" (0.63cm) apart will do.
The other advantage of having rolled the dough out in a plastic bag is that you can slip your fingers under the plastic bag to help you pop up the cut cookie dough with less of a chance of mangling the dough.
Gather dough bits and use the plastic sheet it is sitting on to wrap it into a loose square/rectangle parcel. Roll to flatten and cut out more gingerbread. Bake as soon as dough has been cut, if not refrigerate on tray. Do not leave on the table. Cold dough straight into hot oven will bake cookies with the sharpest edge/corners.
Bake in 320F (160C) oven, middle rack for 13 to 15 minutes. Rotate the baking sheet half way into baking. They are done when the dough has changed colour and the outsides of the gingerbread cookies are a slightly darker shade.
Leave on tray to cool (as they are still too soft) and then transfer to cooling racks.
Now, you cannot eat the cookies the day you bake them. They will be rock hard!
It's not an issue as you would need to let the cookies cool, ice them and then leave them overnight for the icing to completely dry. Then, the icing will not only retain its sharp looks, the gingerbread cookies will look adorable and they will taste soft, chewy and fudgy as a gingerbread cookie should.
Royal icing
As the amount of royal icing we are making is a very small amount (yet sufficient to ice all these cookies with outlines), it would be ridiculous to bring out your mixer. So use either an immersion blender with the whisk attachment attached or your arm muscles!
In your mixing bowl, add the icing sugar and the small pinch of cream of tartar. Stir to combine.
Add the egg white and stir in the icing sugar so that it will not fly all over once you start whisking.
Start by whisking on low speed and working up to high speed until the icing is thick and white.
Scrape into a piping bag or a heavy duty plastic bag (freezer bags are hardier). Seal it completely shut so that icing does not dry out. I refrigerate mine, if I am not using straight away.
Only start to ice the cookies when they are completely cooled and allow to air dry overnight before storing in air-tight containers.
Tips
What's gula melaka and why do I use it?
Let's start with 'Why?'
Because I can find more uses for gula melaka and I am more likely to find a block of gula melaka sitting in the inner depths of my pantry than treacle, molasses or golden syrup. After making gingerbread cookies, I have no more use for treacle, molasses or golden syrup.
With gula melaka, I can eat those little nuggets on its own. It could be sprinkled over ice cream, pancakes or it could be stuffed inside a ball of dough made from steamed mashed sweet potatoes and tapioca starch, which is then boiled in hot water, drained and rolled in fresh grated coconuts. They are called 'ondeh ondeh' and I can eat a lot of it.
Gula melaka can also be melted with a little water and turned into a syrup which can be poured over all sorts of puddings and to sweetened drinks (usually coconut based).
What is it?
This is also labelled as 'palm sugar' and is produced in Malaysia. 'Gula' means sugar. "Melaka' is a city in the south west of Malaysia. I use this in place of molasses, treacle or golden syrup. Better quality ones contain more palm and less refined sugar and are obviously sold in Malacca (anglicized spelling) itself.
It is made from the sap of the flowers of palm trees, more often than not, the coconut. Sold in cylindrical blocks the size of a little teacup.
Remove the dough from the refrigerator and onto a silicon baking sheet if you have one. This secures the plastic bag and prevents it from shifting.
With the dough still in the plastic bag, level out the dough with a rolling pin if necessary.
With scissors or a sharp knife, slice off the top of the plastic bag to reveal the dough. Dust your cookie cutters lightly with flour before using.
As this dough can be rather soft and pliable, it helps if you use a rectangle cake server/bench scraper to transfer and lift the larger sized gingerbread (those that are (6")(15cm)) onto the waiting baking tray. These cookies expand marginally. Spacing them 1/4" (0.63cm) apart will do.
The other advantage of having rolled the dough out in a plastic bag is that you can slip your fingers under the plastic bag to help you pop up the cut cookie dough with less of a chance of mangling the dough.
Gather dough bits and use the plastic sheet it is sitting on to wrap it into a loose square/rectangle parcel. Roll to flatten and cut out more gingerbread. Bake as soon as dough has been cut, if not refrigerate on tray. Do not leave on the table. Cold dough straight into hot oven will bake cookies with the sharpest edge/corners.
Bake in 320F (160C) oven, middle rack for 13 to 15 minutes. Rotate the baking sheet half way into baking. They are done when the dough has changed colour and the outsides of the gingerbread cookies are a slightly darker shade.
Leave on tray to cool (as they are still too soft) and then transfer to cooling racks.
Now, you cannot eat the cookies the day you bake them. They will be rock hard!
It's not an issue as you would need to let the cookies cool, ice them and then leave them overnight for the icing to completely dry. Then, the icing will not only retain its sharp looks, the gingerbread cookies will look adorable and they will taste soft, chewy and fudgy as a gingerbread cookie should.
Royal icing
In your mixing bowl, add the icing sugar and the small pinch of cream of tartar. Stir to combine.
Add the egg white and stir in the icing sugar so that it will not fly all over once you start whisking.
Start by whisking on low speed and working up to high speed until the icing is thick and white.
Tips
Let's start with 'Why?'
Because I can find more uses for gula melaka and I am more likely to find a block of gula melaka sitting in the inner depths of my pantry than treacle, molasses or golden syrup. After making gingerbread cookies, I have no more use for treacle, molasses or golden syrup.
With gula melaka, I can eat those little nuggets on its own. It could be sprinkled over ice cream, pancakes or it could be stuffed inside a ball of dough made from steamed mashed sweet potatoes and tapioca starch, which is then boiled in hot water, drained and rolled in fresh grated coconuts. They are called 'ondeh ondeh' and I can eat a lot of it.
Gula melaka can also be melted with a little water and turned into a syrup which can be poured over all sorts of puddings and to sweetened drinks (usually coconut based).
What is it?
This is also labelled as 'palm sugar' and is produced in Malaysia. 'Gula' means sugar. "Melaka' is a city in the south west of Malaysia. I use this in place of molasses, treacle or golden syrup. Better quality ones contain more palm and less refined sugar and are obviously sold in Malacca (anglicized spelling) itself.
It is made from the sap of the flowers of palm trees, more often than not, the coconut. Sold in cylindrical blocks the size of a little teacup.
It taste like very good quality soft dark brown sugar that has been packed tightly with a purer, richer yet softer taste compared to treacle, molasses or golden syrup.
To put it in context, I will be very happy to munch on nuggets of gula melaka but I will not put a spoonful of treacle, molasses or golden syrup down my throat.
I had been taught to select gula melaka that looks darker and more densely packed.
Can be used melted, shaved/grated or cut into small nuggets. The easiest way to melt them is in a microwave.
I had been taught to select gula melaka that looks darker and more densely packed.
Can be used melted, shaved/grated or cut into small nuggets. The easiest way to melt them is in a microwave.
If not, over the stove over medium-low heat with the addition of a touch of liquid (usually water), to kick-start the melting and stir constantly.
To prevent burning, remove from heat source, when it has almost melted. Any larger lumps will melt in the residual heat.
Gula Melaka will re-solidify quickly as it cools. To prevent that from happening, either use quickly in its liquid form (although it will be hot) or add a little liquid before/during/after melting.
WHAT'S COMING UP NEXT?
My 3 refreshing coolers for the upcoming festive season!
I am always impressed when I step into someone's home and find that the host/hostess has gone through the effort to prepare a special cocktail or a drink for teetotallers.
With the holidays approaching, it is time to plan not only the food but the often neglected drinks menu. Here are my concoctions for the season:
1. Osmanthus & Apricot Drink With Konjac Jelly (konnyaku)
2. Zingy Mint, Lime & Lemongrass Infused Cooler
3. Frozen Red Raspberry Fizzy (my favourite)
Stay tuned.
My 3 refreshing coolers for the upcoming festive season!
With the holidays approaching, it is time to plan not only the food but the often neglected drinks menu. Here are my concoctions for the season:
1. Osmanthus & Apricot Drink With Konjac Jelly (konnyaku)
2. Zingy Mint, Lime & Lemongrass Infused Cooler
3. Frozen Red Raspberry Fizzy (my favourite)
Stay tuned.
