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 like a terrific place to begin. 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, reducing out gingerbread folks, baking them, and adorning them as soon as they cool.
However extra essential 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 proper vacation deal with, particularly with a mug of hot chocolate to drink. I hope you like them too.
Gingerbread Cookie Recipe Elements
Right here’s what you’ll must make this gingerbread cookie recipe:
- All-purpose flour – Spoon and level it to keep away from packing an excessive amount of into your measuring cup.
- Unsalted butter – Enable 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.
- Almond milk – For moisture. Some other milk, corresponding to cow’s milk or oat milk, would work right here too.
- And sea salt – To make all of the flavors pop!
Discover the entire recipe with measurements beneath.
Tips on how 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 almond milk.
Then, chill the dough. Divide it into two equal disks, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap, and refrigerate it for no 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 calmly 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 minimize out the dough scraps as essential. Repeat with the remaining dough disk.
Lastly, bake the cookies. Prepare 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 wish 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 utterly.
Beautify, or take pleasure in as they’re!
Gingerbread Cookies Recipe Ideas
- 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% essential. The dough is gentle and sticky if you first combine it collectively. Chilling it for no less than 2 hours provides it an opportunity to agency up to be able 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’ve got smaller cut-outs, you’ll doubtless must bake your cookies much less. When you’ve got bigger cut-outs, you would possibly must 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 footage, use the royal icing recipe from this post. For an easier glaze, stir collectively 1 cup powdered sugar and a couple of tablespoons almond milk, including extra milk as wanted to succeed in your required consistency. Sprinkles, gumdrops, and different candies are enjoyable decorations too!
- Attempt to not eat all of them immediately. These gingerbread cookies preserve effectively in an hermetic container at room temperature for as much as 5 days, and I really like them finest on day 2 or 3! They change into even softer and chewier, and their spiced taste deepens. These cookies additionally freeze effectively. Saved in a freezer bag or container, they preserve for as much as 3 months. They thaw completely at room temperature.
Extra Favourite Christmas Cookies
When you love these gingerbread cookies, attempt one among these festive cookie recipes subsequent:
Gingerbread Cookies
Serves 24
Our BEST gingerbread cookie recipe! These festive treats are gentle, warmly spiced, and stuffed with scrumptious molasses taste. Beautify with icing (see the guidelines within the put up above for recipes), or take pleasure in plain.
- ½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
- ⅔ cup packed darkish brown sugar
- ⅓ cup unsulphured blackstrap molasses, we just like the Wholesome model
- 1 massive egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2¼ cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons floor ginger
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon effective sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon floor cloves
- 1 tablespoon almond milk, or any milk
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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 almond 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 no less than 2 hours.
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Preheat the oven to 350°F and line two massive baking sheets with parchment paper.
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Roll out the dough on a calmly 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 essential.
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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 might sound 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 scale 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 utterly. Beautify as desired.
