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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.
Chill, chill, then chill again. I’ve never made gingerbread. Apparently it’s a sticker dough than most. The only way I was able to manage it was to chill the dough overnight, roll it out on a cookie pan with parchment paper, chill that for 30ish, take it out and cut the cookies then separate the excess dough, then chill the cut cookies for a little more before baking ~ repeat until dough is all used up. It’s not a quick process but after I figured it out the cookies looked great. They taste good too!
These are so yummy and were as simple to make as ginger bread cookies can be! I had pulled a few recipes and decided to start with the easiest to follow – now I don’t have to try any of the other complicated ones! 😆 🙌
I did have to substitute a lot due to allergies, sensitivities, and what I had on hand, but everything worked perfectly! I used Namaste Gluten Free Perfect Flour Blend, coconut sugar instead of brown sugar, a combo of molasses and sorghum syrup, Earth Balance vegan butter, and coconut milk.
Thank you for this recipe! I’ve found a new Christmas family tradition! ❤
This recipe is really just ok. Not as terrible as some here say, but the dough was a bit hard to work with and the end result is a bit of a let down. No so much soft and chewy as mushy. As others have said the cookies spread and cracked which kind of defeats the purpose of cut out cookies.
These were Fantastic. I made 4 batches at once and they all came out nicely. I lightly floured my work area. ThankYou for sharing recipe.
This family was a HIT with the family! As long as you follow step by step, it should be smooth sailing. Not quite sure why some are having so many issues. I will way I found my cookies rose better with the freeze prior method. If you let the dough get too warm prior to oven time, they will crack. Time varies based off thickness. Definitely use some flour when rolling and shaping. A new go-to for my soft gingerbread loving family <3 Merry Christmas!
These were so fun to do with the kiddos & they smelled amazing!! They LOVED decorating and eating them!!!! Thank you & Merry Christmas!
Why is the dough so sticky? The fact that I have no seen the author reply back to any feedback should have been a red flag for me. After taking the dough out of the fridge for over 2 hours it’s seems like I just wasted ingredients. I followed the recipe and the dough is now stuck on my rolling pin. Thanks. This recipe is a joke.
Did you flour your board and rolling pin. I had zero problems with this recipe.
These comments are so… Everyone, please a little gratitude and grace over the holidays, especially for free recipes made with love 🙂 If you like them, great. If you don’t like them, then try something else. My dough is in the fridge at the moment. Let’s see how they turn out! Regardless, thanks Lauren for your efforts.
Thank you Kimberly! Hope you love the cookies and happy holidays from all of us at Tastes Better From Scratch!
They were great!! Big hit with adults and kids!! I actually divided the dough in half, and refrigerated the other half. The second batch was so much better. I think the trick is for the dough to be colder. I actually put it straight on the parchment paper and was cutting the shapes from there so it could hold the shape. Anyway, delicious recipe and perfect with chai. Thanks so much!!
Hi, we (sisters) were so excited to make these adorable gingermen for Christmas baskets…we are bakers and if we can’t make a recipe work our mother can ❤. But we need so expert advice from the one who made the recipe. The dough is very dry and crumbley so I just mashed it together with my hands and it still was dry, am I doing something wrong? I’d love to try again!
I just made these. As others have said, the dough was really, really sticky and difficult to work with, so instead of making balls of dough to chill I made pancakes of dough so they chilled faster and were quick to roll out (and thus did not warm up as quickly). Still, the last cookies I cut from each pancake were very soft and hard to move to the cookie sheet. I rolled out to a little more than 1/4 inch thickness because a 1/2 inch is really thick and would have only made a few cookies. Baked for 11 minutes at 350 and they turned out pretty well, crispy outside with a thin soft center, but they spread a lot so don’t bother using cookie cutters that have fine details. Best for gingerbread men, hearts, circles, etc. It might help to put the cutouts on the cookie sheet and refrigerate them for an hour before baking, but that would make the process take even longer. Very strong spice flavor. I would cut back on some of the ginger and clove.