Description
Soft & chewy gingerbread cookies with warm spices and molasses. Get my family recipe for these classic holiday treats, perfect for baking with kids.
Ingredients
Scale
- Dough Base:
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
- ½ cup dark brown sugar, packed
- ½ cup unsulphured dark molasses
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- Flavorful Spices:
- 2 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground cloves
- ½ tsp salt
- Sweeteners & Leavening:
- 1 tsp baking soda
- Icing & Decoration (Optional):
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
- 2–3 tbsp milk
Instructions
- Cream the Wet Stuff:: First up, get that softened butter and dark brown sugar into your stand mixer. Cream them together on medium speed until they’re light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. You want it pale and airy, almost like a cloud! This is where I always get impatient and under-cream, but trust me, it makes a difference for soft gingerbread cookies. Scrape down the sides of the bowl often, don’t forget those sneaky bits sticking to the bottom.
- Add Molasses and Egg:: Now, pour in the molasses and crack in that room-temp egg. Mix on medium-low until everything is just combined. You’ll see it transform into a gorgeous, dark, sticky mixture. Don’t overmix here, just get it incorporated. I once added a cold egg, and it made the butter seize up a bit, which was a pain to fix, so room temperature really helps keep it smooth.
- Whisk Dry Ingredients:: In a separate bowl, whisk together your flour, ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves, baking soda, and salt. Make sure it’s really well combined so you don’t get a concentrated pocket of spice in one gingerbread cookie! I’ve had that happen, and while intense, it wasn’t exactly what I was going for.
- Combine Wet and Dry:: Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, mixing on low speed until just combined. Stop as soon as you see no more streaks of flour. Overmixing develops the gluten too much, and we want soft, tender gingerbread cookies, not tough ones! The dough will be quite sticky, don’t worry, that’s normal.
- Chill the Dough:: Divide the dough in half, flatten each half into a disk, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or up to overnight. This step is CRUCIAL for gingerbread cookies! It helps the flavors meld and makes the dough much easier to roll out. I’ve skipped this before in a rush, and the dough was a sticky, unmanageable mess.
- Roll, Cut, and Bake Gingerbread Cookies:: Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C) and line baking sheets with parchment paper. On a lightly floured surface, roll out one disk of dough to about 1/4-inch thickness. Cut out your gingerbread cookies using your favorite cutters and carefully transfer them to the prepared baking sheets. Bake for 8-10 minutes, depending on size, until the edges are set and the centers are still slightly soft. They’ll firm up as they cool, promise! Let them cool on the sheet for a few minutes before moving to a wire rack.