Put the sugar, butter, molasses, and egg into a large mixing bowl. Use a handheld electric mixer to combine until any lumps of butter have been dispersed thoroughly.
Sift in the flour, baking soda, ginger, cloves, and cinnamon and mix on a low speed until the dough clings together, leaving the sides of the bowl clean.
Use your hands to bring the dough into a ball.
Lightly flour a surface and turn the dough out onto it.
Knead very briefly until smooth, then divide into two balls of dough.
Flatten each dough ball into a disc shape, then wrap it in plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
PREP OVEN AND BAKING SHEETS:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Line two baking trays with parchment paper.
CUT COOKIE DOUGH:
Remove the chilled dough from the fridge. Roll out one of the discs between two sheets of parchment paper to a thickness of about ⅓ - an inch.
Leaving the rolled-out dough on the parchment, use a dinner plate (mine was about 10 inches) as a template for a circle. Cut around the edge of the plate with a sharp knife and remove the excess dough. You will be left with a circle.
Add a smaller plate (mine was about 6 inches) to the center of the dough circle. Cut around the smaller plate, then remove the dough from the center. This will leave you with a ring of dough.
Slide the parchment paper with the ring of dough onto a baking sheet.
Roll out the rest of the dough between sheets of parchment. Use the cookie cutters to cut different size star shapes from the dough. You will need at least 8 of the larger-size star.
Gently transfer the cut-out cookies onto the lined baking sheet.
Put both baking sheets in the oven for 10 minutes or until the cookies are lightly browned.
Remove from the oven and immediately transfer to a wire rack to cool completely, about 30 minutes.
MAKE ROYAL ICING:
Put the egg whites into a mixing bowl and whisk until frothy. Add the powdered sugar a cup at a time and vigorously beat until smooth.
At this point, you will need to check the consistency of the icing. It should easily flow in a thick ribbon from a spatula when picked up, and the consistency of toothpaste. If it looks a bit thick, add more egg whites (or cold water), a tablespoon at a time.
Continue to beat until it reaches the desired consistency.
Transfer the Royal Icing to a piping bag, then snip the end off with scissors.
When the cookies have cooled, you can decorate them as desired.
ASSEMBLE THE WREATH:
For the first layer, you will need approximately 8 of the 3.5-inch star cookies.
Add a small amount of royal icing underneath a larger star cookie and gently press it onto the wreath.
Repeat with the remaining cookies working your way around the wreath.
Next, add Royal Icing to the 3-inch cookies and place them on top of the larger cookies. Repeat with the smaller 2.5 and 1-inch cookies until the Gingerbread Wreath is full and looks how you would like it.
Tie the ribbon onto the wreath and display it as a holiday centerpiece.
Notes
These wonderfully versatile Gingerbread Cookies are a tasty and robust cookie choice for a beautiful Gingerbread Wreath.
The dough is easy to make and will not spread in the oven. The gingerbread cookies are delicately crunchy and gently spiced - perfect for the festive season!
The ground cloves add a complex flavor dimension to the gingerbread. If you are not a fan of cloves, you can substitute them with ground ginger.
This large batch of dough will make the wreath surround plus plentiful cookies. You might have some leftovers, depending on the size. They may not all fit on the wreath.
I used 4 Star cookie cutters in the following sizes: 3.5 in, 3 in, 2.5 in, and 1 in. If you don’t have these sizes, it doesn’t matter. I recommend various sizes, as this makes the wreath look interesting. You could use different cookie cutters such as Christmas Trees, leaves, snowflakes, or anything else festive.
Once you’ve made the dough, you can use it straight away. However, it will be softer and not as easy to handle, so I recommend chilling the dough for a short time before cutting out the shapes.
The dough will hardly spread during baking, so you can fit quite a few cookies on the baking sheet. Leave about 1cm in between.
I recommend you bake for 10 minutes, yielding a crunchier cookie that is more robust for wreath making. For a softer cookie, bake for 8 minutes but be careful during assembly in case the cookies break.
There is enough Royal Icing to decorate all the cookies and to use as ‘glue’ for the wreath assembly.
Use pasteurized eggs (for the Royal Icing) as they are safe to eat raw. However, I will caution you against any form of raw egg if you are pregnant.