Our best gingerbread cookie recipe! These festive treats are soft and warmly spiced, with a rich molasses flavor. Perfect for spreading holiday cheer!
What could be more festive than gingerbread cookies?! With Christmas just a few weeks away, I’m ready to turn up the holiday cheer around here, and making this gingerbread cookie recipe seems like a great place to start. For one, it makes the house smell amazing, filling it with the comforting aroma of cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. It’s also a blast to make–rolling out the dough, cutting out gingerbread people, baking them, and decorating them once they cool.
But more important than all of that, these gingerbread cookies are delicious! They’re soft, warmly spiced, and richly flavored with molasses and brown sugar. To me, they’re the perfect holiday treat, especially with a mug of hot chocolate to drink. I hope you love them too.
Gingerbread Cookie Recipe Ingredients
Here’s what you’ll need to make this gingerbread cookie recipe:
- All-purpose flour – Spoon and level it to avoid packing too much into your measuring cup.
- Unsalted butter – Allow it to come to room temperature before you start to bake.
- Brown sugar and molasses – They sweeten the cookies and add rich molasses flavor. We’ve had success baking these cookies with Wholesome and Brer Rabbit blackstrap molasses.
- An egg yolk – It makes the cookies extra-soft and chewy.
- Baking soda – It helps the cookies rise.
- Ground ginger, cinnamon, and cloves – They give these gingerbread cookies their signature spice.
- Vanilla extract – For warm depth of flavor.
- Almond milk – For moisture. Any other milk, such as cow’s milk or oat milk, would work here too.
- And sea salt – To make all the flavors pop!
Find the complete recipe with measurements below.
How to Make Gingerbread Cookies
Once you’ve assembled your ingredients (is your butter at room temperature?), this gingerbread cookie recipe is simple to make:
First, make the dough. Using an electric mixer or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and brown sugar together until light and fluffy. Mix in the molasses, egg yolk, and vanilla.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients–the flour, spices, baking soda, and salt. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, mixing after each addition. Finally, mix in the almond milk.
Then, chill the dough. Divide it into two equal disks, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap, and refrigerate it for at least 2 hours. Chilling the dough allows it to firm up, making it easier to roll out.
Next, roll out the dough. Use a rolling pin to roll out the first disk on a lightly floured surface until it’s 1/4-inch thick. Use cookie cutters to cut out your desired shapes (I always do gingerbread men and snowflakes!). Re-roll and cut out the dough scraps as necessary. Repeat with the remaining dough disk.
Finally, bake the cookies. Arrange the cut-outs on parchment-lined baking sheets, and bake in a 350°F oven until the edges are just set but the middles are still soft. I like to bake one sheet at time on the center oven rack so that the cookies bake evenly. Let them cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring them to wire racks to cool completely.
Decorate, or enjoy as they are!
Gingerbread Cookies Recipe Tips
- Don’t skimp on the chilling time. I’m usually all for not chilling cookie dough (you get to eat the cookies faster that way!), but in this recipe, it’s 100% necessary. The dough is soft and sticky when you first mix it together. Chilling it for at least 2 hours gives it a chance to firm up so that you can easily roll it out. The cut-outs also hold their shape better when baked.
- The timing will depend on your cookie cutters. Differently sized and shaped cookies bake at different rates! For a perfect soft texture, I typically bake a 3-inch gingerbread man for 8 minutes. If you have smaller cut-outs, you’ll likely need to bake your cookies less. If you have larger cut-outs, you might need to go a bit longer.
- Decorating is half the fun. As delicious as these soft gingerbread cookies are plain, they’re even tastier (and more festive!) with icing on top. For detailed lines and patterns like the ones in these pictures, use the royal icing recipe from this post. For a simpler glaze, stir together 1 cup powdered sugar and 2 tablespoons almond milk, adding more milk as needed to reach your desired consistency. Sprinkles, gumdrops, and other candies are fun decorations too!
Make-Ahead and Freezing Instructions
Make-ahead option 1: Make the gingerbread cookie dough ahead of time! Wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 2 days, or freeze it for up to 3 months. Allow frozen dough to thaw overnight in the fridge before rolling it out.
Make-ahead option 2: Make the cookies ahead! Gingerbread cookies keep well in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. (I actually like them best on day 2 or 3! They become even softer and chewier, and their spiced flavor deepens.)
These cookies also freeze well. Sealed in a freezer bag or container, they keep for up to 3 months. They thaw perfectly at room temperature.
More Favorite Christmas Cookies
If you love these gingerbread cookies, try one of these festive cookie recipes next:
- Chewy Molasses Cookies
- Thumbprint Cookies
- Mexican Wedding Cookies
- Peanut Butter Blossoms
- Snickerdoodles
- Easy Sugar Cookies
- Lemon Shortbread Cookies
- Or any of these 21 Best Christmas Cookie Recipes!
Gingerbread Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
- ⅔ cup packed dark brown sugar
- ⅓ cup unsulphured blackstrap molasses, we like the Wholesome brand
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2¼ cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 tablespoon almond milk, or any milk
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, or using an electric mixer, cream the butter and brown sugar. Add the molasses, egg yolk, and vanilla and mix again.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, ginger, baking soda, salt, and cloves. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mixing after each addition. Mix in the almond milk.
- Form the dough into a ball, divide the ball in half, and flatten each half into a 1-inch-thick disk. Wrap in plastic and chill for at least 2 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface until about ¼-inch thick. Use cookie cutters to cut out desired shapes, then transfer the cut-outs to the prepared baking sheets, re-rolling the dough scraps as necessary.
- Bake, one sheet at a time, for 7 to 9 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies are just set but the middles are still soft. The cookies might seem underdone, but taking them out at this point will ensure that they stay soft once they cool. I typically use a 3-inch cookie cutter and bake my cookies for 8 minutes. The exact timing will depend on your oven, the size of your cookie cutters, and how soft or crunchy you like your gingerbread cookies.
- Let cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Decorate as desired.
These delivered on the promises of soft and delicious! Best I’ve made!
How much is 1/2 cup of butter? In your shops, butter is sold in cups???? It would be good to see how many grams of butter required. And also, the list of ingredients is far below on the page… I already wanted to stop looking for them and look for this recipe on another website.
1/2 cup butter = 1/4 pound = 113 grams
There’s an option at top of blog post that says “Jump to recipe” – click that.
Can you double the recipe?
Can I use regular molasses instead of blackstrap?
Hello Cindy!
I’ve make these a handful of times with regular molasses. I skimmed the recipe and didn’t realize it called for a different type of molasses. It works just fine. No complaint to all who have eaten them here.
– Mary Ann
If I made the dough a few days ago are they still good ? Assuming so! But want to be sure
Hi, can this recipe work for a gingerbread house?
Hi Leera, I haven’t tried so I’m not sure.
Made these Gluten Free (1:1 Red Mill GF Baking Flour) , turned out great, no modifications needed!!! Rolled out cut and baked just perfect.
Thank you for letting us know!
I made these cookies. This recipe has too much ginger for my taste.
Sooo soft and delicious
I’m glad you loved them!
These cookies are DELICIOUS! Made them with my son. Easy to follow recipe. Absolutely love the taste of ginger. The only thing is that because of our oven, we needed to bake ours a bit longer than the recommended time.
Hi Ruth, I’m glad you loved them so much!
I made these and I left a comment on Instagram along with pictures. These are absolutely amazing. The recipe is spot on. I’ve never tried to make gingerbread before and this just made it so easy. The only cracking that I found was when I made the cookie shape too thick. About a 1/4 inch or just a tad bit thinner, but not too much, that is when I did not experience any cracking. By the way, the only cracking I did experience was very minimal. I can’t say enough about this recipe. I’m so stoked.
Hi Sherri, I’m glad your cookies turned out so well!
Really delicious cookies. I refrigerated the dough for one hour and they were perfect.
I’m so glad you loved them!
Delicious! Love them! Didn’t fuck it up like Emily I guess.
Taste awful worst gingerbread cookies I have ever had.
I agree, just made these horrible, followed the recipe exactly, and turned out like brittle and this , strange texture and to sweet.
Sounds like maybe you screwed up, I made and they were perfect
I made these too. Totally inedible. Looked and baked fantastic. Tasted like Dutch liquorice soo salty and spicy but not of ginger. Bought another type of molasses here in Aus not blackstrap halved the cloves and they are ok. Might gang the first batch on the tree.
Can you use regular molasses instead of blackstrap?
Hello Heather!
Yes, you can. Works just fine for me.
Tastes great! Wondering why there were cracks in my cookies and how to prevent it next time.
Hi, is it possible to sweeten with dates instead of sugar? I’m trying to limit the amount of processed sugar my little one eats. Thanks!
Hi Deirdre, I don’t think that would work for this recipe without drastically changing the texture. A less processed sugar like coconut sugar should sub in fine, they’ll just be a little more grainy.
Thank you! Much appreciated 🙂
Hi. Turned out delicious. I really need to know:
1. how you get your icing so white?
2. What size piping nozzle?
3. Is it really just icing suger and milk to make icing or is there a trick to make it hard enough to pipe?
I chilled the dough and it turned rock hard and crumbled when I tried to roll it. Waiting for it to warm up again and see if that helps
Hello, we just had the same thing happen lol sorry I didn’t see your message sooner. What we did was pulled it out of the refrigerator to let it warm up a bit, but honestly, the warmth of your hands will soften the fat that can make it a little easier, but generally flipping it with a little water helps.
Hi
Can I substitute 1:1 gluten free flour for all purpose flour?
Thank you
I am wondering same thing..
Did you get an answer to this? My nephew has celiac and I want to make these for him for the holidays!!