No Christmas cookie decorating skills? No worries! The uglier the better with these ugly Christmas sweater gingerbread cookies! There’s no waiting around for butter to soften before you can make the cookies too if you use the Breville HeatSoft™ hand mixer. This recipe has been made in collaboration with Breville.
Ugly Christmas sweaters – do you love them or hate them?
I’m not going to lie, my cookie decorating skills are not the best, especially when it comes to piping royal icing. I can do fine detail, as you can see in my Shetland Peperkakehus recipe, but when it comes to colours and designs, well, I’m more for the keeping it simple camp.
Hence, the Ugly Christmas Sweater Cookie was born! The uglier the better when it comes to these cookies, and you don’t have to worry if your flooded royal icing is perfect – it gives the sweaters that worn, comfy look. Simply bake your gingerbread men (or women!), allow to cool and then pipe a solid coloured Christmas sweater shape and leave to harden. Then, decorate as desired!
Christmas sprinkles and simple designs work well with these cookies, but feel free to get creative! I’d love to see your favourite Ugly Christmas Sweater cookie designs, if you make this recipe, do share a photo on social media and tag me!
The Breville HeatSoft™ Hand Mixer
Did you know that many recipes, such as gingerbread cookies, need ingredients to be at room temperature before mixing? Butter can take ages to reach room temperature when it has been left on the countertop, and let’s face it, who has the time to wait for that? There’s Christmas shopping that needs to be done!
With Breville’s new HeatSoft™ Technology, waiting for butter to come to room temperature is a thing of the past!
The HeatSoft™ button switches on a gentle heat, allowing cold butter, straight from the fridge, to be softened while mixing. No more waiting! With seven different speeds to choose from, plus an extra boost button if needed, makes mixing your favourite cakes effortless, with no planning involved.
There is also a boost button for when you might need a little extra help for thicker mixtures, and the ergonomically designed handle and controls mean this mixer is super easy to use.
The one-touch eject button makes for an easy clean up too, while the unit comes with its own handy storage case. No more searching the bottom of drawers for the hand mixer attachments! Win!
What comes with the Breville HeatSoft™ hand mixer?
- 2 x beaters
- 2 x dough hooks
- 1 x whisk
- 1 x removable magnetic nozzle for easy cleaning
- handy storage case
Tips for using your Breville HeatSoft™ hand mixer
- Cut your cold butter into 2.5 cm cubes and place them in the mixing bowl along with the sugar.
- To avoid splatters, start the unit on the lowest speed setting and slowly increase to the desired speed setting
- The unit comes with dough hooks, a whisk and interchangeable beaters (meaning no more faffing about trying to figure out which beater goes in which hole!).
- Store the hand mixer plus the accessories and the power cord conveniently together in the storage case.
- Do not touch or hold your hands beneath the heat nozzle while the HeatSoft™ feature is switched on.
- Whenever you need to scrape the sides of your mixing bowl, switch the mixer off and scrape the sides and bottom with a rubber spatula, as required.
- Make sure you position the beaters above your mixing bowl when adding ingredients. This will ensure any excess mixture falls back into the bowl and not onto your countertop!
Gingerbread Cookies FAQ
Are gingerbread cookies soft or hard?
Gingerbread cookies are supposed to be soft, so soft that if you pressed onto the cookie your finger would leave a slight indentation.
Can I use honey instead of golden syrup in gingerbread?
Honey has a very distinct flavour and does not make a good replacement for golden syrup in gingerbread recipes. It also changes the texture of the bake.
If you need to replace the golden syrup, you could replace both the treacle and golden syrup in this recipe with an equal, combined weight of North American style molasses, which is a cross between treacle and golden syrup.
How long will gingerbread cookies last?
These cookies will keep for about a week in an airtight container. They are a softer, cakier gingerbread so they don’t last as long as the harder ones do.
Ingredients
- 450 grams plain flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 0.5 tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 2 tsp ground ginger
- 0.5 tsp ground cloves
- 125 grams chilled butter
- 125 grams dark muscovado brown sugar
- 70 grams treacle
- 70 grams golden syrup
- 1 large free range egg
- 450 grams icing sugar
- 2 large egg whites
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- gel food colouring
- sprinkles to decorate
Instructions
- Sift together the flour, baking soda, spices and salt.
- Cream together butter and sugar using the Breville HeatSoft™ hand mixer, pressing the HeatSoft™ button once. Mix at speed setting 1 for 45 seconds, or until there are no more large chunks of butter, then turn to speed 5-7 for another 15-45 seconds, until the mixture is light and fluffy.
- Add the treacle, golden syrup and egg and mix with the HeatSoft™ button off.
- Add the dry ingredients and mix well with a wooden spoon.
- Divide the dough into two pieces, flattening each one slightly and wrap in cling film. Chill for two hours, or overnight.
- Roll the dough out on a floured surface to a thickness of 1/4 inch. Bake for 8-10 minutes in a preheated 350F/180C/160C fan oven.
What sprinkles can I use to decorate my gingerbread?
You can buy a variety of Christmas-themed sprinkles to decorate your ugly Christmas jumpers with. I’ve used green Christmas trees and white snowflakes to keep things simple.
Tips for rolling out gingerbread dough
- Divide your dough into two and form into flat discs about 7 inches in diameter before wrapping in clingfilm and refrigerating.
- The dough is easier to work with if you leave it overnight to chill.
- Take the dough out of the fridge for about 20 minutes before rolling.
- Lightly flour your work surface and roll out the dough into a 1/4 inch thickness with a lightly floured rolling pin.
- Keep any scraps, knead together and re-roll.
Tips for making Royal Icing for decorating cookies
You want two different consistencies of Royal icing to decorate your Ugly Christmas Sweater gingerbread cookies.
- Flooding/outlining icing: this has a medium consistency like ketchup. It is perfect for filling a solid block of colour for the ugly Christmas sweater backgrounds.
- Piping icing: this has a thicker consistency, like toothpaste. It is ideal for piping on detail and attaching sprinkles.
How long does Royal Icing take to dry?
- Depending on how warm your house is, it should take about 30 minutes for your base coat of Royal Icing to dry. You can then decorate as desired.
Can I freeze Royal Iced cookies?
- Yes! Simply make sure your icing is completely hard and then freeze the cookies in a single layer. When the cookies are completely frozen, wrap them well and transfer to a freezer-proof container.
- Allow the decorated cookies to come to room temperature in their wrappings for at least an hour when defrosting.
Gingerbread Christmas tree cookies
For a bit of variety, I used a Christmas tree-shaped cookie cutter to cut out some Christmas trees from my gingerbread cookie dough. I used green Royal Icing mixed with a little extra water to make it runnier to pipe layers of ‘tree branches’, starting at the bottom of the cookie and finishing at the top.
Then, I used white Royal Icing to pipe an outside edge, a garland, and to stick on Christmas lights which are little chocolate beans. I think they look rather impressive, don’t you?
Where can I buy the Breville HeatSoft™ hand mixer?
The Breville HeatSoft™ hand mixer is a recently launched addition to the Breville range. It retails for £49.99 and can be purchased here.
Follow Breville on Instagram at @brevilleuk
Ugly Christmas Sweater Gingerbread Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
for the gingerbread cookie dough
- 450 grams plain flour
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 0.5 tsp Shetland sea salt
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 0.5 tsp ground cloves
- 125 grams butter chilled
- 125 grams dark muscovado sugar
- 70 grams black treacle
- 70 grams golden syrup
- 1 large free-range egg
for the Royal Icing
- 450 grams icing sugar
- 2 large free-range egg whites
- 1 tsp lemon juice
Affiliate Links
This recipe card may contain affiliate ingredient and equipment links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Equipment
Instructions
to make the gingerbread cookie dough
- Sift together the flour, baking soda, spices and salt.
- Cream together butter and sugar using the Breville HeatSoft™ hand mixer, pressing the HeatSoft™ button once. Mix at speed setting 1 for 45 seconds, or until there are no more large chunks of butter, then turn to speed 5-7 for another 15-45 seconds, until the mixture is light and fluffy.
- Add the treacle, golden syrup and egg and beat with the HeatSoft™ button off.
- Add the dry ingredients and mix well with a wooden spoon.
- Divide the dough into two pieces, flattening each one slightly and wrap in cling film. Chill for two hours, or overnight.
- Roll the dough out on a floured surface to a thickness of 1/4 inch. Bake for 8-10 minutes in a preheated 350F/180C/160C fan oven.
for the Royal Icing
- Using a slow speed on the Breville HeatSoft™ hand mixer, mix together the icing sugar, egg whites and lemon juice until smooth and forming soft peaks.
- Divide the mixture between three bowls.
- Add green gel food colouring to one bowl, and red to the other. Keeping adding enough dye to reach your desired colour, and then top up with a few drops of water so that the consistency resembles ketchup.
- Spoon the Royal Icings into three piping bags with the tips cut off.
- Decorate your gingerbread cookies as desired, leaving a half an hour drying time in between each layer of icing.
- Store the cookies in an airtight container.
Nutrition
Pin these easy Christmas cookies for later!
Other Christmas baking recipes you might like
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This is a sponsored recipe post in collaboration with Breville, although all thoughts and opinions expressed are our own. Thank you for supporting the brands who make it possible for me to do what I love: mess up my kitchen and share recipe stories.
Ruby Wilson
This one will be the best option for Christmas gifts because cookies are favorites of kids and adults. It can be an excellent surprise for this Christmas.
Jen
We hade so much fun making these cookies! Ours weren’t as pretty as yours but they were certainly delicious!
Tawnie K Kroll
The most adorable cookies ever – they will be a hit at the christmas party next weekend!
Veena Azmanov
This is so cute and looks amazing. Definitely delicious to eat and flavorful too. Best option to gift for the season.
Erika
These are adorable! Definitely adding this to my list for my next Christmas party.
Chris Collins
I know they’re supposed to be ‘ugly’ but they’re so darn cute!! Can’t wait to make them 🙂