Crisp with a hint of honey, these cookies are delightfully light and perfect for decorating. With only a few standard ingredients, these honey ginger shortbread cookies are easy to whip up and can be cut into rounds or into any shape of cookie cutter you have on hand. A delicious but simple 2-ingredient icing elevates these cookies to another level!
Key Ingredients for Honey Ginger Shortbread Cookies
As you may have guessed it, honey and ginger are at the center of these cookies, but not in an overpowering way. They just give the cookie a hint of sweet and a bit of zing. Feel free to omit the ginger if you don’t have it on hand with either cinnamon or nutmeg.
Storing and Rolling the Honey Ginger Shortbread Dough
When you first mix the ingredients all together, you might get small, pebble-like clusters in the bowl but just keep mixing until bigger clumps start to form. Once you see those, stop mixing and dump the dough onto a piece of plastic wrap. Mold into a ball shape and put in the fridge for an hour, minimum. You can also do this the day before and bake the next day.
Once you’re ready to bake, roll out the dough on a wooden or marble board. You’ll need to sprinkle some flour on the board, rolling pin and your hands so that the dough doesn’t stick. When you’re rolling, peel a bit of the dough layer up to make sure it’s not sticking. If it is, just lift the whole layer up and form into a ball, dust the board with flour, and roll again. It may take a few tries depending on what level of baker you are but in the end you’ll end up with a thin, 1/4 inch layer! Cut into any shape you like using a cookie cutter or the open end of a glass.
Decorating the Honey Ginger Shortbread Cookies
You can certainly enjoy these cookies as they are, without icing, but if you’d like to ice them try using the recipe below for my quick 2-ingredient icing. It comes together with just powdered sugar and water but can be customized with basically any spice or flavoring (bourbon, cinnamon, honey, etc.) Pipe or spread onto the cookies and it will set in about 30 minutes. If you’re using sprinkles, be sure to put them on the cookie right after icing them so that they stick.
Honey Ginger Shortbread Cookies
Equipment
- 1 cookie sheet tray
Ingredients
- 8 tbsp butter, room temp
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp bourbon, optional
- 3 tbsp honey
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1¼ cup flour
- ¼ tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- ¼ tsp salt
Easy 2-ingredient icing
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2-3 tbsp water
- ½ cup sprinkles, optional
Instructions
- Using a handheld mixer on medium speed, mix the butter and sugar for 2-3 mins until it becomes paler and fluffier (also called creaming the butter and sugar).
- Add in honey, vanilla, and bourbon (if using) and mix on medium until thoroughly incorporated.
- In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, ginger, and salt.
- Add in the flour bowl to the sugar mixture and mix on medium-low for 2 minutes until it all comes together. If you're getting small, pebble-like crumbles, just keep mixing until larger chunks start to form.
- Once all ingredients come together, put dough on a sheet of cling wrap and form into a ball (it doesn't need to be perfect). Place in fridge for a minimum of one hour.
- After an hour, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper. Roll out log of dough to 1⁄4 inch thick and use any cookie cutters you like. * You will need to flour your board, rolling pin, and dough because this is a fairly sticky dough.
- Bake for about 8-10 mins for a lighter, softer cookie. Or 10-11 mins for a darker, crispier cookie.
Easy 2-ingredient icing
- Combine the powdered sugar and water with a whisk until an icing-like consistency forms. You can use a spoon or knife to ice the enter cookie or if you'd like to decorate with more precision, use a piping bag or a ziploc bag with the corner slightly cut off to decorate cookies. Top with sprinkles, if desired.
- Cookies will remain crispy for 2 more days if stored in an airtight container. They can also be frozen.