Author: This soft, yet firm, gingerbread cookie recipe has a delicious bite to it while still being sweet enough to enjoy even without icing! Learn how to make the perfect cutout gingerbread cookies that can be turned into gingerbread men, or any other cutout shape you want! Perfect for einkorn flour or any all-purpose wheat!
While I normally make a delicious chewy gingersnap cookie during the holidays, it’s also great to have a gingerbread cookie recipe that really holds its shape during baking. This recipe is perfect for anything from gingerbread men to gingerbread houses!
The Perfect Gingerbread Cookies
Though it has a bit of a bite, this gingerbread cookie recipe is perfect with or without icing. I usually just enjoy them without. It’s a lot easier that way, too! This recipe is formulated for einkorn flour, but you can also use any all-purpose flour you have on hand!
Ingredients
The full recipe, with ingredient measurements, is available at the end of the post. However, I wanted to quickly go over a few possible substitutions for you to be able to customize this recipe to your needs!
- All-purpose flour – We use einkorn flour, but you can use any all-purpose flour that you have on hand.
- Baking soda – Just enough to give the cookies some fluff, but not enough to cause them to spread.
- Ground ginger, cinnamon, & cloves – A classic spice blend, this is where the magic of gingerbread comes from! You can omit any of the spices as needed, but note that the taste will change drastically.
- Salt – Use what you have on hand, but sea salt yields the best flavor.
- Butter – We use salted butter, as that’s what we keep in our home. However, both salted and unsalted will work just as well.
- Brown sugar – Light and dark brown sugar will work, or you can make your own brown sugar if needed!
- White sugar – We’ve used panela, coconut sugar, and white sugar for this recipe, and they all work well.
- Molasses – Blackstrap molasses is recommended for the best flavor profile, however, if you don’t like a strong molasses flavor, you can use a different variety.
- Eggs – Whole eggs are called for and there is no variation that will keep the texture of the cookie intact.
Instructions
While it may take you a while to roll and cut all the cookies out, this recipe comes together quickly and leaves you with enough dough for several cookie baking and decorating sessions!
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, whip butter until pale and fluffy.
- Add brown and white sugar to the butter bowl. Mix until fluffy.
- Add molasses and whip until well combined. Add egg and mix until combined.
- Sift dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
- Add dry ingredients in 4 batches to the wet mixture. Mix each time until just combined.
- Turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface and divide into 4 parts. Form each part into a disc shape and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill in fridge at least 2 hours before rolling.
- Remove chilled dough from the fridge and allow to rest about 5-10 minutes before rolling on a well-floured surface.
- Roll the dough 1/4 inch thick and cut as desired. Re-roll the dough and cut until all the dough is used.
- Bake at 400°F for 6 minutes, or until brown around the edges. **Larger shapes may require additional baking time
Gingerbread Cookie Decorations (optional)
- Icing – Mix 1/2 cup of powdered sugar and 1 tsp vanilla extract with just enough milk to reach the desired icing consistency. Pour into a piping bag and decorate cookies as desired! Or you can make a traditional royal icing if you want to be able to pipe and decorate “properly”!
- Colored Sugar – We love to make this dye-free homemade colored sugar to sprinkle on top of our iced gingerbread cookies. It’s a fun way for kids to use their imaginations without having to mix a bunch of different colored icings!
Making the Dough in Advance
Be warned: This gingerbread cookie recipe makes a LOT of dough. What I like to do, unless you want to bake a large number of cookies all at once, is to simply freeze 3 of the dough discs instead of letting the rest in the fridge!
Then, when you are ready for more cookies, you can defrost one of the dough discs and get to work! Defrosting works best by placing the dough in the fridge the night before, then removing it from the fridge and letting it rest at room temperature for 10 minutes before working.
This lets us enjoy the process of making gingerbread cookies multiple times per year without requiring me to make the dough every time!
Even More Delicious Christmas Recipes
Fill your holiday dessert table with the best homemade recipes your family will ever try!
Classic Gingerbread Cookies
Ingredients
- 5 2/3 cups all-purpose flour, 675g (we use einkorn flour)
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 Tbsp ground ginger
- 1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
- 3/4 tsp ground cloves
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup butter, room temperature
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar, tightly packed
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup molasses, unsulfured
- 1 egg
Instructions
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, whip butter until pale and fluffy.
- Add brown and white sugar to the butter bowl. Mix until fluffy.
- Add molasses and whip until well combined. Add egg and mix until combined.
- Sift dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
- Add dry ingredients in 4 batches to the wet mixture. Mix each time until just combined.
- Turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface and divide into 4 parts. Form each part into a disc shape and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill in fridge at least 2 hours before rolling.
- Remove chilled dough from the fridge and allow to rest about 5-10 minutes before rolling on a well-floured surface.
- Roll the dough 1/4 inch thick and cut as desired. Re-roll the dough and cut until all the dough is used.
- Bake at 400°F for 6 minutes, or until brown around the edges. **Larger shapes may require additional baking time
Gingerbread Cookie Decorations (optional)
- Icing – Mix 1/2 cup of powdered sugar and 1 tsp vanilla extract with just enough milk to reach the desired icing consistency. Pour into a piping bag and decorate cookies as desired! Or you can make a traditional royal icing if you want to be able to pipe and decorate “properly”!
- Colored Sugar – We love to make this dye-free homemade colored sugar to sprinkle on top of our iced gingerbread cookies. It’s a fun way for kids to use their imaginations without having to mix a bunch of different colored icings!
Notes
Making the Dough in Advance
Be warned: This gingerbread cookie recipe makes a LOT of dough. What I like to do, unless you want to bake a large number of cookies all at once, is to simply freeze 3 of the dough discs instead of letting the rest in the fridge! Then, when you are ready for more cookies, you can defrost one of the dough discs and get to work! Defrosting works best by placing the dough in the fridge the night before, then removing it from the fridge and letting it rest at room temperature for 10 minutes before working. This lets us enjoy the process of making gingerbread cookies multiple times per year without requiring me to make the dough every time!Nutrition
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