Gingerbread Men Cookies
[donotprint]
Gingerbread men cookies are such an epitome of Christmas baking, but I never tackled them for one primary reason – all of the gingerbread cookies I had ever tasted were pretty much the equivalent of a rock. Unless you’re talking about biscotti or pizzelle, I am a diehard soft and chewy cookie person. Crunchy cookies just aren’t my thing. As a result, I’ve been avoiding these adorable little guys for fear of the crunch. Then as luck would have it, I came across a recipe for “Thick and Chewy Gingerbread Cookies”. Clearly, that recipe had my name all over it. So I busted out my yet-to-be-used cookie cutter and went to town. I’m so glad I finally came across a recipe for soft gingerbread cookies because they are cute-as-a-button as well as delicious! (Full disclosure: I totally ate more than a few fingerfuls of the dough!)
Now, I know that variety is the spice of life and that chances are that many of you are a fan of crisp and crunchy cookies and might be looking for a recipe for that type of gingerbread cookies. This recipe can actually be used to make thinner, crispier, more gingersnap-like cookies with just a couple of alterations in technique. Unless noted in the modifications below, do everything else the same.
To Make Thin, Crispy Gingerbread Men Cookies:
- Follow the same instructions below (with all of the same ingredients) in Step 1.
- In Step 2, roll the dough out to 1/8-inch thick and proceed with freezing the dough as directed.
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and bake for 15-20 minutes, until they are slightly darkened and firm in the center when pressed with a finger. Cool on the baking sheet for 2 minutes then remove to a cooling rack.
- These cookies can keep up to a month stored as directed below.
Which is your preference: soft and chewy or thin and crisp??
One year ago: Homemade Hot Cocoa Mix
Two years ago: Date Nut Spice Bread
Four years ago: Roasted Red Potatoes[/donotprint]
Gingerbread Men Cookies
Ingredients
- 3 cups (375 g) all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup (165 g) dark brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) ground cloves
- ½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) salt
- ¾ teaspoon (0.75 teaspoon) baking soda
- ¾ cup (170.25 g) unsalted butter, cut into 12 pieces and softened slightly, (6 ounces )
- ¾ cup (252.75 ml) molasses
- 2 tablespoons milk
Instructions
- In food processor workbowl fitted with steel blade, process flour, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, salt, and baking soda until combined, about 10 seconds. Scatter butter pieces over flour mixture and process until mixture is sandy and resembles very fine meal, about 15 seconds. With machine running, gradually add molasses and milk; process until dough is evenly moistened and forms soft mass, about 10 seconds. (Alternatively, in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment, stir together flour, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, salt and baking soda at low speed until combined, about 30 seconds. Stop mixer and add butter pieces; mix at medium-low speed until mixture is sandy and resembles fine meal, about 1½ minutes. Reduce speed to low and, with mixer running, gradually add molasses and milk; mix until dough is evenly moistened, about 20 seconds. Increase speed to medium and mix until thoroughly combined, about 10 seconds.)
- Scrape dough onto work surface; divide in half. Working with one portion of dough at a time, roll ¼-inch thick between two large sheets of parchment paper. Leaving dough sandwiched between parchment layers, stack on cookie sheet and freeze until firm, 15 to 20 minutes. (Alternatively, refrigerate dough 2 hours or overnight.)
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- Remove one dough sheet from freezer; place on work surface. Peel off top parchment sheet and lay it back in place. Flip dough over; peel off and discard second parchment layer. Cut dough into gingerbread people or round cookies, transferring shapes to parchment-line cookie sheets with a wide metal spatula, spacing them ¾-inch apart. Repeat with remaining dough until cookie sheets are full. Bake cookies until set in centers and dough barely retains imprint when touched very gently with fingertip, 8 to 11 minutes, rotating cookie sheet from front to back halfway through baking time. Do not overbake. Cool cookies on sheets 2 minutes, then remove with wide metal spatula to wire rack; cool to room temperature.
- Gather scraps; repeat rolling, cutting and baking in steps 2 and 4. Repeat with remaining dough until all dough is used.
- Once cookies are cool, decorate with royal icing, if desired. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Did you make this recipe?
Leave a review below, then snap a picture and tag @thebrowneyedbaker on Instagram so I can see it!
I have been making this recipe for about 10 year now – absolutely the best gingerbread. Make the recipe as is – I have tried minor alterations throughout the years, and nothing is as good as the original. Also note, 3/4 cup molasses is half of a 12 oz jar. I recommend doubling the recipe and skipping measuring the sticky molasses, just use the whole jar. Thanks for giving me a Christmas classic!
I love the results of this recipe, but the dough is so sticky and thick that it killed my food processor! Burned the motor right out! So now I use my new food processor just till the butter is mixed in. Then I transfer the sandy mixture to my stand mixer and do the rest. I don’t know what kind of food processor you have my dear but I’d like to know! It must be a BEAST to handle this every year!
This has been my staple gingerbread recipe for the holidays for several years now. I like the softness of the cookie while keeping great flavour.
Hi there. These are awesome as I have made them for several years. Time consuming, but they are well worth it. I am team chewy cookie!!
Now though I have a question. I have a child with a dairy allergy, can I substitute shortening for the butter and oat milk for milk?
I rarely leave reviews but here I am. I LOVE this recipe! I, too, love a soft and chewy cookie, which is why I have always stayed away from traditional gingerbread recipes. These are delightful. Loads of flavor, soft, chewy … I can’t say enough. Thank you so much for sharing this. It will become a holiday go-to!
Love them! I have come back to this recipe for years.
I love this recipe. It’s everyone’s favorite here. I am no longer physically able to roll it out into sheets. Anyone know if this can be converted into a drop style cookie? I would love the exact same flavor with less physical effort. Thanks!
I made these gingerbread cookies and they cracked towards the end of baking.
Do you have any thoughts as to why this might happen?
Is the dough supposed to look like whipped cream
Can you please tell me if it’s possible to pre-make a huge batch of dough for these cookies? My church made them for an event and they were amazing. I wondered if it would be possible to make a batch and freeze to roll and cut out a day or so later????
I make 4x this recipe annually to give out as gifts. I always make the dough ahead of time. I usually make the dough, chill for a bit, then roll out sheets and freeze them. Then bake as needed over a period of several weeks… so yes you can definitely do that. Just make sure the dough is nice and chilled before rolling. If it’s too “loose” they’ll spread a lot when baking. I make a ton of cookie boxes and this is by far everyone’s favorite request!
Love this recipe! I have been coming back to it for years.
Can not wait to try these cookies, I also prefer soft and chewy gingerbread cookies. Will these cookies freeze well and still keep their texture if frozen before decorating?
Just dropping in to say that this is my all-time favorite gingerbread recipe, and I always end up making a few batches every holiday season. I follow the recipe as-written using my stand mixer, and refrigerate the dough overnight, and they always turn out amazingly!
You are always my go to when I am looking for a recipe and have been for years! Everything turns out perfectly and tastes great…but these are SERIOUSLY just perfect! So chewy and soft and taste wonderful! No alterations needed. Keep it up girl, you know what you’re doing!
How long would the gingerbread committee okies last for? Would it last for 6 weeks? I find lots of recipes turn soft and not gingerbread like! I am desperate for a recipe for hard crunchy biscuits that keep :)
Just made these and they were great. Perfectly soft and chewy at 8 minutes. Sweet enough that I can be lazy and not ice them. Thank you for posting!
These are the BEST gingerbread cookies. Soft and chewy and year after year I get so many compliments that these are the best! I always have trouble rolling them out between paper so I usually roll them out with a mix of flour and confectioners sugar.
Love this recipe! I dial it up every year. 🎄
I am confused as to how to “process” the butter pieces. Do you have a video of this recipe that I could watch….I’m clearing a visual learner 🤪 I want to make these so bad!!
Hi Joy, Process just means running the food processor. Hope that helps! :) I don’t currently have a video for these cookies.
Hi! This has been my go-to Gingerbread man recipe for years. It’s a huge hit with my family.
This year, I’d like to try this cookie press from Nordic Ware I recently bought (https://www.walmart.com/ip/Nordic-Ware-Starry-Night-Heirloom-Cookie-Stamps-Cast-Aluminum-with-wood-handles-Makes-3-different-styles-3-Round-Cookies/647196179) to make decorative rounds of these cookies instead of the men. Do you think that if I pressed the cookies and then froze them for 15 minutes that the pressed decoration would hold up? Or do you think the cookie would spread too much? I love this recipe so much because in most gingerbread recipes the cookies end up just too hard, but these are nice and soft, so I’d hate to have to alter it a bit to use my cookie press!
Hi Laren, Great idea! I’m honestly not sure. I THINK it should hold the shape okay, but the best way to find out for sure is to just try. I’d love to hear how it works out!
Great recipe; actions were perfect for me and my six-year-old grandson. Thank you merry Christmas
These cookies sound perfect! I am an experienced baker and followed directions (using stand mixer) exactly. The final dough is very dry and crumbly. Similar to what you would ha e when making biscuits. I am letting it rest now but my gut is telling me something is t right. Is it meant to be a sandy dough that doesn’t hold together before you let it rest? Please help!!!
Hi Bob, I actually just made a couple batches of this, and I didn’t find it dry or crumbly any of the times I’ve made it. It should definitely hold together; if you used a stand mixer, I might give it an extra bit of time to let it come together.
These are absolutely the best gingerbread cookies Inhave ever tasted! The recipe is perfect. I did not do the parchment paper. I just mixed the dough as directed and wrapped it in 2 separate balls with plastic wrap and then refrigerated it for 2 hours. Afterward I lightly dusted a board and rolling pin to roll out the dough. It is extremely easy to work with and the extra flour did not disturb the flavor or outcome. They turned out perfect Andy family loves them. This will forever be the recipe Inise for gingerbread cookies. I used the soft and chewy recipe. Simply divine!!! I give it 5 stars because it just can’t be any better.
How many gingerbread men can be made using the exact ingreidents?
Hi Rebecca, The yield is listed above with the recipe, but this will yield about 30 cookies.
I made these cookies this week, and oh my goodness!! They were A HIT at my house. I doubled the recipe and made two batches because they are my favorite kind of cookie, and I needed some to take to a party. The recipe was easy to make, but a little time consuming on the cutting end (but that’s just the nature of this kind of cookie, so it was expected.) The only change I made was to add a 1/4 tsp allspice, which is a much-neglected spice in my opinion. Thank you so much for sharing, these will definitely be made again in the very near future!
Just made these. They turned out great! I might try using the food processor next time. I felt that the dough was a bit stickier than it was supposed to be. They are soft and delicious. I’ll definitely be making these again.
This is the exact same recipe as one posted on another site a year earlier, except for the amt. of butter. Yours calls for 6 oz., and the other one calls for 12 Tablespoons. Which one (more, or less, butter would make a difference in how soft and chewy they are (desirable qualities for me)?
Hi Jane, 12 tablespoons of butter equals 6 ounces, so they are the same exact measurement.
I’m glad to see you’re still answering fairly recent questions on this recipe. I’ve made this recipe twice and both times followed the directions exactly, but had the same issue. Both times they turned out wonderfully, I would just like them to be a little easier and quicker to make. My problem is that, even after freezing for 20 minutes on parchment paper, I can still only cut out 2 or 3 cookies before the dough becomes too sticky to work with again and I have to re-roll and freeze all over again. This ends up like, tripling the time it takes to make them. I’m nearly 2 hours in and have only finished 10 cookies. Do I just need to freeze the dough for longer?
Hi Brittany, Oh no, it definitely should not take that long! I would try chilling longer to see if that helps.
Like another reader, I also found the butter ingredient confusing and misread it to be 6 Tbs. since butter is usually measured in tablespoons. I think it would be more accurate to write 12 Tbs. Such a disappointment that I wasted my ingredients making this recipe.