Gingerbread Cookies
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Ready, set, decorate! These festive gingerbread cookies are as fun to create as they are delicious to eat—with warm spices, a crisp edge, and a soft center, they’re a holiday classic.
Decorating holiday and Christmas cookies is one of my favorite things to do. I can spend hours happily piping colorful icing and adding sparkly candies to everything from dapper gingerbread men to cut-out sugar cookies. The trouble with iced holiday cookies, though, is that they’re often more about looks than taste—and gingerbread cookies especially can fall short. But not these!
Flavored with molasses, ginger, and warm spices, these cookies have a crisp-on-the-outside, soft-on-the-inside texture—they’re as delicious as they are adorable. When you want the same cozy flavor but don’t have time to decorate, my old-fashioned molasses cookies are a great choice.
What You’ll Need To Make Gingerbread Cookies
- Flour: Forms the base of the dough, providing structure and stability to the cookies.
- Baking Soda: Helps the cookies rise.
- Ground Ginger, Cinnamon, Allspice, Cloves, Black Pepper: Infuse the cookies with warm, aromatic spices, giving them that classic gingerbread flavor.
- Butter: Adds richness and flavor to the cookies, ensuring they are tender yet crispy.
- Granulated and Dark Brown Sugar: Sweeten the dough and contribute to its moisture.
- Egg: Binds the ingredients together, adding structure and helping the cookies hold their shape.
- Molasses: Imparts hints of caramel and toffee flavors and adds moisture to the cookies.
- Royal Icing or Store-bought Icing: Used for decorating.
- Jump to the printable recipe for precise measurements
Step-By-Step Instructions
To begin, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, and spices in a medium bowl.
Whisk to combine.
Combine the butter and sugars in the bowl of an electric mixer.
Beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
Beat in the egg and molasses.
Add the flour mixture and mix until combined.
The dough will be quite sticky.
Divide the dough into two discs, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for at least one hour or up to a few days. (At this point, the cookie dough can be also frozen for up to 3 months.)
Remove the dough from the refrigerator and place on a lightly floured work surface. Dust more flour over the dough. Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough to about 1/8-inch thick.
Cut out shapes with a cookie cutter and transfer to parchment-lined baking sheets.
Bake the cookies for 8 to 10 minutes, then let the cookies cool on the baking sheets until set before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Use royal icing or store-bought icing to decorate the cookies.
Gingerbread cookies will keep nicely stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days; freeze for longer storage.
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Gingerbread Cookies
Ingredients
- 2¾ cups all-purpose flour, spooned into measuring cup and leveled-off
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- Heaping ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground allspice
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ⅛ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ¾ cup (1½ sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons (packed) dark brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 6 tablespoons unsulphured molasses, such as Grandma's Original
- Royal icing or store-bought icing. for decorating
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, and black pepper.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or beaters, beat the butter and sugars on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the egg and molasses.
- Add the flour mixture and mix on low speed until combined. Divide the dough in half and shape into two discs. Wrap the discs in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator until firm, at least 1 hour or up to three days.
- Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C); set two racks in the middle of the oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Remove the dough from the refrigerator. (If the dough has been in the fridge for longer than an hour, you'll need to let it sit out at room temperature for 10 to 15 minutes and knead it briefly until it is supple enough to roll.) Place the dough on a lightly floured work surface. Dust more flour over the dough. Roll, turning and adding more flour under and over the dough as necessary, to about ⅛-in (3-mm) thick (or for softer cookies, roll to ¼-in/6-mm thick). Cut out shapes with a cookie cutter and transfer the cookies to the prepared baking sheets, using a spatula if necessary. Gather the dough scraps and knead into a ball, then roll out and cut again, adding more flour as necessary. Repeat until scraps are used up.
- Bake the cookies, rotating the sheets from top to bottom and front to back midway through, for 8 to 10 minutes or until they feel firm. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for several minutes until set, then transfer to a rack to cool completely. Repeat with the remaining dough.
- When the cookies are completely cool, decorate with icing. Let the icing set completely, a few hours, then store in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
Notes
- Nutritional information does not include the icing.
- Freezing Instructions: The cookie dough can be frozen for up to 3 months. Shape it into 2 discs, wrap each in plastic wrap, and place them in a sealable bag. When ready to bake, thaw the dough until pliable and proceed with the recipe. The baked cookies can also be frozen for up to 3 months. Once cooled, store in an airtight container, separating layers with parchment paper or foil. Before serving, let the cookies thaw to room temperature.
Nutrition Information
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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Any suggestions for sticky dough? I made it exactly as directed, and chilled for over 24 hours. When I went to roll it out, it was sticking to my granite counter top–even after adding a lot of flour. It turned out to be a mess. Please help!
Hi Julie, The dough definitely is sticky but refrigerating it (along with adding a bit more flour) should’ve helped. Is there any chance you may have mis-measured something?
I just made these and they turned out perfect! They aren’t too spicey which I like. I think it made a difference leaving them in the fridge over night. Thank you for this recipe I will be using for many years to come.
New favorite gingerbread recipe! These turned out great. Excellent flavor and texture. They did puff up a bit…the gingerbread men looked like me once I get finished eating Christmas goodies! But the flavor/texture was so good that I don’t mind that the cookies lost their shape a little.
😂
These cookies are excellent! I have literally made this recipe 4 times since Christmas as my 14 year old son absolutely loves them. Today I made them as heart shaped Valentines and they turned out great. Not sure why anyone would have a problem as they are simple to make and come out perfect every time! Thank you so much for the recipe!!
I made this recipe for a Christmas party and people are still asking me for the recipe. I was told “this recipe is a keeper” from a good friend that doesn’t serve family or friends anything unless it’s from scratch. I will keep this forever and hopefully pass it on to my kids.
Bad recipe. Came out as gingerbread blimps not even tasting gingerbread-y. I think too much baking soda.
I thought the dough was very easy to work and the cookies baked beautifully. They stayed soft, but were firm enough to decorate. My problem was that mine had an overwhelming flavor of molasses and were darker than your photos. What could I substitute for 1/2 the molasses?
Hi Paula, What brand of molasses did you use? You could sub half of it with honey.
If like to make closer to 1.5 recipes than double. Do you think an egg + 1 egg white could work?
I think that’s fine, Melinda. Enjoy!
And a new Christmas tradition has started in our household. I love that my kids can get creative while decorating and the cookies actually get eaten because they are delicious. Now you need to make a video or write a blog on pro tips on how to decorate with royal icing. You can’t tell which ones I made and which ones my 5 and 3 year old made… haha! More decorating practice for me…
Best gingerbread cookie recipe out there! I love to bake and was requested to make a few dozen gingerbread cookies for a play called Into The Woods which has a scene where they needed to make it look real when Little Red Riding Hood took baked goods from the baker! They were such a hit that they varnished them so they could be used as props in other plays so i had to make more to accommodate eating 2 per day for a month so i used different color icing for the edible ones so the actress would know which one to take lol !so thank you for this recipe as its now in show business.
Love!