Tessa’s Recipe Rundown
TASTE: The perfect balance of sweetness and spice that’s quintessential to this time of year!
TEXTURE: These bake up soft and a little chewy with slightly crisp edges – but you can bake them a little longer for a crisper cookie if preferred.
EASE: So easy! You can make the cookies ahead of time and freeze them, too.
PROS: An essential recipe to add to your Christmas recipe index.
CONS: None.
WOULD I MAKE THIS AGAIN? Every holiday season!
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The heavenly aroma you’ll enjoy while baking these Gingerbread Cookies will put any candle to shame. It is truly the epitome of festive!
The process of rolling the dough, cutting out shapes, and decorating the baked cookies is a tradition I look forward to every year.
Is there anything more fun than dancing to Christmas music while baking something to share with loved ones?
Struggling with Flat or Dry Cookies?
My free guide shows you how to fix texture problems and bake cookies you’ll love.
Gingerbread spices are one of my favorite scents in the kitchen. That’s probably why I have so many spice-forward recipes – like my Crispy Gingersnap Cookies, gooey Gingerbread White Chocolate Blondies, and crowd-pleasing Chai Sugar Cookies.
These cookies are perfect for making with the kids and creating cozy holiday memories. I hope you enjoy the process every step of the way!
Tessa’s Tip
Chill your dough briefly before baking! Roll out your dough and chill it before cutting shapes, then chill or freeze the dough again for 10-15 minutes after shaping. This prevents spread and helps maintain perfect shapes.
Sprinkle of Science
How to Make Gingerbread Cookies
Should Gingerbread Cookies be Hard, Soft, or Chewy?
The texture of gingerbread cookies is a personal preference and can also be regionally based. In the U.S., we tend to enjoy them soft with a slight chew, while in the U.K., they’re often preferred crunchy and crisp. I included baking instructions for both preferences.
If you’re using a smaller gingerbread cutter, reduce the bake time slightly. Keep in mind that the cookies will firm up as they cool, so underbaking a bit will give you soft and slightly chewy cookies. Not sure how long to bake? Start by baking one cookie to find the perfect timing for your desired texture.
Ingredients for Gingerbread Cookies:
- All-purpose flour: Weigh your flour to avoid thick, cakey, or dry gingerbread. If you don’t have a digital kitchen scale, use the spoon and level method instead.
- Baking powder and baking soda: Make sure your leavening agents are fresh. Learn more about baking powder and baking soda and how to test for freshness here.
- Salt: Just a little to balance everything out. I prefer fine sea salt. Learn more about different salts in baking here.
- Spices: These gingerbread cookies are wonderfully spice-forward. More on spices below.
- Unsalted butter: Make sure your butter isn’t too warm, which could cause your gingerbread men to spread. About 67°F is perfect.
- Light brown sugar: The perfect amount to sweeten and create moist, tender cookies. Do not reduce the sugar – learn why here.
- An egg: For structure and moisture. I have not tried any egg substitutes with this recipe.
- Molasses: Be sure to use unsulphured molasses in this recipe and not blackstrap, which is very potent and bitter. We used Grandma’s Original Unsulphured Molasses.
Gingerbread Spices
Older spices carry less flavor than fresh spices. Give your spices a sniff to make sure they’re still very aromatic, and adjust the spice levels in the recipe accordingly. If your spices are expired, toss them and purchase new spices.
Feel free to add a little black pepper or cayenne if preferred.
Can I Substitute the Molasses?
- Molasses is a critical component of this gingerbread recipe. Substituting it will alter the taste, texture, and color of the cookies.
- If you live in the U.K., you can use treacle in place of the molasses. It’s basically the British equivalent.
- If you can’t find molasses or treacle, use maple syrup, dark corn syrup, or honey in its place, and increase the spices to make up for that lost molasses flavor. Note the texture and color will be different.
How to Roll Out and Shape Gingerbread Dough
- Roll the dough between two sheets of parchment paper or plastic wrap.
- Place the parchment on a silicone baking mat to keep the dough from sliding as you roll it out.
- Rotate the dough in quarter turns and roll from the center outward for an even thickness.
- If your dough becomes too warm or sticky, refrigerate or freeze it for 10 minutes or until firm.
- After cutting out shapes, chill the baking sheet in the fridge or freezer while the oven preheats to prevent spreading.
How to Decorate Gingerbread Cookies
The simplest way to decorate gingerbread is to pipe an outline, buttons, and a face with icing – or you can frost the entire cookie if you’d like. I recommend using a squeeze bottle to decorate, as it creates less mess and the kids can easily get involved! More cookie icing tips here.
How to Make Gingerbread Cookies Ahead of Time
Store gingerbread cookie dough inside an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. The spiced flavor will actually intensify in the fridge! Learn more about chilling cookie dough here.
How to Store & Freeze Gingerbread
The baked, cooled, uniced cookies can be frozen for up to 2 months. Simply pop a tray of cookies in the freezer until solid, then remove to a sturdy airtight container (to prevent the cookies from breaking). To defrost, thaw at room temperature for a couple of hours before decorating and serving.
More Christmas Cookie Recipes
- Easy Cut-Out Sugar Cookies with Icing
- Soft and Chewy Sugar Cookies
- Chocolate Mint Pinwheel Cookies
- Crispy Gingersnaps
- Snickerdoodle Recipe
- Christmas Lofthouse Cookies
Be sure to check out my Christmas Recipe Headquarters page for more holiday baking recipes, tips, and inspiration!
Gingerbread Cookies
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Ingredients
For the cookies:
- 3 cups (381 grams) all-purpose flour*
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 1/4 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 1/2 sticks (170 grams) unsalted butter, at cool room temperature
- 1/2 cup (100 grams) packed light brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup (168 grams) unsulfured molasses (not blackstrap)**
For the icing:
- 2 cups (250 grams) powdered sugar, sifted
- 2 to 3 tablespoons milk
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
Make the cookies:
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg to combine. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to beat the butter and brown sugar on medium-high speed until well combined and smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. Scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl. Add the egg and molasses and beat until combined. On low speed, slowly add the flour mixture and beat until incorporated. Shape the dough into a thick disk and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate until chilled, about 2 hours or up to 2 days.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line large baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Remove dough from the refrigerator and let stand until just pliable enough to roll with ease. Place the chilled dough in between two large pieces of parchment paper or plastic wrap on a work surface. Roll the dough to a 1/4-inch thickness. Use a gingerbread man cookie cutter to cut out shapes from the dough and place on prepared baking sheets, spacing at least a 1/2-inch apart. Reroll remaining scraps of dough into 1/4-inch thickness and cut out more shapes.
- If at any point the dough becomes too warm to hold its shape or becomes unbearably sticky*, return to the fridge (or freezer) until firm again.
- Bake for 11 minutes, or until the cookies are set and the edges are slightly browned, rotating sheets halfway through. For crisper cookies, bake for about 13 minutes. Let the cookies cool on the pans for 3 minutes, then remove to wire racks to cool completely.
Make the icing:
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the ingredients until a thick and smooth icing forms. Add more milk if the icing is too thick, or more sifted powdered sugar if it’s too thin.
- Transfer the icing to a small squeeze bottle, piping bag, or ziptop bag with a small hole cut in the corner. Decorate the cookies with the icing. Allow to set before serving or storing.
Recipe Notes
The Ultimate Cookie Handbook
Learn the sweet SCIENCE of cookie baking in a fun, visual way to customize your own recipes frustration-free. Plus, my best 50+ homemade cookies!
This post was originally published in 2018 and has been updated with recipe improvements, additional baking tips, and new photos. Photos by Joanie Simon.
These were so good! Made them on Saturday and they were gone by Sunday! Kids loved cutting out the cookies and watching them bake. The youngest got confused, held the cookie cutter sideways, and announced that we were making airplanes!
Another 10/10 recipe! These gingerbread cookies were perfection and SO simple to make. The perfect holiday treat. Delicious all around. My mom even said it was the best gingerbreads she’s ever had☺️
This has been in our yearly Christmas Cookie assembly for years now. It smells heavenly and everyone loves to decorate them. Also works for gingerbread houses or little trinkets for your coffee and hot cocoa mugs.
I’m so honored, Sabine! And I love the idea of making little gingerbread houses or charms. So fun.
Agree completely! So happy you love them, Sabine. Thanks for sharing 🙂
I like to add the cream cheese frosting
This is my go to gingerbread cookie recipe. It works every time and I use it for so many different shapes and styles. it is the perfect spicy and flavorful canvas for the holiday season.
It feels silly reviewing these in February, but these changed my entire perception on gingerbread! My whole life I thought gingerbread was hard and bland, until I tried a sample at a grocery store and decided to give this recipe a go. I’m so glad I did. It’s soft, delicious, and flavorful. They also hold their shape, which some recipes don’t even with chilling, so that’s a huge plus.
Woohoo! So thrilled that you enjoyed this recipe so much, Kate! Your gingerbread men look perfect! 🙂
I’m struggling with getting this dough to roll without it being too sticky to cut?
Hi Louise! Are you chilling your dough before cutting it? Read more about this in the pink tip box (above the recipe) for more info on this 🙂
Yum! We only have blackstrap molasses here in NZ but the dough has turned out great (I’ve eaten a fair bit of raw dough and its delish). Dough is cooling off in the fridge (summer Christmas, yuck) before we chuck the gingerbread in the oven so fingers crossed – thanks for an awesome recipe!
Way too much molasses. Overpowering. They don’t taste like a gingerbread cookie. At least they held their shape while baking, but that’s not really much to ask for. Would not recommend unless you are looking for a soft molasses cookie.
We appreciate your feedback. What kind of molasses did you use?
These are super easy to make! Everyone loved them. I live at 7000 feet and did not make any changes to recipe.
Thanks so much for sharing, Dina! Glad they were a hit 🙂
these were great and so delicious. however the dough was very sticky and very hard to work with. fortunately they baked so well that I would make it again.
but any suggestions why my dough was so sticky and so difficult to work with?
Hi Aline! So glad to hear that you enjoyed these cookies, even if the dough was a little sticky. Every kitchen environment is different, so sometimes doughs will differ slightly. If your cookie dough seems too sticky, try chilling the dough before portioning it out, to see if that helps. Alternatively, feel free to add a little more flour (a couple tablespoons to begin with) to see if that helps. Let us know how it goes! 🙂
Hi, how can I replace the egg with if I want to make it vegetarian.
Thankyou
Roma
We don’t publish egg-free recipes, so I can’t say for sure!
Hi Tessa
In Australia we use Golden Syrup for our gingerbread bikkies or cookies as you Americans like to call our biscuits/bikkies ☺️ at Christmas time. It does alter the taste as it’s lighter than molasses hence changing the taste but I love it the way I make it and it can be substituted with same amounts in any recipe that has molasses.
I imagine UK may be same. Not sure just thought it might help.
Tracey
I appreciate you taking the time to write in with your suggestion, thanks! 🙂