These classic gingerbread cookies will leave your house smelling like the holidays! Warm molasses and festive spices come together in this traditional gingerbread recipe that’s perfect for use with your favorite holiday cookie cutters. Whip up a batch and gather the family for decorating!
Ingredients Needed
- Butter – This recipe is designed to use real butter. If you choose to substitute with something else, just know it may change the way the cookies hold their shape while baking as well as the finished texture and flavor.
- Granulated sugar
- Molasses – You will want to use regular molasses here, which is coincidentally what most grocery stores carry (like the Grandma’s Molasses pictured below). Do not use blackstrap molasses, which tends to have a more bitter flavor.
- Egg yolks
- All-purpose flour
- Salt
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Cinnamon
- Cloves
- Ginger
- Nutmeg
- Decorations – As desired. The Best Buttercream Frosting, or this Glace Icing would be good choices. If you’d like to keep things super simple, grab some various colors of icing tubes from the baking aisle of your grocery store. Nonpareils, festive sprinkles, small candies, red hots, and mini M&Ms are all good options for decorating!
How to Make Gingerbread Cookies
- Combine dry ingredients: Cream butter and sugar. Add molasses and egg yolk. In a medium bowl, combine remaining ingredients: flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg. Add flour mixture to butter mixture. Chill for at least an hour. It’s a fairly sticky dough so you might need to chill it a little longer.
- Place the dough on a sheet of wax paper or plastic wrap and then place another sheet on top. Roll dough to 1/4″ thick and chill for at least an hour. It’s a fairly sticky dough so a longer chill time might be necessary.
- Preheat oven to 350℉. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and cut in desired shapes with cookie cutters.
- Place cookies 2″ apart on a baking sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes. If you bake them on the short end they will stay soft and chewy and if you bake them on the longer end they will be nice and crispy. They’re great either way!
- Allow to cool about 5 minutes on pan and then transfer to wire rack and cool completely. Once they’re cooled you can decorate your heart out!
Storing and Other Tips
- Store finished cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
- In general, the longer the dough is refrigerated, the better it will hold its shape when baked. Feel free to make this dough a day or two ahead of time and keep the dough, tightly covered, in the refrigerator until ready to cut and bake.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I make these ahead of time and freeze them?
Yes! Bake your cookies, cool completely, then transfer to an airtight container or zip top bag and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight and decorate as desired.
Can I use this recipe to make a gingerbread house?
While I haven’t done this personally, I don’t see why not! Make sure to thoroughly chill your dough before cutting your house pieces. You may need to adjust baking time to be sure your pieces are cooked thoroughly to be sure they will hold up to house construction! A good tip for gingerbread house pieces is to use a paper template to cut the pieces, then use that same template to carefully trim and straighten all of your edges when the cookies are still hot out of the oven. When they cool, they will fit together as intended!
Gingerbread Cookies
These classic Gingerbread cookies are simple to make and decorate!
Servings cookies (see notes)
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup molasses
- 2 egg yolks
- 4 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon cloves
- 1 teaspoon ginger
- 1 teaspoon nutmeg
Instructions
- Cream butter and sugar. Add molasses and egg yolk. In a medium bowl, combine remaining ingredients: flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg. Add this mixture to butter mixture and mix until thoroughly combined.
- Roll dough out to ¼ inch thick between two sheets of waxed paper. Chill for at least an hour. It's a fairly sticky dough so you might need to chill it a little longer.
- Preheat oven to 350℉. Pull your dough out and cut with cookie cutters. Place cookies 2" apart on a baking sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes. If you bake them on the short end they will stay soft and chewy and if you bake them on the longer end they will be nice and crispy.
- Allow to cool about 5 minutes on pan, and then transfer to wire rack and cool completely. Once cooled, decorate.
Notes
- Nutritional and serving information: this recipe makes anywhere from 12 – 18 cookies. Sizes can vary widely depending on size of the cutter used, as well as thickness when rolled. The nutritional information for this recipe was calculated into 12 servings, so note that if you get closer to 18 cookies out of this recipe, the nutritional information will vary considerably.
- Store finished cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
- In general, the longer the dough is refrigerated, the better it will hold its shape when baked. Feel free to make this dough a day or two ahead of time and keep the dough, tightly covered, in the refrigerator until ready to cut and bake.
- Make Ahead and Freeze: Bake your cookies, cool completely, then transfer to an airtight container or zip top bag and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight and decorate as desired.
Nutrition
Calories: 444kcal, Carbohydrates: 70g, Protein: 5g, Fat: 17g, Saturated Fat: 10g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 4g, Trans Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 73mg, Sodium: 455mg, Potassium: 466mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 38g, Vitamin A: 517IU, Vitamin C: 0.02mg, Calcium: 95mg, Iron: 3mg
Calories: 444kcal
Cost: $5
Did You Make This Recipe?Snap a picture, and hashtag it #ourbestbites. We love to see your creations on our Instagram @ourbestbites!
Questions & Reviews
love the recipe, my kids loved helping!! thanks, do you think this recipe would work for houses if i cooked them awhile longer for a harder cookie?
Tyler–If you like them softer, roll them no thinner than 1/4" and keep the baking on the short side of things. Also, be sure and chill the dough really well. To make life REALLY easy, when you've made your dough, lay a sheet of plastic wrap on your counter and lightly flour it. Roll the dough out onto the plastic wrap and then refrigerate it that way so you don't have to try and roll it when it's cold and hard.
Hope that helps! Good luck and let us know how they turn out! 🙂
Before I even got all the way through this post I went to amazon.com and ordered one of those beater blades! I use my Kitchen Aid all the time and HATE stopping to scrape the bowl. I am so glad to have found something to help…hooray!!
P.S. Cute gingerbread guys!
This is my first time making gingerbread cookies… any tips/tricks I need to know about before doing it? btw… I like them on the softer side 🙂 and am super excited to try this out
Aw, thanks, Jay! 🙂 And yes, they definitely freeze well. And good for Santa, telling you his favorite cookies. It's very important that Santa gets the cookies he wants on Christmas Eve… 🙂
Yes, me again… do you know if these freeze well?
Thanks, Kate for the super quick reply! One more way you are amazing!…One more thing, I was just looking at the chewy choc chip cookie recipe and am truly intrigued. I think I might have to try these, especially since Santa told my son that his fav is Choc chip!
Crazy Jay–I've never tried doubling, but I imagine it would double really well.
Do you know if the recipe doubles nicely?
lol @ Dave's comment. xD