Gingerbread Cookie Recipe
These perfectly spiced Gingerbread Cookies are soft, chewy, and so tasty. They’re also great for decorating with royal icing or sugar cookie icing! Perfect festive cookies for the holiday season.
Servings 14 cookies
Calories 316kcal
Equipment
- mixing bowl
- Electric mixer
- Baking Sheets
- Wire cooling rack
- Piping bag and tip
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour (360g)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¾ cup unsalted butter room temperature (170g)
- ¾ cup firmly packed light brown sugar (165g)
- ½ cup unsulphured molasses (120mL)
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (5mL)
- Royal icing or easy sugar cookie icing, for decorating
Instructions
For the Cookies:
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg.
- Using a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter, brown sugar, and molasses on medium speed until fluffy, about 3 to 5 minutes Add in the egg and vanilla, and mix until combined. Scrape the bowl down and mix once more.
- With the mixer running on low speed, gradually add in the flour mixture gradually until a nice dough forms.
- Divide the dough in half and shape into disks. Cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for about 4 hours or overnight. (This step is important because the dough gets soft quickly and is very sticky when soft, so it really needs to be thoroughly chilled.)
- When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll out one disc of chilled dough at a time to about ¼-inch in thickness. (If it starts to crack when you roll it, cover it and let it sit for 5 to 10 minutes to soften slightly.)
- Dip the cookie cutter shapes of your choice in flour and cut out as many as you can. (I typically use shapes that are 2½ inches to 4 inches in size.) Carefully transfer each cutout to a baking sheet, leaving an inch between them. Reroll the scraps once.
- Bake the cookies one sheet at a time for 10 minutes. Let cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
For the Decoration:
- Place your icing of choice in a piping bag fitted with a small round tip or with the tip snipped off.
- Pipe decorations onto the cooled cookies with the icing.
- Attach sprinkles and or candies for added visual interest while the icing is still wet. Let the cookies sit until the icing is dry, 1 to 2 hours.
Video
Notes
- The number of cookies you get will depend on the size of your cookie cutters. Larger cutters (3-4”) will yield 12 to 14 cookies. Smaller cutters (2-2½“) will yield 18 to 20 cookies.
- Try a different frosting for decorating the cookies. Whip up a small batch of buttercream and decorate with that instead. The frosting won’t set as firmly as royal icing, but your gingerbread men will be delicious and look great, and you don’t have to do any intricate piping. Simply leave them plain or add festive sprinkles before the frosting dries.
Nutrition
Calories: 316kcal | Carbohydrates: 49g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 0.4g | Cholesterol: 39mg | Sodium: 154mg | Potassium: 237mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 27g | Vitamin A: 324IU | Vitamin C: 0.01mg | Calcium: 46mg | Iron: 2mg