White Chocolate Iced Gingerbread Cookies

Tis the season for Christmas shoppin’ and a lot of holiday cookie swappin’!

For this year’s Food Blogger Cookie Swap , I went with White Chocolate Iced Gingerbread Cookies.

I don’t even want to discuss how many cookies have made their way out of my kitchen lately. It is insanity. I accidentally obligated myself to multiple cookie swaps. You know when you get all excited and think, oh what’s another cookie swap- it’ll be fun?! And then the deadlines come around and you realize that 3 cookie swaps requiring 3 dozen cookies each mean 9 dozen cookies. Heavens to Betsy, that’s a lotta darn cookies! On the bright side, however, cookies that are gifted are cookies that aren’t hanging out in my house creating further havoc on my waistline. So there’s that.

I chose the White Chocolate Iced Gingerbread Cookies because I wanted to do something a little different as well as a cookie that would hopefully travel easily since this swap wasn’t local. Using a basic round cookie cutter allowed them to stack easily.

Here’s a photo snapped right before they headed out the door to Betsylife, Quilts & Cookies, and Yummy Crumble.

I take my packaging a little seriously and was nearly late getting them on their merry little way because I was tinkering around with ribbon. You know how much emphasis people put on first impressions? I believe the same rule should apply to cookie swaps.

These cookies are the bees knees, kiddos.

But don’t just take my word for it. Here’s what one of my swap partners had to say about the cookies:

Mmmm….hmmm….see? I didn’t just make it up.

The cookies aren’t difficult either. The trickiest part is dipping only half of the cookie into the white chocolate then figuring out a way for them to set without laying them down anywhere (because you want the back of the cookie to set smoothly, also) . I’m sure there is probably a more legit way to do it than what I figured out, but basically I wedged the non-dipped part of the cookie into the grooves of my cookie cooling rack. I should’ve taken a photo because it definitely looked a little wacky but it seemed to work!

And you could totally skip the white chocolate all together if you wanted and still have a yummy soft gingerbread cookie, but trust me when I say that the white chocolate on these babies is what makes the world go world.

White Chocolate Iced Gingerbread Cookies

Recipe Type: Cookies

Author: Aimee

Prep time: 1 hour

Cook time: 12 mins

Total time: 1 hour 12 mins

Serves: 36

Ingredients

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup molasses
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tablespoon ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
12 ounces white chocolate chips
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Instructions

Beat butter and sugar together with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. In a separate bowl stir together 1/4 cup water and soda until dissolved then add in molasses. Combine dry ingredients together in a large bowl (flour, salt, spices) and slowly add to the butter mixture alternately with the molasses mixture. Shape mixture into a ball and cover with plastic wrap- chill for at least one hour.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Remove the dough ball from the refrigerator and roll to about 1/4 inch thickness on a lightly floured surface. Use a cookie cutter to cut desired shape and place onto parchment paper or silicone baking mat about 2 inches apart.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 12 to 15 minutes. Allow to cool completely on a wire rack.
Once completely cooled, heat the white chocolate in the microwave with 1 tablespoon vegetable oil. Dip each cookie halfway into the white chocolate and allow to set for a couple of hours or pop into the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Enjoy them with a hot cup of coffee. Enjoy them slightly heated. Enjoy them for breakfast. Enjoy them for a late night movie snack. They’re pretty much enjoyable any time of day.

If you’re a foodie and interested in next year’s swap, here’s more information: Food Blogger Cookie Swap. Along with swapping 3 dozen sets of cookies, each participant who signed up also donated $4 to which OXO, Dixie Crystals, California Olive Ranch, and Sheila G’s Brownie Brittle each match the bloggers donations. Depending on the total amount of bloggers who signed up, it could mean as much as $15,000 for Cookies for Kids Cancer!

Y’all. That’s truly amazing what a little cookie swapping can do.

All of the bloggers will be linking their recipes over the next couple of days so be sure to look for the round up. It will be cookie overload for sure!