Soft Gingerbread Cookies

Ingredients Needed

• Butter: I use unsalted butter in order to control the flavor of the cookies. Room temperature butter works best in this recipe.
• Granulated Sugar: Granulated sugar will aerate the butter by trapping air in between the sugar and butter molecules.
• Kosher Salt: Kosher salt is less salty per teaspoon than table salt. It is preferable in all baking recipes.
• Egg
• Molasses: I use Grandma’s Molasses in this recipe and in others like these spice cookies and this gingerbread cake recipe. Unsulphered molasses has a smooth, yet robust flavor that will not overpower the spices.
• Apple Cider Vinegar: The vinegar tenderizes the dough by restricting gluten development. It also adds a little acidity to temper the sweetness and make it “taste like gingerbread.”
• All-purpose Flour: All-purpose flour has the right amount of gluten to make tender, soft gingerbread cookies that hold their shape when rolled and cut.
• Baking Soda: This cookie dough has a high level of acidity from the vinegar and the large quantity of molasses. Baking soda will react powerfully with them and create soft, chewy cookies that puff in the oven then fall flat when perfectly baked.
• Ground ginger: Ginger is the second most powerful flavor in these cookies. Make sure your ground ginger is fresh and a good quality for the most impactful flavor.
• Ground cinnamon: I love Saigon cinnamon but any ground cinnamon will do.
• Ground cloves: While they seem like an unimportant addition, cloves really round out the spice profile. Without it, they would seem flat and just not quite right.
• Optional Decorations: I love the combination of raisins and gingerbread, so I always use them as decorations. You can also make a simple gingerbread icing adding milk to powdered sugar and vanilla just until it is a piping consistency.

See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.

Variations & Substitutions

• Apple cider vinegar: You can taste the difference in the dough when apple cider vinegar is omitted. It also helps tenderize the cookies especially during rolling and re-rolling of the scraps. It is part of what makes these cookies so easy to make and foolproof. If you do not have apple cider vinegar, use plain white vinegar or rice vinegar.
• Decorations: Decorate with raisins before baking or with a simple icing for gingerbread cookies after they cool. Red Hot candies also make a fun and tasty addition.
• Use a variety of shapes & sizes. Break out all those holiday cookie cutters and make a wide variety! Just be sure to bake the same shape cookies together so you don’t have to choose under vs. over-baked cookies!

What makes gingerbread taste like gingerbread?

The three ingredients in gingerbread that make it taste like gingerbread are molasses, spices and apple cider vinegar. The spices should include ground ginger, cinnamon and a little cloves. Unlike other spice mixes like pumpkin spice, gingerbread has a high proportion of ginger to cinnamon.

How to Make Soft Gingerbread Cookies

Use these instructions to make the perfect cut-out gingerbread cookeies every time! Further details and measurements can be found in the recipe card below.

Prepare the cookie dough:

Step 1: In a large bowl, whisk together flour and spices. Set aside.

Step 2: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or in a bowl with a hand mixer, thoroughly cream butter, sugar, and salt until light and fluffy. Stir in egg, followed by molasses and vinegar; beat well. If the batter looks slightly curdled, don’t stress.

Step 3: Stir flour into butter mixture. It is easiest to add the flour in several additions, scraping down the bowl between each one.

Step 4: Form dough into two balls and chill wrapped in plastic or in a covered mixing bowl over night or at least 5 hours. I have found that 3 hours of chilling time is okay but the dough will not be as easy to roll out without sticking. Overnight will make the rolling and cutting process a breeze!

Rolling gingerbread cookies:

Step 5: Preheat oven to 375° and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. On a lightly floured surface, roll one ball out to 1/8 inch thick.

Step 6: If you rolled the dough between parchment, simply peel off the parchment from both sides but leave the dough on the bottom piece of parchment to avoid sticking. Cut with cookie cutters and gently place cookies 1 inch apart on prepared baking sheets.

Step 7: Decorate with raisins if desired. Bake large gingerbread boys (~5” tall) 6 minutes in preheated oven; bake medium cookies (3-4” tall) 5 minutes; bake small to medium cookies (2-3” tall) 4 minutes but watch them because they could easily over bake; and bake the cute little 1” cookies only 3 minutes.

Step 8: Cool 2 minutes on baking sheet and then move to a wire rack to cool completely.

Make the gingerbread icing:

Step 1: Sift powdered sugar into a medium bowl. Add vanilla and 2 tablespoons milk. Stir with a spatula to combine. Continue to add milk several teaspoons at a time until the icing is thickened but still runny enough to drizzle slowly off your spatula.

Step 2: Spoon icing into a piping bag fitted with a small circle tip or into a plastic baggie with one corner cut off into a tiny hole. Ice as desired.

Frequently Asked Questions

Before You Go

I hope you enjoyed this professional chef tested recipe. Check out our other delicious, chef-developed Christmas dessert recipes! You might also like to peruse all our 100+ Christmas cookie recipes or the 24 Best Christmas Cookies!