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I LOVE making Gingerbread Cookies during the holidays! Use this simple, delicious recipe to create a tradition the whole family can enjoy.
Yum! Just looking at an image of a gingerbread cookie takes me back to the warm, inviting spicy aroma of a kitchen at Christmas time. The cinnamon spice, ginger and cloves in this recipe make the whole house smell welcoming. Plus, this is one of the easiest and most delicious gingerbread cookie recipes ever! Make a batch or two of these chewy spiced cookies around the holidays, grab some sprinkles and candies and enjoy an afternoon of cookie decorating with your children.
Table of Contents
Ingredients in Gingerbread Cookies
Just a few simple spices and pantry staples make up this fragrant, soft cookie recipe. Here’s what you need:
- Butter – I like to use softened, unsalted butter for this recipe, to control the amount of sodium and flavor of the cookie. But if you have salted butter on hand, you can use it too!
- Brown sugar – Dark brown sugar gives this cookie recipe a deeper color and flavor but you can use light brown sugar or a combination of both.
- Egg – Allow your eggs to sit at room temperature for a bit before adding to the cookie mixture.
- Molasses – Here’s where you get that dark color and sweet, slightly savory flavor that makes gingerbread cookies so unique.
- All-purpose flour – Give your flour a quick sift before adding the flour mixture to the rest of the wet ingredients.
- Ginger – A must-have ingredient for gingerbread cookies! It has a slightly peppery yet sweet flavor.
- Baking soda – Always make sure your baking soda is fresh and not expired.
- Cinnamon – There’s something so comforting about the sweetness and spiciness of the aroma of cinnamon. It tastes pretty good, too!
- Cloves – The warm, slightly woodsy fragrance of cloves, just reminds me of Christmas.
- Salt – balances out the sweetness and enhances the flavors of the cookie.
- Royal Icing – This is an easy recipe that can be used to decorate all kinds of cookies!
- Candy – optional for garnish
Gingerbread Cookie Icing
For these gingerbread cookies we use our easy Royal Icing Recipe. It is easy to pipe onto the gingerbread cookies, plus it makes for a good outline if you decide to flood the cookies with flood icing. You can also use different sized frosting tips depending on how thick you want the icing lines. Traditionally, gingerbread cookie icing is white, but you can always use food coloring to make it any color you like.
Tips for Mixing and Baking
- Make sure to use room temperature butter, and use the paddle attachment of your stand mixer on high speed to mix it until smooth. Then, add in your egg and molasses and mix together at low speed.
- Mix all your dry ingredients in a separate bowl, then add to the wet ingredients a little at a time until it’s mixed thoroughly.
- Divide the dough in half making two balls and wrap them individually in plastic wrap. Only half of the dough is rolled out at once, so separating into two balls while it’s at room temperature will make it easier to roll out half of the chilled dough.
- Chill the dough in the refrigerator for at least four hours. The colder the dough, the easier it will be to roll out and shape with the cookie cutter.
- Take one dough ball out of the refrigerator and roll it out on a lightly floured surface. Roll it evenly so it’s about ¼ of an inch thick. I like to use a rolling pin with adjustable rings to help achieve a consistent thickness.
- Cut into shapes, take the dough scraps, and repeat the process until there is no more dough to roll. Bake on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone mat. You can also use a cookie sheet greased well with cooking spray.
- Cool on a wire rack, then decorate!
Decorating Gingerbread Cookies
To decorate these cookies, I used our Royal Icing and piped the frosting on using a really small tip so I could do all the details and outlining. I decorated with round decorating sprinkles to go for a clean, simple look but you can use any icing and candies that you want!
- Try decorating with M&Ms, red hots or other colorful candies
- Why stop at gingerbread men? Using a variety of holiday cookie cutters and then decorating them, the possibilities are endless. Snowflakes, candy canes, angels, stockings, little trees or stars are all fun to bake and decorate.
- If buttercream frosting is what you prefer, try our easy vanilla buttercream frosting and cover the entire cookie with frosting and sprinkles.
- Make a gingerbread house! Roll the dough thicker and cut into squares and rectangles to make walls. Bake a few minutes longer to make sure the dough is cooked through and sturdy.
Storing Gingerbread Cookies
We love making these cookies ahead of time and freezing them to decorate later. They are actually easier to decorate when they are nice and cool. To freeze, place the baked cookies (undecorated) in an airtight container and layer between sheets of parchment paper. You can also freeze the gingerbread cookie dough if you would prefer. Just wrap the dough in plastic wrap and then place in Ziploc freezer bags. You can freeze the dough for up to 2-3 months and the baked cookies for up to 1-2 months to keep maximum freshness. If freezing the dough, thaw in the refrigerator and roll out between two pieces of parchment, then continue with step 5 in the recipe below.
Frequently Asked Questions about Gingerbread Cookies
The Royal Icing is really easy to decorate with, just make sure that you keep it covered with a damp dish towel when you aren’t using it so it doesn’t dry out.
Gingersnaps bake for longer to get their crispiness. Gingerbread cookies are supposed to be a bit softer and chewier.
Use cookie cutters or a knife to cut shapes when the dough is raw. But if they come out misshapen after baking, trim the cookies into to their original shapes while the gingerbread is still warm.
More Holiday Cookies to Make with Your Family
If you’re anything like us, the holidays mean lots and lots of baking! We love to make all kinds of treats for our family and friends to enjoy! We hope these other holiday cookie recipes will fill your kitchen not only with amazing aromas, but with memorable moments as well!
- Chocolate Orange Cookies
- Dipped Ritz Cookies
- Andes Mint Cookies
- Molasses Cookies
- The Best Christmas Sugar Cookies Ever – and How to Decorate Them
- 3-Ingredient Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
How to Make Gingerbread Cookies
Gingerbread Cookies
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup butter softened
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 3/4 cup molasses
- 4 cups flour
- 2 tsp ground ginger
- 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 3/4 tsp ground cloves
- 1/4 tsp salt
- Royal icing
Instructions
- In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until smooth. Add egg and molasses. If using a stand mixer, use the paddle attachment and mix at high speed to keep it smooth.
- In a different bowl, mix all dry ingredients. Slowly add to the wet ingredients while stirring. Mix until combined.
- Divide the dough in half and shape into two balls. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.
- Remove one from fridge and bring to room temperature (let it sit out for 15 minutes, or microwave for about 10 seconds). Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- On a floured surface, roll dough out to about ¼ inch thickness. Cut rolled out dough with cookie cutters.
- Place cut-out dough on a baking sheet that is greased or lined with parchment paper or silicone mat.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes. Let the cookies rest for 5 min on the baking sheet before moving them to a cooling rack.
- Once the cookies are completely cooled, decorate with royal icing and any candies and enjoy!
Video
Notes
- Make sure to use room temperature butter, and use the paddle attachment of your stand mixer on high speed to mix it until smooth. Then, add in your egg and molasses and mix together at low speed.
- Divide the dough in half making two balls and wrap them individually in plastic wrap. Only half of the dough is rolled out at once, so separating into two balls while it’s at room temperature will make it easier to roll out half of the chilled dough.
- Chill the dough in the refrigerator for at least four hours. The colder the dough, the easier it will be to roll out and shape with the cookie cutter.
Can you use the Gingerbread cookie recipe for making a gingerbread house? Do you have a Gingerbread house recipe?
Yes, we do!
Here is the recipe: https://www.favfamilyrecipes.com/valentines-day-gingerbread-house/
It is decorated with Valentines Day candy but you can just do Christmas candy. 🙂
This was really informational!
A delish crispy cookie.