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Gingerbread cookies have to be be my favourite Christmas cookie hands down! I could honestly eat them from a box of pre-made ones or the easy bake kind at the grocery store and i wouldn’t be able to control myself. That being said homemade gingerbread cookies are magical. Each on is soft and sweet with the rich spice flavours coming through in every bite.

Gingerbread Cookies Being Cut

Ingredients & Substitutions

  • 3¼ cups all purpose flour
  • ¾ tsp baking soda – Do not substitute with baking powder.
  • 1 tbsp ground ginger
  • 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
  • ½ tsp ground clove
  • ½ tsp ground nutmeg
  • ⅛ tsp ground pepper
  • ⅛ tsp salt
  • ¾ cup salted butter, room temp – Vegan butter will also work
  • ½ cup brown sugar
  • 1 large egg – Can substitute with a flax egg
  • ½ cup molasses – Maple syrup, Dark Corn Syrup and honey will all work but do dramatically alter the end flavour result.
Gingerbread Cookies

Tips & Tricks

  • Measure All Your Ingredients: Precision in baking is extremely important. Be sure to measure each ingredient out exactly. If you have too much flour then your dough will be too thick and dry. Not enough flour and the cookies will spread out on the making sheet.
  • Don’t over Bake: Gingerbread cookies are hard to gage the cook on because the brown edges can be challenging to see. Make sure to remove the cookies from the oven as soon as then start to get brown around the edges. The middle may not feel set but when they cool everything will firm up.
  • Cool: Let your cookies cool completely on a wire rack before icing. If the cookies are still warm when you begin decorating the icing will have a hard time setting and can start running down the sides of the cookie.
Gingerbread Cookies

Equipment Needed for Gingerbread Cookies

  • Baking Sheets
  • Rolling Pin
  • Hand Mixer
  • Cookie Cutters
Gingerbread Cookies
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Gingerbread Cookies

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Recipe by Nicole Quiring Course: DessertCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Easy
Cook Mode

Keep the screen of your device on

Serving

3

Dozen
Prep time

1

hour 

15

minutes
Calories

85

kcal
Total time

2

hours 

Ingredients

  • 3¼ cups all purpose flour

  • ¾ tsp baking soda

  • 1 tbsp ground ginger

  • 1 tbsp ground cinnamon

  • ½ tsp ground clove

  • ½ tsp ground nutmeg

  • ⅛ tsp ground pepper

  • ⅛ tsp salt

  • ¾ cup salted butter, room temp

  • ½ cup brown sugar

  • 1 large egg

  • ½ cup molasses

  • Icing

  • 1 cup powdered sugar

  • ⅛ tsp vanilla extract

  • 1 tbsp milk

Directions

  • In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and spices. Set aside.
  • In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar on medium-high speed for 2 minutes until it’s light and fluffy. Add the egg and molasses and beat on medium speed until combined. Gradually add the flour mixture and mix on low speed until combined. The dough will be quite thick.
  • Split the dough into thirds, form each section into a ball, flatten, and wrap with plastic. Chill the dough in the refrigerator for at least one hour or overnight. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and let it sit at room temperature for 5 to 10 minutes to soften before you’re ready to begin rolling out the dough.
  • Preheat the oven to 350°F and line baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper. Place one of the thirds of dough on a lightly floured surface. Using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll the dough until it’s ¼ inch thick. Cut the dough using gingerbread men cutters (or any cookie cutters you like) and transfer the cookies to a baking sheet.
  • Bake the cookies 8 to 10 minutes. They should become slightly crisp but not darker in color. Let the cookies cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
  • Decorate! Make the icing. Whisk the ingredients together in a medium-sized bowl until the mixture is smooth. The mixture should slowly drip, but not run, when poured from a spoon. If the mixture is too runny, add a little bit more sugar. If it’s too thick, add a little bit more milk.
  • When your cookies are completely cool, spoon the icing into a piping bag or a plastic squeeze bottle and pipe the icing onto the cookies. (You can also use a thick plastic bag with one corner of the bag cut off in a pinch.)

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