Soft Gingerbread Cookies
on Nov 23, 2020, Updated Dec 03, 2025
You found the BEST recipe for Soft Gingerbread Cookies. They are perfectly spiced, have super soft centers and crisp edges. There’s no spreading, making them a perfect cut-out Christmas Cookie recipe.
These are by far my FAVORITE Soft Gingerbread Cookies. And, they will become your go-to Christmas cookie year after year. They are perfect for decorating into cute gingerbread man cookies or any other shape you desire. Add cute bows, sprinkles or try my Cookie Icing that Hardens to make them extra special.
If you are looking for other easy classic Christmas Cookies try my No Chill Sugar Cookies or Whipped Shortbread Cookies.
This Gingerbread Cookie recipe has a very short chill time. You can be cutting shapes in about an hour if you use my most important tip for the BEST Gingerbread Cookies. The tip… place the dough between two sheets of parchment paper, roll to 1/4 inch thick and then refrigerate for as little as 1 hour. This allows the dough too chill quicker, is less of a mess and there is no additional flour from dusting the work surface and rolling pin which can dry the cookie dough.
If you prefer a soft cookie, this is definitely the Gingerbread Cookie recipe for you. The key to keeping your cut-out cookies incredibly soft is to refrain from over baking. The longer the cookie dough bakes, the crispier the cookie will be. So, pull them earlier than you may think to avoid over baking. The cookies will continue to bake after being removed from the oven.
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Your bake time depends on your cut-out cookie size. If you are baking smaller cookies, less time will be needed. If you are baking a LARGE Gingerbread cookie like I did above, more baking time is needed. Watch for your cookies to “puff up”. Be sure to bake similar sized cookies together so all bake evenly.
Gifting homemade Christmas cookies is my thing. There is no better gift than a tin filled with warm and comforting baked goods. Last year, I purchased the large gingerbread man cookie cutter (I think it was from Target). I used it to make large gingerbread men cookies for gifting. Everyone loved them. This Gingerbread Cookie recipe was perfect for the large and small sized cookies.
Soft Gingerbread Cookie Ingredients
A big part of getting Soft and Chewy Gingerbread Cookies is your ingredients. Trying to make gingerbread cookies without molasses doesn’t really work, for example- but we have a few extra tricks down in the tips section! For our Soft Gingerbread Cookies, you’ll need the following ingredients:
- Flour – You can use all-purpose flour here to keep this recipe simple.
- Baking Soda – Don’t mix this up with baking powder!
- Salt
- Spices – Of course, for gingerbread cookies, you’ll want plenty of ground ginger. We backed this up with an equal measure of ground cinnamon and some touches of ground allspice and ground cloves. If you really wanted, you could make gingerbread cookies with pumpkin pie spice, with how similar the ingredients are.
- Butter – Use softened butter to make mixing easy. Cold butter from the fridge doesn’t beat together or fluff up as well as room temperature butter.
- Brown Sugar – Stick with light brown sugar for this recipe. Dark brown sugar has added molasses, which doesn’t make much sense since we’re also adding…
- Molasses – To make things easy, just look for this Grandma’s Molasses. Avoid blackstrap molasses- way too bitter and strong for this recipe.
- Egg – Room temperature egg, please.
- Vanilla Extract
Of course, you’ll also need some sort icing or frosting for decorating gingerbread cookies. Use your favorite store-bought frosting or use our Cookie Icing that Hardens recipe- it’s quick and easy!
See recipe card for quantities.
How to make Soft Gingerbread Cookies
Gingerbread Cookies are actually a pretty easy cookie recipe, all things considered. Once you’ve whipped together some gingerbread cookie dough and rolled it out, it’s a straight-forward cut-out cookie recipe. If you want to learn how to make gingerbread cookies just like these, follow the recipe guide below:
- Grab a large mixing bowl. To it, add your dry ingredients: the flour, baking soda, salt, ground ginger, ground cinnamon, ground allspice, and ground cloves. Whisk together to combine before setting aside.
- Get a separate large mixing bowl. Add butter and brown sugar. Use a hand or stand mixer to beat together until combined and creamy.
- Scrape down sides of the bowl before adding egg, molasses, and vanilla extract. Beat to combine– you might have to set mixer to high to pull this off- and scrape down sides of bowl as needed.
- Once wet ingredients are fully combined, start gradually adding dry ingredients and mixing in. Eventually, after all dry ingredients are added, everything should come together into a consistent gingerbread cookie dough. Do NOT Over-mix! Mix the dough just until you see no more white flour.
- Divide dough in half, leaving half in the bowl and setting other half on parchment paper. Top with another sheet of parchment paper and roll out to 1/4-inch thickness. Repeat with other half of dough and let gingerbread cookie dough sheets rest in fridge for at least 1 hour.
- Prep a baking sheet by lining with parchment paper or a Silpat. Peel top layer of parchment off gingerbread dough and use cookie cutters to cut out cookie shapes.
- Transfer cookie cut-outs to parchment lined baking sheet, spaced about 1 inch apart. Ball up cookie dough scraps and reroll into more dough sheets if needed. If dough becomes too soft to work with, pop it in the fridge for about 15 minutes.
- Bake gingerbread cookies at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes, depending on cookie size. Let cool for 5 minutes on baking sheet before transferring to wire rack to cool completely. Decorate cookies as desired, serve, and enjoy!
Storage / Freezing
Storage: Whatever kind of gingerbread men or gingerbread people you’ve baked up, you’ll want to save those leftover gingerbread cookies. Transfer to an airtight container or Ziploc bag for best results. At room tempertaure, they’ll last up to a week- gingerbread cookies in the fridge will last 1-2 weeks.
Freezing: Freezing gingerbread cookies or gingerbread cookie dough is also an option. Freeze gingerbread cookies on a parchment-lined baking sheet for 1-3 hours before moving to a freezer bag for best results- unbaked gingerbread dough should be wrapped tightly. Frozen gingerbread cookies and frozen gingerbread cookie dough will last up to 3 months.
Tips for the BEST Gingerbread Cookies
- Use FRESH Baking soda if possible. If you happen to use old, your cookies may not rise as much as you would like.
- After adding the dry ingredients, mix only until no white is left visible. Over-mixing could result in a “tough cookie”
- Rolling the gingerbread dough between two sheets of parchment paper will result in the BEST Gingerbread Christmas Cookies. If you do not have any on hand use a LIGHTLY floured surface and rolling pin. Use as little flour as possible. The extra flour will make your dough drier and result in a dry cookie.
- Do NOT OVER-BAKE. The longer the cookies bake, the less soft they will get. If anything, pull them early, they will continue to bake when resting.
- Allow the cookies too cool before decorating. Use your favorite frosting or my recipe for Cookie Icing that Hardens.
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Soft Gingerbread Cookies
Ingredients
- 3 1/2 cup Flour
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1 tbsp Ground Ginger
- 1 tbsp Ground Cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp Ground Allspice
- 1/2 tsp Ground Cloves
- 10 tbsp Butter, softened
- 3/4 cup Brown Sugar
- 2/3 cup Molasses
- 1 Egg, room temperature
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, and cloves. Set aside.
- In another large bowl beat together the butter and brown sugar until combined and creamy.
- Scrape down the sides and add in the molasses, egg and vanilla. Beat on high, scraping down the sides as needed.
- Add flour mixture beating until combined.
- Divide dough in half.
- Roll out each batch of dough between 2 pieces or parchment paper to 1/4″ thickness.
- Refrigerate for at least 1 hour to let flavors develop.
- Preheat oven to 350.
- Line baking sheet(s) with parchment paper or silicone mat. Set aside.
- Cut into shapes with cookie cutters and place about 1″ apart on prepared baking sheet.
- Re-roll dough scraps until all the dough is shaped. Repeat with remaining disc of dough.
- Bake cookies for about 8-10 minutes based on size of cookies.
- Allow cookies to cool for 5 minutes on sheet then transfer to cooling rack to finish.
- Decorate as desired.
Notes
- Use FRESH Baking soda if possible. If you happen to use old, your cookies may not rise as much as you would like.
- After adding the dry ingredients, mix only until no white is left visible. Over-mixing could result in a “tough cookie”
- Rolling the gingerbread dough between two sheets of parchment paper will result in the BEST Gingerbread Christmas Cookies. If you do not have any on hand use a LIGHTLY floured surface and rolling pin. Use as little flour as possible. The extra flour will make your dough drier and result in a dry cookie.
- Do NOT OVER-BAKE. The longer the cookies bake, the less soft they will get. If anything, pull them early, they will continue to bake when resting.
- Allow the cookies too cool before decorating. Use your favorite frosting or my recipe for Cookie Icing that Hardens.
Nutrition
