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Soft and chewy Gingerbread Cookies recipe made with a simple gingerbread recipe and decorated however you like! Everyone loves this classic recipe and they taste delicious!
Looking for more holiday treats? Don't miss our Ginger Molasses Cookies, Caramel Popcorn, or Chocolate Fudge! And don't miss my Christmas Dinner Menu Ideas!
When I was young, we often decorated the “kids” Christmas tree with gingerbread cookies and it made the house smell amazing. This is the BEST recipe for soft, chewy gingerbread cookies.
What I LOVE about them:
- Soft and Chewy: Gingerbread cookies have a reputation for being hard and crispy, but not this recipe! Follow my baking tips and they will turn out perfectly soft and chewy.
- Make Ahead or Freeze: You can prepare the chewy gingerbread cookies or dough in advance. See tips below in the post.
- Fun to Decorate: Kids of all ages love decorating Christmas gingerbread man cookies so plan it for your next Christmas party! You can make the soft gingerbread cookies and frosting ahead of time so that the kids can just enjoy decorating.
How to make Gingerbread Cookies:
Gingerbread is made with the following simple ingredients: brown sugar, flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, salt, butter, milk, and molasses!
Make the Gingerbread: Mix flour, brown sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add chunks of butter and incorporate them with a pastry blender until the mixture resembles fine crumbs. Mix in the molasses and milk until combined.
Refrigerate: Cover the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for 2 hours or overnight.
Roll the Dough: When ready to bake, roll out the dough to ½ inch thickness, use cookie cutters to cut gingerbread men, and place them on your cookie sheet. Bake them for about 10 minutes at 350 degrees F. Once cool, frost and decorate, if desired! You can use any kind of frosting or icing, and candy. It really is the best gingerbread cookies recipe!
Make Ahead And Freezing Instructions:
To Make Ahead: Make the gingerbread and store it, well covered, in the refrigerator for 3-4 days. Roll out and cut into cookies when ready to bake. You can also bake the cookies and freeze them.
To Freeze: wrap the dough really well in plastic wrap and place in a freezer safe bag. Freeze for 2-3 months. Allow the dough to thaw overnight in the refrigerator before attempting to roll. Baked cookies can also be frozen for up to 3 months.
For more holiday magic, try roasting chestnuts!
Gingerbread Man Cookies
Equipment
- Stand Mixer optional
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup dark brown sugar, , packed
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1 Tablespoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 12 Tablespoons butter, , room temperature, cut into 12 pieces
- 3/4 cup molasses, (dark molasses)
- 2 Tablespoons milk
For the frosting:
- 2 Tablespoons butter, , room temperature
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 2 Tablespoons milk
Instructions
- Add flour, brown sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and salt to a mixing bowl and mix.3 cups all-purpose flour, ¾ cup dark brown sugar, ¾ teaspoon baking soda, 1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon, 1 Tablespoon ground ginger, ½ teaspoon ground cloves, ½ teaspoon salt
- Add the butter pieces and use a pastry blender to cut the butter in until the mixture resembles fine meal.12 Tablespoons butter
- With a mixer running on low speed gradually add the molasses and milk and mix until combined, about 30 seconds.¾ cup molasses, 2 Tablespoons milk
- Divide the dough in half, forming each into a ball. Wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight, or place in the freezer for about 20 minutes, until firm, if you’re in a hurry. (Refrigeration is mandatory or the dough will be too sticky to handle).
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Remove one dough sheet from the fridge/freezer and place on a well floured counter. Lightly flour the top of the dough and the rolling pin and roll out the dough (dust with a little more flour if needed), until it’s about ½ inch thick. Cut gingerbread men and place them on prepared baking sheets.
- Refrigerate the gingerbread men for 5 minutes (meanwhile you can roll out the other dough ball).
- Bake the cookies until set in the centers and the dough barely retains and imprint when touched very gently with fingertip, 8 to 11 minutes (depending on the size of your cookie cutter). Do not overbake!!
- Remove the cookies to a wire rack. Allow to cool to room temperature before frosting.
- Store gingerbread cookies in an airtight container with parchment paper between the layers. Freeze for up to 3 months.
For the frosting:
- Add butter, milk, and 1 cup of powdered sugar to a bowl. Mix until smooth. Add additional cup of powdered sugar and mix until smooth. Add frosting to piping bag if desired.2 Tablespoons butter, 2 cups powdered sugar, 2 Tablespoons milk
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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I originally shared this recipe December 2018. Updated December 2020 and November 2022.
Process photos by Nikole from The Travel Palate
This is my second year making this recipe and it is a winner. The softest and best tasting gingerbread cookies.
This was a disaster – I followed step-by-step and the mixture was dry &crumbly; nothing like the creamy mixture in video. So disappointed as this was for a gingerbread party.
Update: Although the dough was a bear to mix and work with, it became easier the more it was handled. No chilling required as it was dry/crumbled until I kept kneading. Once baked, they were delicious. Don’t overbake! About 10 min.
I don’t like to hate on recipes but this just didn’t work for me. The gingerbread dough didn’t roll out nicely, so I tried flouring it and the roller. I still had to squish it together continuously because it cracked all over despite being moist. The cut-outs were so fragile, they wouldn’t hold together when transferring to the sheet. I also don’t like the butter amounts given in only in tablespoons. My butter was a block so I had to measure it. I did the calculations to come up with 3/4 cup. That would have been nice to have. Other measurements were a bit wonky. I ended up making little ball cookies with the second pan because the gingerbread shape just wasn’t going to hold.
My daughter and I made this recipe. The result is awesome. Great for Christmas season.
Great recipe! Easy to follow and I had just about everything already in my cupboards. I didn’t have a pastry blender, but between a potato masher and a large fork, I got the job done. My daughter is dairy free and this recipe was super easy to modify for her. We cut down on the ginger and cloves, just for personal preference. The cookies were crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside. Best of all, they were so much fun to decorate!
I haven’t ate a cookie yet, I’m really hoping that they are good, tried the recipe, no altering, no substitutions, mixing with a hand blender for 30 seconds was not even close to combining ingredients, had to knead for 20 minutes, at this point I knew I would have to knead again to make it rollable. I separated into 3 balls not 2 cause 2 would have been harder. When I got the dough pliable enough to roll(half-hour)after refrigeration, half inch thickness would have yeilded 5 cookies. So rolled a bit thinner, and watched the time, recipe said 10/11 minutes, I took them out of oven at 20 minutes. I got 18 small gingerbread cookies. They smell wonderful and they feel like a soft cookie, let you know how they taste, but won’t do this recipe again.
I had the same thoughts on how long it took to combine the ingredients and bake the cookies. It took several minutes to mix them, and 20 minutes to bake them. Any less and they were much too soft (according to the directions of waiting till they were only a little soft in the middle).
My cookies turned out very dark and when they hardened they were hard and crispy, and tasting strongly of molasses.
My partner, an accomplished baker, and I tired making these for my students. What a fiasco. The dough too sticky, and even after adding flour, it was next to impossible to work with the dough. A mess!
First time baking gingerbread cookies and they were a hit among friends and family! Absolutely delicious
Honestly, these tasted good, but I found the dough to be very sticky when trying to roll out, it was rather frustrating. I will be using my previously used gingerbread cookie recipe. It was super fun decorating them with my little kids.
First time I ever made gingerbread. I found this recipe while searching for one and decided to give this a whirl. They turned out wonderful and my dad even loved them, rather soft and delicious, and the frosting wasn’t needed.
i made these yesterday for practice because i want to bake cookies for christmas and oh my god they were sooo good !!! can’t wait to make these on christmas eve!!