Here is my favorite gingerbread cookies recipe and one of the most popular Christmas cookie recipes on this website. Soft in the centers, crisp on the edges, perfectly spiced, molasses and brown sugar-sweetened holiday goodness.
Whenever I think of Christmas cookies, gingerbread cookies come to mind first. Well, after Christmas sugar cookies of course! Their spice, their molasses flavor, their SMILES, and their charm are obviously irresistible. Gingerbread cookies, you have my heart.
Key Ingredients in Gingerbread Cookies
The full written recipe is below, but let’s review a few key ingredients here first. Gingerbread cookie recipes all start the same and mine comes from my mom. To her recipe, I add a little more molasses and increase the amount of spice flavors (cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and allspice). Because of the added sticky sweetener (molasses), I add a little more flour to help soak it all up. Just like when we are making pinwheel cookies, a bit of extra flour helps the cookies can keep their shape.
- Molasses + spices for flavor
- Egg so the gingerbread cookies have structure and richness
- Brown sugar instead of white granulated sugar. I always use brown sugar when its flavor fits.
How to Make Gingerbread Cookies
Let’s walk through the gingerbread cookie recipe so you feel confident when you begin baking.
Chill the dough: The dough is sticky once it’s all beaten together in your mixing bowl and therefore, it absolutely MUST be chilled for at least 3 hours. Give yourself enough time in the kitchen or make the cookie dough and chill it overnight. You want your cookie dough firm so the cookies hold their shape and you want your cookie dough manageable so you can work with it. You won’t have either unless you have chilled cookie dough!
Wrap up the dough: It’s easiest to wrap the dough in plastic wrap before chilling. Scoop out 1/2 of the prepared cookie dough, plop it onto a long sheet of plastic wrap, wrap it up, and flatten it out into a disc. Repeat with the other 1/2 of dough. Then chill. See that photo above? That’s what you’re doing, but you’ll have 2 discs. Why are you doing this? It’s easier to roll out the chilled cookie dough when it is in a disc shape. Also, the cookie dough chills faster when there is less volume. And it’s just easier to work with smaller portions when rolling/shaping!
Roll it out: After chilling, roll out the chilled cookie dough discs until about 1/4-inch thick. Don’t be afraid to flour your hands, rolling pin, work surface, and everything in the world. By that, I mean: the cookie dough can become sticky as you work. So, don’t be scared to add more flour to the work surface. The flour spots on top of your shaped cookie dough will bake off.
Place the cut-out cookies onto a lined baking sheet about 1 inch apart. The cookies won’t really spread, but you want to make sure they have enough room to breathe. They are gingerbread people, after all. 😉
How to Decorate Gingerbread Cookies
After they’ve baked and cooled, it’s time to decorate the cookies. We’re talking smiles, eyes, bow-ties, buttons, squiggles, whatever your gingerbread cookie loving heart desires. This is when it’s really fun to have a friend or little baker in the kitchen with you. You can use the easy cookie icing or my traditional royal icing recipe, whichever you prefer. For something even easier, you can decorate the gingerbread cookies with cookie decorating buttercream, and feel free to add a little cinnamon to it for extra spice flavor.
Tint the icing with a couple drops of food coloring to spice things up, too.
Many of the tools I include in my list of favorite cookie decorating supplies will be helpful for decorating these cookies. For more inspiration, here is my full tutorial on how to decorate sugar cookies (video included!).
It’s difficult not to love this recipe which is why they’re my favorite gingerbread cookies!
- The dough comes together easily
- The flavor is spot on—lots of molasses, ginger, cinnamon, all-spice, and cloves
- The edges are slightly crisp
- The centers are soft and chewy
- They’re so easy to decorate.
Don’t forget the other Christmas classics: Peanut Butter Blossoms and Snowball Cookies. And if you can’t get enough gingerbread flavor, try these gingerbread blossoms, chocolate ginger cookies, gingerbread latte cookies, iced gingerbread oatmeal cookies, gingerbread cookie bars (no dough chilling!), gingerbread cake, gingerbread cinnamon rolls, and gingerbread waffles next!
Gingerbread Cookies
- Prep Time: 4 hours
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 4 hours, 30 minutes
- Yield: 24 four-inch cookies
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: German
Description
This is my favorite gingerbread cookies recipe and it’s also loved by millions. Soft in the centers, crisp on the edges, and perfectly spiced. I played around with the spices a lot and really loved the flavor of these cookies when using a full Tablespoon each of ground ginger and ground cinnamon. Make sure you chill the cookie dough discs for a minimum of 3 hours.
Ingredients
- 3 and 1/2 cups (440g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 Tablespoon ground ginger (yes, 1 full Tablespoon!)
- 1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 10 Tablespoons (142g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 3/4 cup (150g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 2/3 cup (160ml; about 200g) unsulphured or dark molasses (do not use blackstrap; I prefer Grandma’s brand)
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- optional: easy cookie icing, royal icing, or cookie buttercream
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, and cloves. Set aside.
- In a large bowl using a handheld mixer or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter for 1 minute on medium speed until completely smooth and creamy. Add the brown sugar and molasses and beat on medium high speed until combined and creamy. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. Next, beat in egg and vanilla on high speed for 2 full minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. The butter may separate; that’s ok.
- Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients, and beat on low speed until combined. The cookie dough will be quite thick and slightly sticky. Divide dough in half and place each onto a large piece of plastic wrap. Wrap each up tightly and pat down to create a disc shape. Chill discs for at least 3 hours and up to 3 days. Chilling is mandatory for this cookie dough. I always chill mine overnight.
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line 2-3 large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. (Always recommended for cookies.) Set aside.
- Remove 1 disc of chilled cookie dough from the refrigerator. Generously flour a work surface, as well as your hands and the rolling pin. Roll out disc until 1/4-inch thick. Tips for rolling—the dough may crack and be crumbly as you roll. What’s helpful is picking it up and rotating it as you go. Additionally, you can use your fingers to help meld the cracking edges back together. The first few rolls are always the hardest since the dough is so stiff, but re-rolling the scraps is much easier. Cut into shapes. Place shapes 1 inch apart on prepared baking sheets. Re-roll dough scraps until all the dough is shaped. Repeat with remaining disc of dough.
- Bake cookies for about 9-10 minutes. If your cookie cutters are smaller than 4 inches, bake for about 8 minutes. If your cookie cutters are larger than 4 inches, bake for about 11 minutes. My oven has hot spots and yours may too—so be sure to rotate the pan once during bake time. Keep in mind that the longer the cookies bake, the harder and crunchier they’ll be. For soft gingerbread cookies, follow my suggested bake times.
- Allow cookies to cool for 5 minutes on the cookie sheet. Transfer to cooling rack to cool completely. Once completely cool, decorate as desired.
- Cookies stay fresh covered at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: Baked and decorated (or not decorated) cookies freeze well – up to three months. Unbaked cookie dough discs (just the dough prepared through step 3) freeze well up to three months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator then continue with step 4.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Glass Mixing Bowl | Whisk | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Paper | Rolling Pin or Adjustable Rolling Pin | Gingerbread Cookie Cutter | Cooling Rack
- Gingerbread House: This cookie dough is not sturdy enough for gingerbread houses. Here is my gingerbread house recipe.
WHAT HAVE I DONE?
Reader Comments and Reviews
Thank you, Sally! Merry Christmas!
Can I freeze the gingerbread dough?
You bet! See recipe Notes.
I’m not sure what happened but my ingredients never incorporate into a dough, it was just crumbles. Everything was room temp and soft, granted my room temp is 64. I’m also not known for my ability to cook or bake but usually Sally’s recipes even work amazingly for me. Any idea what went wrong?
Hi Lizzie! How did you measure the flour? Make sure to spoon and level (instead of scooping) to avoid packing in too much flour into your measuring cups – or use a kitchen scale. You can read more about properly measuring baking ingredients in this post.
This was my first time making gingerbread cookies and they came out great! I’ll definitely be baking them again 🙂
My cookie cutters are small so I got about 30 cookies from half the dough. Lucky for me, I have frozen dough for more cookies closer to Christmas, yay!
hello! is it possible to bake these from frozen?
Absolutely! Here is our post and video about how to freeze cookie dough. Enjoy!
I’m so excited to make these this Christmas but I’m curious if they’re the gingerbread kind that can last weeks since being made
Sally has been my go to site for fail proof recipes for a while. This one just didn’t hit the spot for me. The recipe is good, but has way too much ginger. The first cookie tastes great, by the second one my tongue was tingling.
The dough is also a bit hard to work with as it’s super sticky, even after refrigerating it overnight. Don’t be afraid to use flour generously to roll it, the dough will suck it up.
Won’t be making this recipe again.
Crazy, I double the ginger and cinnamon every year and it turns out amazing!
Help I don’t know why the first time I made them they came out amazingly but the second time I made them i had to hand mix them and it wouldn’t smooth out no matter how much I kneaded it and soon as I would roll it out it would just crack and crumbl I wouldn’t go smooth no matter what I did I tried adding more butter more flower more molasses and even more sugar but nothing has helped
Hi Ivy, mixing by hand is not recommended for this recipe, as you won’t be able to get the butter and sugar to properly cream together. That was likely the cause of your crumbly dough.
Im wondering if you forgot the egg? Ive had that happen a couple of times! 😉
These cookies are delicious and a really nice balance between crunchy and soft. I thought that working with the dough would be a lot harder than it was.
Hi Sally! Is it okay if I substitute the pure vanilla in this recipe and your easy cookie icing recipe with imitation vanilla?
Absolutely.
Alice, The experts on America’s Test Kitchen said imitation is fine to use. I was skeptical too and still use real extract.
i love these so much, fourth year making them & they never disappoint!
I love your recipes. I have NEVER been able to bake, until I found your website. Thank you!!! I have a question about the gingerbread cookies. Do they stay soft like your soft chocolate chip cookie recipe?
Hi Lisa, As long as they are not over baked they will stay soft. Enjoy!
I LOVE this recipe!! It came out delicious! I was wondering if they would still turn out and taste good if I substituted the normal flour with Gluten Free flour?
Hi Dina, we haven’t tested GF flour here. Let us know if you do!
Just want to share that I have been substituting GF flour using Sally’s recipe for a few years now. They turn out wonderful and my family loves them-spices are spot on. Bobs Red Mill One to One is perfect for us celiac cookie lovers! Thank you for this amazing recipe.
I’m excited to try these for Christmas this year. What piping tip do you use? Is Wilton #2 good?
Hi Cassie! #2 would be fine, we often use #4. Here’s more on decorating cookies!
Hello! First time using this recipe. I noticed after rolling the dough that it would still stick as I am taking out the gingerbread shapes. Any suggestions on a way to prevent that?
Hi Erika! Make sure to roll the dough out with a little flour under it to prevent sticking.
Hi, is there any substitute I can use instead of molasses? I’ve read online to use honey or golden syrup but I’m afraid that it’ll compromise the taste
Hi Sophia, molasses is key to that signature gingerbread taste, but some readers have swapped treacle or golden syrup in its place. The flavor profile will be a bit different. Let us know if you try it!
Trust all your recipes!! This time round I want to double the batch – should I keep the ratios the same ?
Hi Anna! We recommend making two separate batches. It’s easier to work with less volume of dough at a time.
Hey! How long can we save this dough in the refrigerator? We have left ours for maybe 5-6 days now. We baked one disc and the other we meant to bake sooner but have had a really busy schedule. We do these cookies EVERY FALL!! I absolutely love them. I’ve never left the dough in the fridge this long, though.
Thank you!
Hi Kristina! We recommend chilling the dough up to three days, and freezing for longer than that. So glad you love these!
For high altitude, (above 7000) how should I adjust this recipe?
Hi Dusty, we wish we could help, but we have no experience baking at high altitude. Some readers have found this chart helpful: https://www.kingarthurflour.com/learn/high-altitude-baking.html
Hey Dusty,
I lived in Aurora, Co, and I think my altitude is 6600. I have noticed many of these recipes didn’t need any changes or additions because of the altitude. Try it first and see what happens because you can easily make adjustments if the cookie doesn’t come out right.
I hope this is helpful to you.
I do love this recipe but let me say why. It is very similar to a Better Homes and Garden 1999 book recipe of a softer gingerbread. I tried 3 different online versions but yours was the best by far. Thank you for all your posts, very informative and delicious.
This recipe was nice but it didn’t taste like gingerbread to me. The allspice and molasses were very overpowering to the point that I actually couldn’t taste the ginger at all. I also cooked each batch a different amount of time to try and get the perfect chewy cookie and none of them actually came out chewy. Some were hard and some were soft but I was looking specifically for that chewy texture and it just wasn’t there. It makes a nice spicy soft biscuit, just not a chewy gingerbread man like promised.
I absolutely loved this recipe! I’ve made it several times over the past 2 years and I’m getting requests for it this year! With so many requests, I would like make the dough in advance. My question is how long ca. I keep the dough in the fridge before baking?
Hi Noor, up to three days. Glad you love this recipe!
About how many cookies will this recipe make?
24 four-inch cookies.
These were so delicious. Not extremely sweet, but flavorful! As usual, Sally’s recipes never disappoint.
Dough was left in the refrigerator for three days. Crumbly it was.I would suggest taking the dough out and let come room temperature. After working with the first dough, the second ball roller out much easier. The cookies were also hard, I might add a bit more molasses. But the was essy
This is my favorite recipe for making gingerbread names with my kids – 1/4 inch thick using ABC cutters. We also decorate the dough with sprinkles before putting them in the oven instead of waiting for them to cool and then decorate. Only the eyeball and other larger sprinkles melt, the Jimmies and flat sprinkles do just fine for the short stint in the oven.
Where can i store my gingerbreadcookies?and how how long it will last
Hi Jhaz, these cookies stay fresh covered at room temperature for up to 1 week. Enjoy!
I could resist trying the cookie dough, it’s truly finger-licking.
Question: can I leave it for longer that 3 days? It’s 13th of November and I was planning on baking it on 1st of December. Please let me know.
Thank you
Hi Oliwia! We would freeze the dough instead – see recipe Notes for details 🙂
I just made these and they turned out perfect and delicious! Thankyou Sally!
Hi Sally will this gingerbread recipe work with a cookie stamp? Or will it puff up too much.
Some readers have had success doing so, but the patterns may not hold well. These cinnamon brown sugar cookies may be a better option!
FIRST- don’t panic. In the sea of comments I saw the webpage reply saying they’re suppose to be crumbling. It will soften when you work it after refrigerating and can work out! I trusted their process! It wasn’t ideal though.. they are soft, I had about 37 3” SOFT cookies! Might refrigerate less than overnight, and maybe less than 3hrs..