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Soft, chewy and slightly spiced, this is the Best Gingerbread Cookie recipe ever. A tried and true favorite for years, this classic gingerbread cookie dough yields the perfect cookie every single time. Totally fool-proof!
Gingerbread Cookies
One of the very first recipes I ever posted on this site was these Classic Gingerbread Cookies. Little did I know I’d morph this recipe into a million and one different desserts over the years. It’s positively the BEST Gingerbread Cookie Recipe ever and I will never change it…not for a million years. It’s one of those things that you know to leave it alone. If it’s not broken…don’t fix it. Did your mom ever say that?
Well, this is one of those recipes. We have morphed this recipe into the Gingerbread Mummies.…or a Gingerbread Man…or the Gingerbread Houses. It’s that good.
Ingredients
- Butter – Room temperature, unsalted butter provides the best flavor and texture for gingerbread cookies.
- Flour – All purpose flour makes the dough light and bakes into a soft cookie.
- Sugar – Granulated sugar is my go-to for sweetness.
- Molasses – The classic flavor of gingerbread comes from molasses, which is a thick, sticky syrup used as a sweetener. It’s made by refining sugar cane or sugar beet juice into sugar.
- Eggs – Egg is used as a binding agent, I have made these without eggs and the dough just needs to be kneaded a bit more to come together. The cookies without egg are more crisp so we do favor using egg for the recipe.
- Balsamic Vinegar – My secret ingredient is balsamic vinegar, it tenderizes the dough and adds a complex flavor to the finished gingerbread cookie.
- Baking powder – Baking powder helps the gingerbread cookies from rise while baking but it also helps with the dough spreading while in the oven. This is truly the magic to making cookies that hold their shape.
- Spices – Ginger, Cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and salt give the cookies their signature warm spice.
For the full recipe ingredients and instructions, see the recipe card below.
How To Make Gingerbread Cookies
Gingerbread cookie dough is simple to make and best of all you can make it in advance. It freezes beautifully but, also, keeps in the fridge for up to 5 days.
- Beat the butter until light and creamy.
- Whisk together the dry ingredients and set aside.
- Add the sugar to the butter and beat until fluffy.
- Slowly mix in the molasses, egg and vinegar.
- Add the dry ingredients and mix until well combined.
- Cover and chill the dough for 2 hours or overnight.
- Divide the dough in half and roll it out using a rolling pin on a lightly floured surface into a 1/4 inch thick circle.
- Cut out gingerbread dough into shapes using cookie cutters.
- Place the cookies on a baking sheet lined with parchment approximately 1″ apart.
- Bake in a 400˚F oven for 5-6 minutes.
- Cool for 1 minute and then transfer to a wire rack.
- Decorate with icing, if desired.
How To Decorate Gingerbread Cookies
And now you can decorate your soft and chewy gingerbread with this Royal Icing that’s equally fabulous and perfect in every way. It’s the sugar cookie frosting that hardens so you can stack your little gingerbread men, gingerbread people or gingerbread snowflakes without worry that the frosting will smear and smudge, making all your hard work for naught.
You know what I’m talking about. That kind of worry that makes you bag the whole giving cookies away idea and just eat them all yourself. So you don’t have to worry about smudgy frosting.
This is the easiest step to decorated your gingerbread men. And it’s so fun, too because you don’t have to make the lines perfect and neat.
- Simply fill the pastry bag with frosting.
- Snip off the end.
- Pipe the icing in a zig zag pattern and glue on the eyes with the frosting.
- Allow the icing to harden, approximately 1-3 hours depending on the humidity.
If gingerbread cookies sound too tedious and you’re not really in the mood to cut out all those little gingerbread men or snowflakes or mittens or stockings, then you should definitely make these little Gingerbread cups….fill them with chocolate ganache and not share those, either. Because you bought everyone on your list gifts anyway so why give away all your hard work.
Storage
The beauty of this gingerbread dough is it can be made in advance. Roll the dough into a ball then press into a disk, wrap tightly in plastic wrap and transfer to a zip top freezer bag. Freeze the dough for up to three months. Thaw at room temperature and bake as directed.
To store baked cookies, transfer to an airtight container and store for up to 5 days at room temperature.
Gingersnaps vs. Gingerbread
The main differences between gingerbread and gingersnap cookies are that ginger snaps bake for a longer period of time to get their crispiness–and gingerbread cookies are soft and chewy (and almost always rolled out into different shapes like gingerbread men and other holiday figures).
More Christmas Cookie Ideas
- Candy Cane Shortbread Cookies
- Cream Cheese Spritz Cookies
- The Very Best Chocolate Crinkle Cookies Recipe
- Easy Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies Recipe // Video
Looking For More Classic Holiday Dessert Ideas?
- Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie Recipe
- The Very Best Gingerbread Biscotti Recipe
- No Bake Caramel Pear Cheesecake Trifle
- Gingerbread Latte Cupcakes with Eggnog Buttercream Frosting
- The Very Best Sugar Cookies Recipe
For more easy holiday desserts, follow us on Instagram and Facebook.
The BEST Gingerbread Cookies Recipe
Equipment
- 1 cookie sheet
- 1 silicone baking mat or parchment paper
- 1 cooling rack
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup molasses
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
For the Frosting
- 2 cups sifted powdered sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons whole milk
Instructions
- In a bowl of an electric mixer, beat the softened butter until light and fluffy.
- In a separate small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, ground ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and salt. Set aside.
- Add the sugar to the butter and beat until light and fluffy. Turn the mixer to low and mix in the molasses, egg and balsamic vinegar. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the bowl and continue mixing until thoroughly combined.
- Cover and chill about 2 hours or until the dough is easy to handle.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Divide the dough in half and turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll each half of the dough to 1/4″ thickness adding flour as needed, the dough is very sticky so use flour liberally to prevent your cutouts from sticking to the surface.
- Using cookie cutters, cut dough into shapes and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment approximately 1″ apart.
- Bake in a 400 degree oven for 5-6 minutes. Cool on baking sheets for one minute and move to a wire rack.
- To make the frosting: In a small bowl, combine the powdered sugar, vanilla and milk. Whisk to combine. Spoon mixture into a pastry bag or zip top bag and snip off the tip. Add two small dots of icing where the eyes should be and then press one eye on each dot. Decorate the cookies and allow to dry for 2-4 hours or overnight.
- Store in an airtight container.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
These is hands down the best gingerbread recipe I’ve ever worked with in terms of texture, flavor, how easy the dough is to work with, and how it bakes up! No sticking or spreading and the dough bakes up sturdy but soft. My go to from now on. Thank you!
Thank you so much, Kelley! We tested this one so many times and still make it after almost 30 years. I’m so happy you liked it!
Wondering if I can use brown sugar instead of white?
I haven’t tested it with brown sugar and since there’s a lot of molasses in the recipe you may end up with very strong cookies. So, if you do swap it you may want to add a little less molasses.
Turned out fantastic!
Great! Thank you so much!