Soft Gingerbread Cookies with a sprinkle of powdered sugar over the top are the perfect festive treat! These cookies are so soft and chewy and this easy recipe doesn’t require you to chill the dough, so they’re quick and simple to make! Don’t let the holiday season get away without baking up a batch!
These soft gingerbread cookies are some of my favorite Christmas cookies to enjoy during the holidays. We always make my homemade sugar cookies, chocolate pretzel cookies, and these delicious gingerbread cookies with a dusting of powdered sugar sprinkled on top!
They have that classic gingerbread taste that everyone craves, especially around the holidays. I’m not very good at decorating gingerbread men with icing, so instead I went the easy route of sprinkling powdered sugar on top, which makes such a pretty cookie.
You can make these cookies crunchy or chewy depending on the bake time. I personally prefer a soft chewy cookie, especially when slightly dipped in a cup of milky tea. Yum!
Ingredients In Soft Gingerbread Cookies
- butter
- brown sugar
- molasses
- egg
- flour
- salt
- baking soda
- baking powder
- cinnamon
- cloves
- ginger
- nutmeg
- powdered sugar
The star of these cookies are the spices that give them that lovely gingerbread taste. We’ll be adding cinnamon, cloves, ginger and nutmeg to the dough, which provides a gingery, slightly spicy taste to these cookies.
You’ll also find other basic gingerbread cookie ingredients in the lineup. Aside from the spices, this recipe calls for melted butter, brown sugar, molasses, an egg yolk, flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. The topping of powdered sugar is optional, but highly recommended. And, of course, if you’d rather iced gingerbread cookies, that works too.
How Do You Make Soft Gingerbread Cookies?
Let’s bake these festive delicious cookies! Start off by preheating your oven to 350 degrees F. In a mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar with a hand mixer. Add molasses and the egg yolk and continue mixing. Now, add the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves, ginger and nutmeg. Continue to mix until all ingredients are completely combined.
Most gingerbread cookie recipes call for chilling the dough, but I don’t always have time for that, so this recipe requires no chilling. A little extra flour is added to the dough to help us to avoid sticky dough and makes it just perfect for rolling out immediately. Instead of rolling out dough on a floured surface, I like to roll the dough out onto a powdered sugar surface, as it doesn’t add any additional flour to the taste of the cookies. For easy cleanup, I turn a big cookie sheet upside down and roll out onto that. This prevents you from having to scrub the top of your table or countertop, if you roll out directly onto that.
Once the dough area has been prepared with powdered sugar and you’ve sprinkled a little extra powdered sugar on your rolling pin, roll the dough out into a 1/2 inch thickness. Using a cookie cutter of your choice (I used a snowflake), cut out the cookies and continue to do so until all the dough is cut.
Place cookies on greased baking sheets or silicone baking mats. Bake for 10-12 minutes, little shorter if you want a soft chewy cookie, longer if want a crunchy cookie.
Remove the cookies from the oven and let them cool for about 5 minutes on the baking sheet. Transfer the cookies to a cooling rack to continue cooling. Once cooled completely, sprinkle with powdered sugar or frost cookies, if you prefer.
I just absolutely adore these puffy, thick, chewy cookies! And I know you will too! Sweetened with molasses and brown sugar and the perfect combination of warm spices, this gingerbread cookie recipe is simply the best! Listening to Christmas music, watching snow falling outside, and the amazing scent of these cookies baking in the oven, you can’t help but get in the holiday spirit.
Hope you all get a chance to bake these soft gingerbread cookies this holiday season! I especially love to package these cookies in holiday tins or bags and give them out to friends, family and teachers. Everyone appreciates receiving a yummy, homemade treat!
More Christmas Cookie Recipes To Try:
Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies
Gingerbread Men and Women Cookies
Chocolate Pretzel Cookies
Russian Tea Cakes
M&M’s Christmas Cookies
Peanut Butter Christmas Sugar Cookies
Peanut Butter Blossoms
Easy Sugar Cookies
Pin for later:
Soft Gingerbread Cookies
PrintIngredients
- 1/2 cup butter melted
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup molasses
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 1/4 cups flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a bowl cream together butter and sugar with hand mixer. Add molasses and egg yolk and continue mixing. Add flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves, ginger and nutmeg. Mix.
- Prepare your dough area. Sprinkle powdered sugar lightly out onto a clean surface. Sprinkle powdered sugar on rolling pin. Roll the dough out into 1/2 inch thickness. Using a cookie cutter of your choice cut out the cookies Continue until all the dough is gone.
- Place on greased baking sheets or silicone baking mats. Bake for 10-12 minutes – shorter if you want a soft chewy cookie, longer if want a crunchy cookie.
- Remove from oven and let cool. Sprinkle with powered sugar or decorate with icing.
melody says
I actually cannot believe I have not commented yet- I’ve been making this recipe for 6 years every holiday season and my family and friends devour it every single time without fail. They become even better after resting for a few days- extremely soft and chewy. Thank you for this wonderful recipe.
linda says
just made these and srsly the absolute best gingerbread men i have ever made!!!! such a great recipe!!!
Emma @ Bake Then Eat says
I adore gingerbread so I know I will love these, wish I had a few with my tea right now 🙂
Pamela says
They are perfect for dipping in tea too! Thanks Emma! 🙂
Megan - The Emotional Baker says
These are the prettiest gingerbread cookies!! I hope to make some this cookie season 🙂
grace says
tis the season! gingerbread is a staple for our house this time of year, and i love the snowy sugar! 🙂
Kelly Lynn's Sweets and Treats says
Yay for gingerbread! Nothing says holidays like a good gingerbread cookie!
Angie@Angie's Recipes says
Gingerbread cookies are a must for the holiday baking. These star shaped ones look wonderful!