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 (375 g)
- 3/4 cup dark brown sugar , packed (150 g)
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda (4 g)
- 1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon (8 g)
- 1 Tablespoon ground ginger (6 g)
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves (1 g)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 12 Tablespoons butter , room temperature, cut into 12 pieces (170g)
- 3/4 cup molasses (dark molasses) (180 ml)
- 2 Tablespoons milk (30 ml)
For the frosting:
- 2 Tablespoons butter , room temperature (28 g)
- 2 cups powdered sugar (240 g)
- 2 Tablespoons milk (30 ml)
Instructions
- Add flour, brown sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and salt to a mixing bowl and mix.
- Add the butter pieces and use a pastry blender to cut the butter in until the mixture resembles fine meal.
- With a mixer running on low speed gradually add the molasses and milk and mix until combined, about 30 seconds.
- 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.
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
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This is my second year making this recipe and it is a winner. The softest and best tasting gingerbread cookies.
The measurements in the video are diff to on the website? Ie 1xtbs cinnamon vs 4tbs cinnamon in the video? Some other ingredients differ too?
Thank you for making us aware of this, and we are working on updating the video with the correct amount. The correct measurement is 1 Tbsp Cinnamon, like the recipe on the website calls for, not the 4 Tbsp Cinnamon it says on the video. Sorry for the confusion!
I found a way to fix the over powering taste of molasses add one teaspoon of ginger and one tablespoon of milk that should help
These are delicious!! Smelled strong of molasses when we were making but ended up tasting amazing! Great if you have an electric mixer too!
Good cookie. However, note…recipe says to roll them out 1/2 inch. I did so and my gingerbread men came out like blobs. If you watch the video, she says to roll out 1/4 inch. I did that with the second batch and they were fine. The molasses flavor is a tiny bit strong, but I think it is fine and reminds me of old-fashioned gingerbread. I only gave it 4 stars because of the error regarding the thickness I mentioned. If you bake them as directed (I did 9 min. for a 3.75″ tall cookie), they’re a soft cookie, but if you like crunchy, bake a little longer.
No taste of ginger. The baking time is simply not enough to make them tasty. And the horrible, horrible frosting that is still runny after I put a bunch of cornstarch. What a waste of time and ingredients.
Tastes so bad. Can only taste molasses. Yuk
I’ve been looking for delicious gingrebread recipee for years. This is the best recipe I have found and all simple whole ingredients. The cookies flew off the plate. Even my picky eater toddler loved them!
If you’re thinking of making this – STOP. READ THE REVIEWS. This perfect-star rating must be a mistake. As dozens of others have learned, this recipe yields a HORRIBLE, bitter dough that tastes *nothing* like gingerbread. Take a second and taste the molasses it asks for (in case you’ve never tasted it, molasses does not taste like maple syrup -it’s a thick, gooey bitter agent). The WHOLE RECIPE tastes like that bitter syrup – I found no notes of ginger or cinnamon or sweetness, just an overpowering bitter taste that was nothing like gingerbread. PLEASE look for a different recipe, this is NOT it, sadly…
Hi Mikel, I’m sorry you didn’t like the recipe, but plenty of the reviewers do, which is why I wont changing it. This is a family recipe we’ve been making for decades. If you’re looking for a “ginger” flavored recipe, I would suggest ginger cookies (like gingersnaps or ginger molasses cookies) , not gingerbread, which has a more pronounced molasses flavor.
I’m not sure why these turned out so bad…couldn’t roll the dough after 2 hrs in the fridge. Read reviews first! Don’t make this recipe.
I wish I had read the comments before wasting my time and money on this recipe. It’s not sweet enough and has almost no ginger taste. Do yourselves a favor and fine a different recipe.