Super soft gingerbread cookies that you’ll actually WANT TO EAT!
We’re so excited for Christmas this year. The Christmas music has been going strong and cookie baking season is in full swing! My sweet sister-in-law Nicole shared this recipe with us years ago for the most soft gingerbread cookies. They’re so good! If you love gingerbread, you’ll want to make them! So get all your cookie cutters ready, because you are definitely going to want to make these this season.
What you’ll need to make Soft Gingerbread Cookies:
- molasses
- dark brown sugar
- butter
- cold water
- flour
- baking soda
- allspice
- ginger
- cloves
- cinnamon
- salt
For the Frosting:
- butter
- sweetened condensed milk
- powdered sugar
- salt
- vanilla
How to make Soft Gingerbread Cookies:
The complete recipe card is shared below, but here’s a look at the step by step:
- Cream butter and sugar: Start by making the cookie dough the night before you’ll be baking them. Cream the butter and sugar together.
- Mix wet ingredients: Now mix the water and molasses in with the butter and sugar.
- Combine dry ingredients: In a separate bowl, whisk all of the dry ingredients together in a bowl.
- Mix together: Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Mix together well.
- Refrigerate: Move cookie dough to two disk shapes and wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
- Roll and cut: When you are ready to start rolling out the dough the next day, flour the clean surface really well. You can also use a silpat for rolling out the cookie dough or parchment paper. Before beginning to roll out the cookie dough, preheat your oven to 350. Roll the dough out to 1/4″ thickness and cut with cookie cutters into shapes.
- Bake: Place cookies on parchment paper on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 for approx. 10-11 minutes. Let cookies rest on the pan for another 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
How to make the Frosting:
- Mix ingredients: Mix together the butter, salt and vanilla together. Add powdered sugar and condensed milk to desired consistency. If using a frosting decorator like a squeeze bottle, you’ll want the frosting to be a bit thick.
- Decorate: Decorate your cookies and enjoy!
How to store Soft Gingerbread Cookies:
In order to keep your gingerbread cookies soft, you will want to store them in an airtight container. They will stay fresh for about two weeks!
Make Ahead:
When it comes to doing cut out cookies with the kids, it helps to make the cookie dough and the frosting the night before, allowing for more time on the creative part…rolling and cutting the cookies out with cookie cutters, baking and decorating.
Tips and Tricks:
Here are some tips to help with success when making this recipe:
- To avoid too sticky dough, make sure you let the dough chill in the refrigerator overnight. This is a must to avoid sticky dough, plus it needs this time to rest. When rolling out, make sure you are rolling out on a well floured surface. A silpat works great for rolling on as well.
- To avoid too dry dough, be sure that your dough is rolled to the right thickness before cutting with cookie cutters. 1/4 inch thick is a good guideline. Also under bake them in the oven then let them sit on the hot pan out of the oven after baking for at least 5 minutes.
- Make sure you allow your oven the time to preheat this step is so important.
- Please note: there are not any eggs in this recipe.
How to make Custom Cookie Cutters:
I have a fun little trick to share with you. If you ever find yourself wishing you had a specific cookie cutter shape, but you don’t…try this technique:
Print off a template from any shape you like online. Cut out the paper shape with scissors and then just use it as a template to cut the cookie dough with a sharp pairing knife. It’s a little more time consuming than just pressing a cookie cutter down, but in a jam it’s a great solution, plus you can get really creative. I was wanting a specific reindeer shape, but didn’t have it right when I needed it, and this trick worked great!
Super Soft Gingerbread Cookies
Soft gingerbread cookies with a creamy white frosting.
Ingredients
Wet Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cups dark molasses
- 1 cup dark brown sugar
- 1/3 cup butter
- 2/3 cup cold water
Dry Ingredients:
- 6 cups flour
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp allspice
- 2 tsp ginger
- 1 tsp cloves
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp salt
For the Frosting:
- 1/2 cup butter (1 stick) softened
- 1 can sweetened condensed milk
- 6 cups powdered sugar (add more depending on desired thickness)
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
Instructions
Make the Cookie Dough:
-
Start by making the cookie dough the night before you'll be baking them. Cream the butter and sugar together.
-
Now mix the molasses and water in with the butter and sugar.
-
In a separate bowl, whisk, all of the dry ingredients together in a bowl.
-
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Mix together well.
-
Divide the cookie dough to two disk shapes and wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
-
When you are ready to start rolling out the dough the next day, flour a clean work surface really well. You can also use a silpat for rolling out the cookie dough or parchment paper. Before beginning to roll out the cookie dough, preheat your oven to 350. Roll the dough out to 1/4″ thickness and cut with cookie cutters into shapes.
-
Place cookies on parchment paper on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 for approx. 10-11 minutes. Let cookies rest on the pan for another 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
For the Frosting:
-
Mix together the butter, salt and vanilla together. Add powdered sugar and condensed milk to desired consistency. If using a frosting decorator like a squeeze bottle, you’ll want the frosting to be a bit thick.
-
Decorate your cookies and enjoy!
Recipe Notes
Here are some tips to help with success when making this recipe:
-To avoid too sticky dough, make sure you let the dough chill in the refrigerator overnight. This is a must to avoid sticky dough, plus it needs this time to rest. When rolling out, make sure you are rolling out on a well floured surface. A silpat works great for rolling on as well.
-To avoid too dry dough, be sure that your dough is rolled to the right thickness before cutting with cookie cutters. 1/4 inch thick is a good guideline. Also under bake them in the oven then let them sit on the hot pan out of the oven after baking for at least 5 minutes.
-Make sure you allow your oven the time to preheat this step is so important.
-No, there are not any eggs in this recipe.
Making This Recipe? Tag us on Instagram: @NoBiggie using the hashtag #NoBiggieRecipes, so we can see what you are making in the kitchen!
That’s it! I’m so excited for you to try them!
MORE cookie recipes we LOVE:
- Mexican Wedding Cookies
- Christmas Cookies for Santa
- Cornflake Wreath Cookies
- Peanut Butter Rudolph Cookies
- Rosette Cookies
That’s it! I’m so excited for you to try them! Let me know what you think down below in the comments.
Debbie says
Nicole, the baker extraordinaire !
julie says
how much powdered sugar in the frosting recipe?
kami says
You just sort of measure as you go until you reach the consistency that works for you.
Natalie says
How many dozen would this recipe yield?
kami says
Hi Natalie!
For sure 2 dozen, but it depends on the sizes of cookie cutters that you use.
Mandy says
Is the butter for the frosting softened or melted?
kami says
softened…not melted.
Chalet says
My dough seems quite dry. Is that normal?
kami says
Oh no?! I’m not sure. Someone else commented right after saying their dough was too sticky.
Stephaine says
My dough was extremely sticky and it was nearly impossible to get them off the counter and then off the cookie cutter… the dough tasted great!… however, the sticky dough was not enjoyable… do you have any suggestions?
Thank you
kami says
You need to flour the surface really well when rolling out the dough.
Lauren says
My dough is so dry! I can’t imagine how this is going to be able to be rolled out. What happened?
kami says
Hi Lauren, I’m sorry the dough was dry for you, I have updated the recipe at the bottom to help with trouble shooting and baking tips. I live in a high altitude, and I’m not sure if the amount of flour is to accommodate this or not. Along with the new tips listed, you could always try using less flour. Baking is so tricky.
Erin says
I noticed there was no egg in the recipe… is that correct?
kami says
Yes…no eggs. Thanks for asking.
Mary Frances says
I loved this recipe. They turned out great and were easy to make. They were soft and chewy which I like much better than the usual hard gingerbread cookies.
kami says
Yay! I’m so happy! Thanks for sharing!
Diane says
I made these and they did not come out good, followed everything. They dough was extremely dry and the taste was blah. I will stick with the McCormick recipe.
kami says
I’m sorry this recipe didn’t work out for you. I have updated the recipe at the bottom to help with trouble shooting and baking tips. I live in a high altitude, and I’m not sure if the amount of flour is to accommodate this or not. Along with the new tips listed, you could always try using less flour. Baking is so tricky.
Jen says
So the way this is written makes it seem like you preheat your oven overnight while you chill this is the fridge. I know it’s my own fault for not reading all the way through, but that’s pretty confusing. Also, do you cream the butter and sugar together before you add the molasses and water?
kami says
Hi Jen! Thanks for your comment. I just made adjustments to the directions of the recipe as to not confuse you or anyone else. I hope it all makes sense now.
Jennifer says
Cookies were very dry and tasted/smelled like molasses cookies. First time trying a gingerbread cookie recipe and was very disappointed 🙁
Celinda says
This was the first time I’ve ever made gingerbread cookies and they came out wonderfully. Thank you for taking the time to share. I don’t know about the other comments with people having trouble. I understood it perfectly and did not think I had to preheat my oven overnight. I will be making these again next Christmas. Thanks again and Merry Christmas.
kami says
Celinda!! You just made my day!! So hilarious! Thank you for the positive comment here. I so wish everyone had the same experience that you did. Thank you for sharing!
Danielle says
I just made these and they are delicious! The dough was super dry last night and I felt sure they were going to be an epic fail. However,i decided to persist. I rolled the dough out on a VERY LIGHTLY floured surface (trying not to add to the dryness) and they turned out perfectly! i cant wait to get the icing on and share them. Thank you for the great recipe!!!
kami says
Hi Danielle! Yay! I’m so happy to read your comment. Thank you for sharing. 🙂
Jaimee says
I used the whole can of sweetened milk and only 5 cups of powdered sugar and added drops of water to bring it to desired consistency. Thanks!
Alley says
Hey there,
I’m in NZ and have adopted the recipe to our tastes/measurements/ingredients. I used golden syrup instead of molasses and also used a Edmonds cook book gingernut buiscut recipe to help figure it out to kiwi spec 😉 and had the same issue as other ladies way too sticky couldn’t cut anything out so ended up rolling into balls and squashing them into bikkies. They turned out awesomely soft and chewy even though some of them where black on the bottom haha I’ve done another batch and will use your awesome tip of leaving I the fridge overnight and using heaps of flour to roll out. Thanks for the great tips! Merry Christmas!
kami says
I’m glad to tips helped. I appreciate hearing from you. Thanks for sharing.
Emily says
This dough was WAY too sticky! I became way to frustrated, and I honestly will not be trying these again, as it was miserable trying to work with the sticky dough. I bake very often and usually can figure out what happened but especially with the drastic difference in comments, I can’t figure it out! Perhaps it is the brand of molasses used – what brand did you use? I floured the surface and pin VERY generously and put the dough in the fridge for close to 24 hours…they do taste Great!, it’s just a pity it was so miserable to work with the dough
Meredith says
I made these a few days ago and they were amazing!! The best gingervread cookie I’ve ever had.they were very easy to make I have no idea how u could have gotten confused. Thank u so much for sharing ill definently be making them again.
kami says
Yay! Thank you for sharing! Merry Christmas!
Marissa says
I made these today. They are delicious! Thank you so much for sharing! I love that they don’t use very much butter.
Veronica says
I had a ‘go to’ recipe for gingerbread cookies that I really wasn’t happy with, but I never really did anything about it. Well yesterday I was determined to find a soft gingerbread cookie AND I FOUND IT! This is an awesome recipe and I can’t wait to try your other recipes. So no more having to eat gingerbread cookies with coffee or other hot beverages to soften them up lol. Thanks!
kami says
Yay! I’m so happy! Thanks for sharing!
Sunny says
Is this a good recipe to use for making a gingerbread house?
kami says
not really.
Squishy Tooshy says
Dough was too dry. I live at 5000 ft in desert added 1/2 cup milk and it did the trick. Dough came out great. Now the taste is blah so next time I’ll add more sugar. I thought the recipe didn’t call for enough and I was right. They are soft though so I love that. Kids love em but I think they are cardboardesque so next time here comes the sugar!
kami says
Thanks for sharing. Sorry you weren’t thrilled. Hope the next batch is more to your liking.
Emily says
My boys and I made these last year and they were so delicious!! I hate crunchy cookies so these were perfect! We are making them again this year and will continue to every year as part of our Christmas traditions!
Christy says
These were GREAT!! I’m not a skilled baker and I pulled these off with no problem. I added extra brown sugar to the dough. And next time I think I will just use store bought icing to pipe on rather than make the icing. Thanks for the great recipe!
Nicole says
Just made these this morning and came out perfectly! And soft!
The dough was sticky right after mixing it, but after a night in the fridge it was wonderful to work with…But I think that is typical of gingerbread. Can’t wait for the compliments on my cookie trays!
Katie says
I tried this recipe because it looked thought out. But it wasn’t. The dough smelled like molasses not gingerbread. The dough didn’t want to be soft. It was hard as a rock. Was not easy to roll out. The comments didn’t help when something went wrong. I also didn’t like the way to make the icing to decorate.. The out come was good for the cookies for the taste and what they looked like. But I won’t be using this recipe ever agin.
Sharon says
Hi there! Just wondering what your altitude is so I know how to adjust. I am at 6,700 ft 😉 Happy Holidays and what a pretty blog!