Who doesn’t love soft gingerbread cookies? For one, they are adorable. And secondly, they are delicious. This gingerbread cookie recipe is not too sweet, full of spices, and decorated with red hots to give them a punch of flavor.
This recipe is inspired by the many times I went to one of my best friend’s houses at Christmas. Her mom would always make gingerbread cookies with red hots. I loved them so much I had to make my own. (Thanks for the inspo, Mrs. Heskett! 😉 )
Table of Contents (in case you don’t want to read everything!)
- How to make gingerbread men (for beginners)
- Gingerbread FAQs
- Fun history facts about gingerbread
- Soft gingerbread cookies recipe
How to Make Gingerbread Men For Beginners
I’ll be honest. For a while, cut out cookies intimidated me. They were a once a year kind of thing that we did as a family because it was so much work and the dough was finicky.
And then you had to decorate them. I don’t come from a family of artists so decorating cookies was more for comedic effect than beautiful decor. 🤣
So when it came to gingerbread, I wanted to make sure that my recipe was easy to handle and that it would taste delicious, even if it had minimal decorations. (I also was looking out for my fellow artistically challenged friends in this butter cookie recipe.)
Here are some tips for making easy gingerbread:
Chill the dough overnight. This is a game changer. It makes the dough so easy to work with and hold its shape in the oven.
Roll out between parchment paper first. The dough is sticky (because it’s made with molasses) but if you chill it and roll out between parchment paper, it becomes fun to work with.
Lightly flour your surface and cookie cutters. Trust me here. You’ll appreciate it when your cookies easily slip off the cookie cutters and are easy to transfer to the baking sheet.
Add red hots before baking. I tried it both ways. It works either way, but it looks better when add them before so you don’t run the risk of making your gingerbread men look old and wrinkly. 😉
Gingerbread FAQs
Depends on who’s eating the cookies. 🙂 My husband likes them crunchy – more like a gingersnap – so he can dip them in tea. I like soft gingerbread cookies that have a chewy texture. With this recipe you can make both. Just leave them in the oven for a couple extra minutes and viola, crunchy gingerbread cookies.
Store in an air tight container and try to eat them all in about 5 days or so.
Fun History Facts About Gingerbread Cookies
Because I’m a history nerd, I looked up the history of gingerbread and why we decorate gingerbread men and houses.
Decorating gingerbread houses and associating them with Christmas started in Germany in the 16th century. However, they became more popular after Grimm’s fairytale Hansel and Gretel. (Though I do find it odd that we’re building the house of the witch who tried to eat the kids….)
Why we decorate gingerbread men goes back to Queen Elizabeth I. She would have extravagant royal dinners where the baker would decorate the gingerbread men like the guests who were in court.
In America, one of the most famous soft gingerbread recipes was made by George Washington’s mom, Mary Ball Washington. She served them to Marquis de Lafayette in their home in Fredericksburg, Virginia.
Their family recipe was passed down and known as Gingerbread Lafayette. (This story is my favorite because I went to the University of Mary Washington for undergrad. ❤️ And now I can’t stop singing “Lafayette” from Hamilton.)
If you’re looking for more Christmas cookie ideas, check out all my favorite Christmas cookie recipes.
Soft Gingerbread Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 stick butter (1/2 cup)
- 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
- 1/2 cup molasses
- 1 egg
- 1 1/4 tsp vanilla
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 1/2 tsp ginger
- 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp allspice
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1/8 tsp cloves
- red hots
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add egg, vanilla, and molasses. Mix until combined. It will look separated at this stage, and that is okay.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, and spices.
- Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix together well.
- Divide the dough in half into two discs, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill for 3 hours or overnight.
- Once chilled, roll out the dough to 1/2 in thick. Cut out cookies.
- Bake at 350 °F for 7-8 minutes until just golden brown.
Notes
Last Updated on December 29, 2022 by Kari Bakes
