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Soft Gingerbread Latte Cookies with Brown Butter Icing
These soft and chewy Gingerbread Latte Cookies are so full of flavor with warming spices and an irresistible brown butter espresso glaze. The combination of coffee and gingerbread is a perfect pairing giving both cozy and festive vibes. Make these for your holiday cookie platter and you won't have any leftovers.
Ingredients
Gingerbread Cookie Dough:
- ½ cup (113g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- ⅔ cup (145g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 2 tablespoon (30ml) fancy molasses
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1 tablespoon (3g) espresso powder or instant coffee powder
- 1 teaspoon (5ml) pure vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cup (215g) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ⅛ teaspoon ground clove
- ⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup granulated sugar for rolling
Brown Butter Icing
- 2 tablespoon (28g) unsalted butter, browned and cooled
- ½ cup (60g) powdered confectioner's sugar
- 1 tablespoon (15ml) whole milk
- ½ teaspoon espresso powder
- 1 pinch ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Combine butter, brown sugar and molasses in a large bowl and mix for 2-3 minutes using an electric hand mixer on medium speed until smooth, pale and fluffy. You can also use a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or cream by hand with a wide rubber spatula.
- Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl. Add egg, espresso powder and vanilla and mix until well incorporated and the mixture is pale and creamy.
- Combine flour, baking soda, spices and salt in a medium bowl and whisk to blend evenly. Add flour mixture to the butter mixture and fold it in until evenly combined.
- Cover the bowl and chill the dough in the refrigerator for 2 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two large cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- Use a 1.35-oz cookie scoop to portion dough and roll into smooth balls and then roll them evenly in granulated sugar to coat. Place them onto your prepared baking sheets spacing them 3 inches apart and bake for 10-12 minutes until puffed and cracked at the surface, but still soft in the middle. If you make smaller cookies, bake for just 8-10 minutes. Transfer baking sheets to a wire rack and let cool for 2 minutes before transferring cookies individually to the rack to finish cooling.
- Make the icing. Brown the butter in a small saucepan. You can find all of the details here about how to brown butter. Essentially you will melt it in a saucepan and then continue to cook as it boils and bubbles until the water evaporates and it turns golden amber colored with brown flecks. Transfer the brown butter to a medium bowl and let it cool so it is almost at room temperature – it should be cool but still liquid.
- Add the powdered sugar, milk, espresso powder and cinnamon to the brown butter and whisk until smooth. It will be thick if the brown butter cools down a lot. Place it in the microwave for 10 seconds to melt the butter and loosen it, but try resisting adding more icing sugar or it will become very thick when cooled and when you try to add more milk to thin it out, it will throw off the butter/liquid balance and it may look lumpy.
- Immediately drizzle the icing over the cooled cookies and set them aside for at least 30 minutes to set before storing.
