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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.
These cookies are great! I got 2 doz using a small mouth jar as a cookie cutter. It’s very hard for me to follow a recipe as written. I tried here but ultimately failed. I tripled the spices and added nutmeg. Accidently left them in the oven maybe 2 minutes too long but they were still chewy and terrific!
I made them again using honey for my husband who hates gingerbread and he loved them.
Has anyone made these without rolling them out? Just a drop style cookie using a cookie scoop? I assume I will have to flatten them out but would that work?
Yes, we did and they came out just as good.
Okay so- YES. It’s full spice and chewy, as promised.
I modified the making- I beat the butter, molasses, milk and sugar together for 2 minutes. Then integrated the dry ingredients.
Perfect texture. Easy peasy.
I have made these a couple of times now and I LOVE them!! I’m not too fond of hard gingerbread cookies, so these are perfect.
Delicious and simple. Fun to make and decorate with my toddler. Didn’t have any issues decorating.
Thanks for the recipe!
Absolutely LOVED these! My adult kids would not stop eating them. I made some 1/4″ thick and then a really large one (8″ cookie cutter) about 1/2″ thick. My kids like the thicker one better than the thinner ones. It was a different way to make cookie dough, but following all the directions made it work. It is most important for the butter to be room temperature! Thanks for all the “notes”. It was helpful!
I was wondering if this cookie recipe would be appropriate for cookies hung on a Christmas tree.
I tried this recipe about a month ago hoping to make gingerbread men for my family. I hate making bad comments on baking vlogs but these cookies were not good. They were not soft and they were very gumy if thats how you say it. Overall do not recommend.
The cookies were absolutely delicious! Best gingerbread cookies I have ever had! Yes soft and chewy and the flavor is really great! HOWEVER, I did not like these to decorate 🙁 the dough is on the more crumbly side which makes the cookies crack (as seen on the picture for this recipe, so I should have known better). I like a recipe where the tops of the cookies come out smooth so they’re “pretty” when you decorate. Will still use this recipe for eating with a nice cup of coffee! Again, flavor wise 5/5. To decorate, 3/5. Thank you for the tasty recipe!!
Loved this recipe. I chilled the dough overnight. This was the easiest gingerbread dough I have ever worked with. Normally, I have issues with the cut outs being so dry, that they fall apart or crack before I get them in the oven. Not this time. The cookies were so moist. I froze them before decorating, and couldn’t believe that they were soft and chewy once thawed. This is definitely a go-to recipe. Thank you!!!
At first I was not too sure about this recipe, never made cookies that didn’t have eggs. But these are addicting! And probably one of my favorite cookies now. I baked them at 350° for 6 min and removed them from the pan immediately because I prefer really soft cookies, which did make it a little hard to decorate (the heads kept breaking off lol) but seriously, these cookies are so good. Would def recommend this recipe, just play around with the baking time for preference