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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!
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Recipe
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
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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.
Ok — I was drawn to the drama and controversy of these reviews like a moth to a flame. I had to get to the bottom of it! Real person here (not an AI bot). I live in New England. I have 2 kids. I’m a high school teacher. These cookies are awesome. Here’s my best guess as to what is going on with all of these one-star reviews:
1) As far as texture, people must not be working the dough. It would be easy to think, after 30 seconds of hand-mixing the dough, that you’ve missed a wet ingredient somehow. It’s grainy, sandy, and looks nothing like a pliable substance that will somehow turn into delightful little shapes. You gotta work it! Knead it like you mean it. It will come together nicely and was actually perfect for cookie-cutting — not sticky at all; rolled out beautifully.
2) Maybe people don’t know what molasses is? Ha! But seriously… I mean, make sure you’re using real molasses, people! Do the cookies taste like molasses? Yeah — but, duh — they’re gingerbread. If you don’t like molasses, why are you making gingerbread? That’s part of the flavor profile. I did NOT find it overpowering, and I did not think that the molasses obscured the other spices from coming through — they’ve got a nice ginger kick, and the clove and cinnamon are evident (I might add some nutmeg and cardamom if I made ’em again… but I like bold flavor). Maybe that’s it — maybe the haters here want bland, boring cookies. Maybe they thought they were making sugar cookies? I don’t know. We like flavor in this house, and these did not disappoint. My husband loved them and said “I like that they’re not too sweet”; my 6 and 9 year olds loved them and are begging for more.
Bottom line: I made these exactly as written. I did the 20-minute freezer trick instead of a 2-hour+ refrigeration. Cooked ’em for 9 minutes. The taste is great. The texture is perfect. They held the shapes beautifully and are easy to decorate.
If you don’t like gingerbread (or if you don’t actually know what gingerbread is), maybe skip these. If you don’t like bold, complex, yet pleasing holiday flavor, these might not be for you.
We loved them.
Great recipe resulting in amazing cookies. They are delicious and turned out perfect. Add a little extra flour while rolling and they are very smooth looking after baked. I also chilled my dough overnight and they rolled perfect.
So sad!!! My girls were so excited to make ginger bread cookies. I let the dough refrigerate overnight and when I went to roll it out it was literally rock hard and did nothing but crumble. I had to find another recipe to throw together quickly so my girls wouldn’t be too disappointed. I was disappointed with this recipe!!
Awful recipe, inedible due to the molasses quantity. Use golden syrup instead.
I don’t usually rate things but i was shocked to see this recipe has less than 4 stars. I have no idea why people are complaining about a strong molasses flavor – I think they may not know what gingerbread is. This is my second year coming back to this recipe because I love gingerbread flavor but prefer soft cookies over the snappy/crispy kind that other gingerbread recipes usually bake into. They turn out so pretty too! I’m bringing some in for my coworkers and my husband is bringing some in for his as well. This year I actually added more molasses than directed because of a calculation error on my part and I still don’t find it overpowering – if youre trying to decide if you should use this recipe, think twice before you read comments that make it clear the writers don’t know what gingerbread flavor entails. If you love soft cookies and gingerbread flavor, this is the best recipe I’ve found.
Wow – these are great! Love the flavor (and I am not an old person from WWII with no taste buds). Easy recipe to follow, will definitely make these again. Thank you!
Can’t believe this is five star – it doesn’t taste like ginger – just tastes like molasses – suspect these are AI generated reviews
I had to have done something wrong- these were horrible! It had the consistency of bread dough and came out like bread dough, even after baking up to 15 minutes. None of the cookies would hold their shape. I’m going back to my old recipe.
I really really wish I read the reviews beforehand! I am now frantically googling how to reduce an overpowering molasses taste in cookies. All while my kids wait patiently to decorate. Sad to have wasted ingredients on these.
can this be baked in sheets to make a gingerbread house?
Here is our recipe and pattern for a homemade Gingerbread House! https://tastesbetterfromscratch.com/gingerbread-house/