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My favorite Gingerbread People Cookie recipe! These cookies have the perfect balance of spice and sweet, are easy to make, and hold their shape!
The most iconic holiday cookie
So many of my holiday memories involve baking cookies – mixing, rolling, cutting them out, decorating them. And one of the absolute must make cookies of the holiday season is definitely gingerbread people. The last few years, I have hosted a holiday cookie decorating party, so I set out to find the best gingerbread man recipe.
What I love about these gingerbread man cookies
- Sweet but not too sweet – the flavor of the ginger and molasses really shines here and isn’t overpowered by sugar.
- Perfectly spiced – a whole tablespoon of ginger and cinnamon each, plus cloves, allspice and black pepper are what makes the cookies so warmly spiced.
- Holds its shape – gingerbread cookie dough tends to be soft and sticky, but following the instructions to keep this dough chilled will ensure that the cookies hold their shape well.
Ingredients for Gingerbread Man Cookies
- Unsalted Butter – Make sure your butter is softened to room temperature but not overly soft or starting to melt at all. This recipe also adds salt so don’t use salted butter.
- Dark Brown Sugar – dark brown sugar adds to the molasses flavor – light brown sugar will also work.
- Molasses – The essential ingredient for gingerbread people cookies – you really can’t make them without it. Be sure to use unsulphured and NOT blackstrap molasses. I use Brer Rabbit brand.
- Milk – This helps keep the cookies soft and not too dry.
- Spices – Spices are essential for a gingerbread cookie – here we use a whole tablespoon each of ground ginger and cinnamon. Then we add a little ground clove, allspice and a pinch of black pepper.
- All-purpose Flour – Be sure to measure by spooning the flour into the measuring cup and then leveling it off rather than scooping it into the measuring cup.
- Baking soda – gives the cookies a little bit of rise and helps them stay soft.
- Salt – don’t leave this out unless you want bland cookies
How to decorate gingerbread people cookies
Traditionally Royal Icing is used – which is very easy to make if you have meringue powder. You can also make royal icing with egg whites. If you don’t have meringue powder and don’t want to use egg whites, you can also use my Easy Cookie Glaze that I use for sugar cookies.
As with my Easy Cookie Glaze, I recommend using organic powdered sugar here. It tastes significantly better. Read more about why HERE. Do be sure to sift your powdered sugar because organic will tend to clump more.
I prefer the simple white royal icing as it is more traditional looking and also simpler. But it is fun to add some sprinkles for buttons or other flair for your gingerbread people.
Tips for making the best gingerbread man cookies
- Make sure your ingredients are all room temperature. Adding cold ingredients can break the mixture and cause it to curdle.
- Keep this dough cold. As you are working with the dough, keep the rest of the dough in the fridge until you are ready to use it. After filling a cookie sheet, if you are not putting it straight into the oven, put it back in the fridge until you are ready to bake. This dough is soft and can be hard to work with if it gets too warm.
- Roll out the dough BEFORE you chill it. This is a trick I used with my Sugar Cookie recipe and it works so well! Roll the dough between two pieces of parchment paper, then chill. The dough is easier to roll out when it is room temperature and using parchment paper means you don’t need to add additional flour.
Best tools for making gingerbread people cookies
Although you certainly don’t need all of these things to bake these cookies, these items will make your life easier:
- Rolling pin – I like this one because it has guides for rolling dough evenly.
- Parchment paper – necessary for rolling out the cookie dough.
- baking sheet – the is the only baking sheet I use!
- silpat – I always use these when baking cookies.
- whisk – for mixing the icing.
- bowl – for mixing the icing.
- stand mixer or hand mixer – I prefer a stand mixer here, but a hand mixer will work too.
- cookie cutters – these are so cute.
- gel food coloring – gel coloring will work better than liquid coloring here.
- squeeze bottles – I like to use squeeze bottle to cut down on messes when decorating with kids.
- piping bags and piping tips – if you prefer, you can also use piping bags.
- Sprinkles – I used these for the buttons.
More Christmas Cookies you will love!
- Sugar Cookies with Easy Icing
- Cranberry Orange Pecan Shortbread Cookies
- Soft and Chewy Ginger Cookies
- Peanut Butter Chocolate Drizzle Sugar Cookies
- Peanut Butter Blossoms
- Brown Butter Snickerdoodles
Gingerbread People Cookies
Ingredients
- 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup dark brown sugar packed
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- ½ teaspoon allspice
- ½ teaspoon fine ground pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 12 tablespoons unsalted butter softened and at room temperature
- 1/2 cup molasses do not use blackstrap, room temperature
- 2 tablespoons milk room tempurature
Royal Icing
- 3 and 1/2 cups organic powdered sugar
- 2 Tablespoons meringue powder
- 6 Tablespoons water
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, allspice, pepper, and salt until combined, set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, or in a bowl using a hand mixer, cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy.,
- With the mixer on low, slowly add the molasses and milk to the butter and sugar mixture and mix until combined. Turn off mixture and scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl if needed.
- Add the flour mixture and turn the mixer on low, mixing until combined.
- Turn the dough onto a work surface; divide it in half. Place one portion on a sheet of parchment paper, pat it into a disc and cover with another sheet of parchment paper. Roll the dough 1/4 inch thick between the 2 sheets of parchment paper. Leaving the dough sandwiched between the parchment layers, stack on a baking sheet and chill in the refrigerator at least 2 hours or overnight. Alternatively, place in the freezer and freeze until firm, 15 to 20 minutes.
- Adjust the oven racks to the upper and lower middle positions and heat the oven to 325 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silpat.
- Remove 1 dough sheet from the fridge; place on the work surface. Peel off the top parchment sheet and gently lay it back in place. Flip the dough over; peel off and discard second parchment layer. This is important or the dough may stick to the parchment after cutting out shapes.
- Using a cookie cutter, cut the dough into shapes, transferring shapes to prepared baking sheets with a wide metal spatula, spacing them 3/4 inch apart; set the scraps aside. When cookie sheet is full, place in the fridge until you are ready to put it in the oven.
- Repeat with the remaining dough until baking sheets are full. Bake the cookies until set in the centers, 8 to 11 minutes. Cool the cookies on the sheets 2 minutes, then remove the cookies with a wide metal spatula to a wire rack; cool to room temperature.
Make Royal Icing
- Use a fine mesh sieve to sift the powdered sugar and the meringue powder. Add 4 tablespoons of water and mix with a whisk or electric mixer. Add more water, a tablespoon at a time, until desired consistency is reached. Fill pastry bags fitted with tips or plastic squeeze bottles and decorate cooled cookies with icing.
Notes
Keep dough in the fridge when you are not working with it. If it starts to get warm and difficult to work with, pop it in the fridge or freezer for a few minutes to let it chill a bit.
Meringue powder can be hard to find, although you might find it at a craft store or baking supply store. You can also order it online.
If you don’t want to make royal icing, try my Easy Cookie Glaze.
Nutrition
Serving: 1cookie | Calories: 156kcal | Carbohydrates: 24g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 15mg | Sodium: 89mg | Potassium: 137mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 12g | Vitamin A: 179IU | Vitamin C: 0.03mg | Calcium: 30mg | Iron: 1mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Did you like this recipe?Please comment, rate and share! And don’t forget to tag me on Instagram @foxandbriar AND #foxandbriar so I can see what you made!
