Best Soft and Chewy Gingerbread Cookie Recipe for Cut-Out Cookies

Gingerbread Cookies

yield: 24 SERVINGS

prep time: 40 MINUTES

cook time: 7 MINUTES

total time: 47 MINUTES

Ingredients

For the cookies:

For the icing:

Directions

1

To make the cookies:

In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and brown sugar using a hand mixer or stand mixer for a minute or two. Mix in the molasses, egg, and water. Set aside.

2

In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and spices. Slowly stir in the wet ingredients until dough forms. Place the dough in a plastic bag or container in the fridge for at least 3 hours or overnight to chill.

3

To make the cut outs:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and prep a sheet pan with parchment paper.

4

Dust a rolling pin with flour. Roll out 1/2 the dough 1/8 inch thick onto a piece of parchment paper. Use the cookie cutters to cut shapes and place them on the baking sheet. Bake in the oven for 7-8 minutes until firm. Transfer cookies to a cooling rack. Repeat the steps with the remaining dough, and let the cookies cool.

5

To make the icing:

Place ingredients for the icing into a mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer until smooth. Fill a pastry bag with icing and decorate cookies as desired with a thin tip.

6

Store any leftovers in a covered container for up to a week. Baked cookies or raw dough can last in the freezer for up 6 months. Enjoy!

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Looking for a winning gingerbread cookie recipe? This is the perfect one to use for festive cut-out shapes. 

24 gingerbread cookies

Does anyone else here love a good from scratch gingerbread cookie?

With holiday cookie season in full swing, I thought it would be fun to share some festive gingerbread cookies you can bake at home as a fun activity for dessert! I know there are lots of cookie kits in the stores, but nothing beats a delicious homemade cookie.

The result is a perfectly chewy and soft cookie you can decorate with frosting. The taste has lots of flavor from the molasses and warm spices, yet is balanced with sweetness too. YUM!

cut out gingerbread cookies on cooling rack

Guys, who knew gingerbread cookie recipes can be kind of tricky?

Cookies can onlinee out too dry or hard, the dough can be too crumbly or too sticky. I tried three popular recipes and methods for making cut-out gingerbread cookies and came out with a clear winner in this recipe from TasteofHome.online.

This dough onlinees together smoothly and easily with little to know guesswork, and it’s not too overwhelming with too much molasses. I did add more of the warm spices and ground clove to ensure deeper flavor and do reonlinemend chilling for a longer period of time, preferably overnight to make sure the shapes don’t spread.

Grab those cookie cutters and let’s go! 

ingredients for homemade gingerbread cookies

adding mollases to gingerbread cookies

mixing dry ingredients in a bowl

raw gingerbread cookie dough

ball of cookie dough in the fridge

rolling out gingerbread dough onto parchment paper

using cookie cutters to cut sugar cookie dough

cutting shapes with gingerbread dough

cookies on a caraway baking sheet pan

baked gingerbread cookies on a cooling rack

mixing frosting for gingerbread cookies

adding frosting to gingerbread cookies


Print

Gingerbread Cookies

yield: 24 SERVINGS

prep time: 40 MINUTES

cook time: 7 MINUTES

total time: 47 MINUTES

A soft and chewy gingerbread cookie with warm spices, great for making cutout cookies.

Ingredients

For the cookies:

For the icing:

Directions

1

To make the cookies:

In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and brown sugar using a hand mixer or stand mixer for a minute or two. Mix in the molasses, egg, and water. Set aside.

2

In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and spices. Slowly stir in the wet ingredients until dough forms. Place the dough in a plastic bag or container in the fridge for at least 3 hours or overnight to chill.

3

To make the cut outs:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and prep a sheet pan with parchment paper.

4

Dust a rolling pin with flour. Roll out 1/2 the dough 1/8 inch thick onto a piece of parchment paper. Use the cookie cutters to cut shapes and place them on the baking sheet. Bake in the oven for 7-8 minutes until firm. Transfer cookies to a cooling rack. Repeat the steps with the remaining dough, and let the cookies cool.

5

To make the icing:

Place ingredients for the icing into a mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer until smooth. Fill a pastry bag with icing and decorate cookies as desired with a thin tip.

6

Store any leftovers in a covered container for up to a week. Baked cookies or raw dough can last in the freezer for up 6 months. Enjoy!

Brought to you by Hip2Save.

gingerbread house cookie box

Tips for making the perfect gingerbread cookie recipe:

  • This dough must be chilled before rolling into shapes. It’s best to chill them overnight, or at least for a few hours in the fridge. I suggest making the day dough a day ahead of time and then decorating the next day for convenience.
  • Consider rolling out the dough onto parchment paper. In my opinion, they are much easier to transfer to a cookie sheet instead of from the counter.
  • You can even use the same piece of parchment paper on the baking sheet. I am using nonstick Caraway sheet pans, so no paper is needed on those.
  • Be sure to not roll the dough too thin. If you make them on the thicker side about 1/8 inch, they will be softer.

Oh my, I am in gingerbread heaven!

This simple recipe tastes so great and the shapes turn out so adorable too. This batch made about 24 three-inch cookies for me and would be great to double if you’d like a larger batch for cookie exchanges. Baking holiday cookies together is one of our favorite traditions, and this is a fun idea to do.

Wishing you all a beautiful holiday with lots of family, love, and warm cookies. Merry Christmas!


Check out my easy applesauce tree ornaments that look (and smell) like gingerbread cookies!


About the writer:

Lina has a Bachelor's Degree from Northern Arizona University with 11 years of blogging and photography experience having work featured in Today.online, Martha Stewart, Country Living, Fox News, Buzzfeed, and HGTV.


Join The Discussion

onlinements 2

  1. Marci

    With a recipe like this, it’s fun to make a cutout or window in the cookie, then put a sugar candy (it must be sugar) in the center and let it melt in the oven. (Use a paper or silicone or foil under the cookies for this.) You now have a stained-glass window cookie!

    • Jessica (Hip Sidekick)

      Such a fun idea for this recipe, Marci! Thanks for sharing! 🍪 ❤️

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