Gingerbread Cookies Recipe
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Gingerbread Cookies are a favorite Christmas cookie and this makes the best gingerbread cookie recipe! Fun to make and delicious to eat!
Looking for more delicious holiday treats? I think you’ll love my Chocolate Fudge, Sugar Cookies, and easy Cracker Toffee.
What I Love About This Recipe:
- Soft and Chewy: My gingerbread cookie recipe makes perfectly soft and chewy gingerbread cookies every time! Yet they still hold up well for baking, decorating, and sharing.
- Easy Recipe: My gingerbread cookie recipe is an easy recipe made of flavorful ingredients.
- Make Ahead Friendly: The holidays are busy! I love to make the cookie dough or the soft gingerbread cookies and frosting ahead of time. See my tips to make ahead and freeze below.
Gingerbread Cookies Recipe
How to Make Gingerbread Cookies
Gingerbread cookies are made of the following simple ingredients: butter, brown sugar, molasses, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, vanilla extract, egg, baking powder, baking soda, and flour. I also like to include espresso powder to add depth to the flavor of my gingerbread cookies.
Make the Gingerbread:
- Cream the butter and brown sugar until fluffy, about 3 to 5 minutes. Add in molasses and mix until well combined. Mix in the salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, espresso powder, vanilla extract, and egg until well combined.
- Whisk together baking powder, baking soda, and flour. Slowly stir these dry ingredients into the molasses mixture.
- Divide the dough in half and wrap it with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 1 hour or overnight.
Roll the Gingerbread dough:
- Once the dough has chilled, take one piece of dough out of the refrigerator. Roll the dough on a piece of parchment paper or a silicon baking mat. Roll the dough to 1/2-inch thickness.
- You may use a light dusting of confectioner’s sugar under and on top of the dough to keep it from sticking to the table or rolling pin.
- Cut shapes with a cookie cutter and place them onto prepared baking sheets. At this point you can bake immediately, but I also like to pop them back into the freezer for about 15 minutes before baking to prevent them from spreading.
Bake the Gingerbread Cookies:
- Preheat your oven to 350° F. Line the baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicon baking mat.
- Bake gingerbread cookies until they are lightly browned along the edges, about 10 minutes, or until they feel firm. Let the cookies cool completely before decorating if desired.
- If baking from frozen, bake for approximately 12 minutes or until done.
Decorate the Cookies:
Decorate the cookies with icing and your favorite candies, as desired. Have fun decorating with family and friends. This is a fun activity to do with children throughout the Christmas season! This really is the best gingerbread cookies recipe!
Make Ahead and Freezing Instructions
To make ahead. Make the gingerbread cookie dough, wrap it well with plastic wrap, and store it in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. When ready to roll and bake, remove from the refrigerator and follow the recipe.
To freeze cookie dough. Make the gingerbread cookie dough, wrap it really well with plastic wrap, and place it in a freezer-safe bag. Freeze for up to 3 months. Allow the dough to thaw overnight in the refrigerator. When ready to roll and bake, remove from the refrigerator and follow the recipe.
To freeze unbaked cookies. Place cut-out cookies onto a parchment-paper-lined baking sheet and place into the freezer until the unbaked cookies are firmly frozen, about 30 minutes. Transfer to an airtight, freezer-safe container layering the unbaked frozen cookies between parchment paper. Freeze for up to 3 months. When ready to bake from frozen, add about 2 to 3 minutes to the baking time.
To freeze baked cookies. Allow the baked cookies to cool completely. Transfer to an airtight, freezer-safe container layering between parchment paper. Freeze for up to 3 months.
Here’s my gingerbread cookies recipe. I hope you love them as much as we all do!
Gingerbread Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup (213 g) brown sugar, packed, (light or dark)
- 3/4 cup (255 g) molasses
- 1 teaspoon (2.6 g) kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons (5.2 g) ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons (3.6 g) ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon (0.5 g) ground cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon (0.57 g) espresso powder
- 1/2 teaspoon (2.35 g) vanilla extract
- 1 large (50 g) egg, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon (4 g) baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon (3 g) baking soda
- 3 1/2 cups (420 g) all-purpose flour
- confectioners’ sugar, optional
Instructions
Make the Gingerbread:
- Cream together butter and brown sugar until fluffy, about 3 to 5 minutes. Add in molasses and mix until well-combined. Mix in the salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, espresso powder, vanilla and the egg until well-combined.
- Whisk together baking powder and baking soda into the flour and then slowly stir these dry ingredients into the molasses mixture.
- Divide the dough in half, and wrap well. Refrigerate for 1 hour up to overnight.
Roll the Dough:
- Preheat your oven to 350° F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicon baking mat.
- Once the dough has chilled, take one piece of dough out of the refrigerator. Roll the dough to 1/2-inch thickness. Note: You can use dust the worksurface and rolling pin with confectioner's sugar under to keep the dough from sticking.
Cut out the Gingerbread Cookies:
- Cut out shapes with cookie cutters and place onto prepared baking sheets.
Bake and Decorate the Gingerbread Cookies:
- Bake gingerbread cookies until they are lightly browned along the edges, about 12 minutes, or until they feel firm. Let the cookies cool completely before decorating, if desired.
Notes
Make Ahead and Freezing Instructions
To make ahead. Make the gingerbread cookie dough, wrap it well with plastic wrap, and store it in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. When ready to roll and bake, remove from the refrigerator and follow the recipe. To freeze cookie dough. Make the gingerbread cookie dough, wrap it really well with plastic wrap, and place it in a freezer-safe bag. Freeze for up to 3 months. Allow the dough to thaw overnight in the refrigerator. When ready to roll and bake, remove from the refrigerator and follow the recipe. To freeze unbaked cookies. Place cut-out cookies onto a parchment-paper-lined baking sheet and place into the freezer until the unbaked cookies are firmly frozen, about 30 minutes. Transfer to an airtight, freezer-safe container layering the unbaked frozen cookies between parchment paper. Freeze for up to 3 months. When ready to bake from frozen, add about 2 to 3 minutes to the baking time. To freeze baked cookies. Allow the baked cookies to cool completely. Transfer to an airtight, freezer-safe container layering between parchment paper. Freeze for up to 3 months.Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Happy Baking!
Robyn xo
Darn tasty! Halfway through baking them now.
My 11-year old daughter just made these for Christmas and used the classic vanilla buttercream frosting recipe to decorate them. The only change she made was to omit the espresso powder. They were chewy and delicious and had the perfect blend of spices.
Hello Robyn and thank you for this great recipe! I have one question, though. What could be used in place of coffee? I don’t drink coffee and don’t care for that flavor in things. Perhaps cocoa strong black tea?
Thanks in advance and Merry Christmas!
Hey Robyn! I just tried these and loved the flavor , but the dough was really soft when I rolled it out so I was having difficulty lifting the cutouts off. I used a silicone mat for rolling with plenty of flour. Any pointers? Happy holidays!
Fantastic! I made them for my son’s namesday to share with his friends in goody bags and everybody loved them! The espresso addition is such a must! Subbed molasses for lovely Erica honey, thanks again for sharing.
I made them this year and everybody loved them. Thank you! Definitely will be doing these again!
That’s great! Thanks so much, Paris! xo
Are these cookies firm enough to hang on the Christmas tree?
I was wondering what icing recipe you used to ice the gingerbread cookies?
I used my cookie icing recipe. Here’s the link: https://addapinch.com/cooking/cookie-icing-recipe/
Very delicious. I made these for my family’s Christmas Eve Party and they went very fast. I grabbed three to save for Santa before there were none. Thanks Robyn and Happy New Year!
Hi, am going to try these, they look delicious! One question, can the espresso powder be replaced by arabica coffee powder or omitted? I can’r find espresso powder where I live. Let me know, thanks!