Kick of your holiday season with the BEST Gingerbread Cookies recipe. These soft gingerbread cookies have slightly crisp edges and a soft center with a delicious gingerbread flavor. Get your cookie cutters ready and turn these delicious cookies into fun festive treats.
The best thing about gingerbread cookies is the rich molasses flavor, blended with the brown sugar and ginger, making it the perfect cookie. They are so flavorful, you can top these cookies with icing or dip them in chocolate for a fun spin.
Whether you’re starting a new holiday tradition and you want to make those adorable gingerbread cookies or you need a yummy cookie to take to your cookie exchange party, this gingerbread cookie recipe is perfect.
Ingredients:
- all-purpose flour
- baking soda
- ground cinnamon
- ground nutmeg
- ground ginger
- kosher salt
- unsalted butter- if using salted butter, omit the salt from the recipe
- brown sugar
- egg
- molasses-light or dark molasses both can work
- vanilla extract
What Type of Molasses Should I Use for Baking?
There are different types of molasses. Light or dark molasses are best for these cookies. I like to use Grandma’s Original which is closest to a light molasses. I don’t recommend blackstrap molasses because it’s very bitter. In a pinch, I’ve used corn syrup when I’ve been out of molasses, and it works great too. Both make a chewy gingerbread cookie.
How to Make Gingerbread Man Cookie Recipe
- In a medium bowl, combine dry ingredients, flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in a bowl, then set the bowl aside.
- In a separate large mixing bowl, using an electric mixer, or the paddle attachment on a stand mixer, add the butter and brown sugar. Cream the butter and brown sugar together at medium speed. Add in the egg, vanilla extract, and molasses. Continue mixing on medium-high speed until well combined.
- Slowly, add the flour mixture into the mixture and continue mixing on medium-low speed until all of ingredients are combined and a soft dough forms. Scrape the inside of the bowl if needed to get all of the ingredients into the dough.
- Remove the dough, and then flatten into a disc. Wrap the gingerbread disc of dough in plastic wrap and chill for about 30 minutes. While dough is chilling preheat Oven to 350 degrees F and prepare the cookie sheets with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- After thirty minutes, remove the chilled dough from the plastic wrap. Place the dough in between two pieces of parchment paper with small dowels or butter knives in between the sheets. Using a rolling pin, roll dough about 1/4 inch in thickness. Cut into shapes with cookie cutter. Place cookies on a prepared baking sheets, lined with parchment paper.
- If dough begins to soften, or when rerolling dough scraps, rewrap and chill in between batches. Soft dough is a little trickier to use and can spread while baking, distorting the cookie shape.
- Bake cookies in the oven 8-10 minutes until dough is firm and the edges of cookies are just turning golden brown. I like to rotate the pan every two-three minutes cook time to ensure even baking. Remove cookies from the oven and let them cool on baking sheet for 2-3 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
How to Make Gingerbread Cookies in the Air Fryer
Air fry at 350 degrees F for 8-10 minutes until dough is cooked. Allow cookies to cool for 2-3 minutes before removing from the air fryer basket. Then transfer baked cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.
For the full recipe and air fryer directions, follow this easy Air Fryer Gingerbread Cookies recipe.
How to Decorate Gingerbread Man Cookies
I use this royal icing recipe to decorate these cookies. You can also buy royal icing premade in most baking sections of grocery stores.
- 1/3 cup water
- 1/4 cup meringue powder
- 4 cups powdered sugar
To make royal icing, in a large bowl, combine the water and meringue powder. Stir together until the powder is dissolved. Slowly add in the powdered sugar, mixing until smooth. For lining the cookies, or “flooding” the cookie, adjust the thickness of the icing with more or less powdered sugar.
For best colors, use gel food coloring with royal icing.
Baking Tips
- For easy clean up when decorating with royal icing, we like to put the completely cooled cookies on parchment-lined baking sheets, so we can throw the parchment paper away when we are done decorating.
- Sometimes I have little hands that like to help. I give them little 1-inch balls of dough so they can make their own shapes and have fun playing and creating right with me.
- You can roll dough out on a counter or mat that has a light dusting of flour. I like to roll the dough between sheets of parchment paper so the extra flour doesn’t alter the color of the dough.
FAQ’s
If you’re wanting to save some time, make these cookies ahead and let them completely cool. Then place them in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to three days before use. When you are ready to decorate this gingerbread cookie recipe, simply remove the soft cookies from the air-tight container and they are ready to go. Once cookies are decorated, store at room temperature.
These are freezer safe cookies. Once you have baked the cookies, completely cool them and place them in a freezer bag. If you want to stack them in a Ziploc bag, simply add a small sheet of wax paper in between each layer and place them in the freezer. When you are ready to decorate, remove them from your freezer and let them thaw on your counter for an hour.
The reason we love this recipe is because the key ingredients of molasses flavor and the ginger aren’t too strong. We are gingerbread cookie lovers, and this recipe is perfectly balanced. Your family will love these cookies so much, that they will be your new favorite gingerbread cookies recipe also.
If you want to make a smaller batch and do another one later, simply wrap dough in plastic wrap and place it back into the refrigerator until you are ready to bake your next round of cookies. I like to do this anyway, so my dough doesn’t get too soft and stick to my rolling pin.
MORE RECIPES:
- Air Fryer Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Brownie Mix Cookies
- Meringue Cookies
- Lemon Cake Mix Cookies
- Kitchen Sink Cookies
Gingerbread Cookies Recipe
Equipment
- 1 mixing bowl or Stand Mixer
- 1 Rolling Pin
- 1 Cookie Cutter
- 1 Baking Sheet
Ingredients
- 23/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1/3 cup molasses
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, combine dry ingredients, flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in a bowl, then set the bowl aside.
- In a large separate mixing bowl, using an electric mixer, or the paddle attachment on a stand mixer, add the butter and brown sugar. Cream the butter and brown sugar together at medium speed. Add in the egg, vanilla extract, and molasses. Continue mixing on medium-high speed until well combined.
- Slowly, add the flour mixture into the mixture and continue mixing on medium-low speed until all of ingredients are combined and a soft dough forms. Scrape the inside of the bowl if needed to get all of the ingredients into the dough.
- Remove the dough, and then flatten into a disc. Wrap the gingerbread disc of dough in plastic wrap and chill for about 30 minutes. While dough is chilling preheat Oven to 350 degrees F and prepare the cookie sheets with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- After thirty minutes, remove the chilled dough from the plastic wrap. Place the dough in between two pieces of parchment paper with small dowels or butter knives in between the sheets. Using a rolling pin, roll dough about 1/4 inch in thickness. Cut into shapes with cookie cutter. Place cookies on a prepared baking sheets, lined with parchment paper.
- If dough begins to soften, rewrap and chill in between batches. Soft dough is a little trickier to use and can spread while baking, distorting the cookie shape.
- Bake cookies in the oven 8-10 minutes until dough is firm and the edges of cookies are just turning golden brown. I like to rotate the pan every two-three minutes cook time to ensure even baking. Remove cookies from the oven and let them cool on baking sheet for 2-3 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
Nutrition
*Nutritional information is a calculated guesstimate. Please note that this can change with different brands and modifications you may make to the recipe. For the most accurate information, use a nutritional calculator with the exact brands and measurements you’re using with each recipe.
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