Our greatest gingerbread cookie recipe! These festive treats are gentle and warmly spiced, with a wealthy molasses taste. Good for spreading vacation cheer!
What might be extra festive than gingerbread cookies?! With Christmas just some weeks away, I’m prepared to show up the vacation cheer round right here, and making this gingerbread cookie recipe looks as if an ideal place to start out. For one, it makes the home odor superb, filling it with the comforting aroma of cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. It’s additionally a blast to make—rolling out the dough, chopping out gingerbread individuals, baking them, and adorning them as soon as they cool.
However extra necessary than all of that, these gingerbread cookies are scrumptious! They’re gentle, warmly spiced, and richly flavored with molasses and brown sugar. To me, they’re the right vacation deal with, particularly with a mug of scorching chocolate to drink. I hope you like them too.
Gingerbread Cookie Recipe Elements
Right here’s what you’ll have to make this gingerbread cookie recipe:
- All-purpose flour – Spoon and degree it to keep away from packing an excessive amount of into your measuring cup.
- Unsalted butter – Permit it to come back to room temperature earlier than you begin to bake.
- Brown sugar and molasses – They sweeten the cookies and add wealthy molasses taste. We’ve had success baking these cookies with Healthful and Brer Rabbit blackstrap molasses.
- An egg yolk – It makes the cookies extra-soft and chewy.
- Baking soda – It helps the cookies rise.
- Floor ginger, cinnamon, and cloves – They offer these gingerbread cookies their signature spice.
- Vanilla extract – For heat depth of taste.
- Milk – For moisture. Any form you want! I’ve had nice outcomes with common milk, almond milk, and oat milk.
- And sea salt – To make all of the flavors pop!
Discover the whole recipe with measurements under.
Easy methods to Make Gingerbread Cookies
When you’ve assembled your components (is your butter at room temperature?), this gingerbread cookie recipe is easy to make:
First, make the dough. Utilizing an electrical mixer or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and brown sugar collectively till gentle and fluffy. Combine within the molasses, egg yolk, and vanilla.
In a separate bowl, whisk collectively the dry components–the flour, spices, baking soda, and salt. Progressively add the dry components to the moist combination, mixing after every addition. Lastly, combine within the milk.
Then, chill the dough. Divide it into two equal disks, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap, and refrigerate it for not less than 2 hours. Chilling the dough permits it to agency up, making it simpler to roll out.
Subsequent, roll out the dough. Use a rolling pin to roll out the primary disk on a flippantly floured floor till it’s 1/4-inch thick. Use cookie cutters to chop out your required shapes (I all the time do gingerbread males and snowflakes!). Re-roll and lower out the dough scraps as mandatory. Repeat with the remaining dough disk.
Lastly, bake the cookies. Organize the cut-outs on parchment-lined baking sheets, and bake in a 350°F oven till the sides are simply set however the middles are nonetheless gentle. I prefer to bake one sheet at time on the middle oven rack in order that the cookies bake evenly. Allow them to cool for five minutes on the baking sheet earlier than transferring them to wire racks to chill fully.
Embellish, or get pleasure from as they’re!
Gingerbread Cookies Recipe Suggestions
- Don’t skimp on the chilling time. I’m normally all for not chilling cookie dough (you get to eat the cookies sooner that means!), however on this recipe, it’s 100% mandatory. The dough is gentle and sticky while you first combine it collectively. Chilling it for not less than 2 hours provides it an opportunity to agency up with the intention to simply roll it out. The cut-outs additionally maintain their form higher when baked.
- The timing will rely in your cookie cutters. Otherwise sized and formed cookies bake at totally different charges! For an ideal gentle texture, I usually bake a 3-inch gingerbread man for 8 minutes. When you have smaller cut-outs, you’ll seemingly have to bake your cookies much less. When you have bigger cut-outs, you would possibly have to go a bit longer.
- Adorning is half the enjoyable. As scrumptious as these gentle gingerbread cookies are plain, they’re even tastier (and extra festive!) with icing on high. For detailed traces and patterns like those in these photos, use the royal icing recipe from this submit. For an easier glaze, stir collectively 1 cup powdered sugar and a couple of tablespoons milk, including extra milk as wanted to achieve your required consistency. Sprinkles, gumdrops, and different candies are enjoyable decorations too!
Make-Forward and Freezing Directions
Make-ahead choice 1: Make the gingerbread cookie dough forward of time! Wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for as much as 2 days, or freeze it for as much as 3 months. Permit frozen dough to thaw in a single day within the fridge earlier than rolling it out.
Make-ahead choice 2: Make the cookies forward! Gingerbread cookies hold properly in an hermetic container at room temperature for as much as 5 days. (I really like them greatest on day 2 or 3! They develop into even softer and chewier, and their spiced taste deepens.)
These cookies additionally freeze properly. Sealed in a freezer bag or container, they hold for as much as 3 months. They thaw completely at room temperature.
Extra Favourite Christmas Cookies
In the event you love these gingerbread cookies, strive one in all these festive cookie recipes subsequent:
Gingerbread Cookies
Serves 24
Our BEST gingerbread cookie recipe! These festive treats are gentle, warmly spiced, and filled with scrumptious molasses taste. Embellish with icing (see the information within the submit above for recipes), or get pleasure from plain.
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Within the bowl of a stand mixer, or utilizing an electrical mixer, cream the butter and brown sugar. Add the molasses, egg yolk, and vanilla and blend once more.
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In a medium bowl, whisk collectively the flour, cinnamon, ginger, baking soda, salt, and cloves. Progressively add the dry components to the moist components, mixing after every addition. Combine within the milk.
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Type the dough right into a ball, divide the ball in half, and flatten every half right into a 1-inch-thick disk. Wrap in plastic and chill for not less than 2 hours.
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Preheat the oven to 350°F and line two giant baking sheets with parchment paper.
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Roll out the dough on a flippantly floured floor till about ¼-inch thick. Use cookie cutters to chop out desired shapes, then switch the cut-outs to the ready baking sheets, re-rolling the dough scraps as mandatory.
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Bake, one sheet at a time, for 7 to 9 minutes, or till the sides of the cookies are simply set however the middles are nonetheless gentle. The cookies may appear underdone, however taking them out at this level will make sure that they keep gentle as soon as they cool. I usually use a 3-inch cookie cutter and bake my cookies for 8 minutes. The precise timing will rely in your oven, the dimensions of your cookie cutters, and the way gentle or crunchy you want your gingerbread cookies.
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Let cool on the baking sheet for five minutes earlier than transferring to a wire rack to chill fully. Embellish as desired.
