Soft Gingerbread Cookies
Serves 24
45 mins prep
30 mins cook
30 mins Chill Time
75 mins total
These gingerbread cookies are soft, hold their shape well, and are perfectly spiced. They don’t spread in the oven and are the perfect cookies to make for the holidays. These gingerbread cookies are decorated with a simple buttercream that’s so easy to make and pipe. They’re the perfect cut out cookies to make and decorate with friends and family, and taste so much better than store bought.
Gingerbread Cookies
Buttercream
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Gingerbread Cookies
In a large bowl or stand mixer, combine butter, brown sugar, and salt. Beat until light and creamy, scraping down the sides.
⅕ 1 unsalted butter⅕ 1 brown sugar⅕ ½ sea saltAdd egg, vanilla extract, and molasses. Beat until light and creamy. Scrape down the sides.
⅕ 1 large egg⅕ 1 pure vanilla extract⅕ ½ molassesAdd ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and cardamom (optional) into the same bowl. Beat until combined.
⅕ 1 ginger⅕ 2 cinnamon⅕ ¼ nutmeg⅕ ½ cloves⅕ ½ cardamomSift flour and baking soda right into the same bowl. Fold the flour into the wet ingredients just until it forms a dough and no more dry bits of flour remain. Do not overmix.
⅕ 3 all purpose flour⅕ ½ baking sodaDivide the dough in half. Place one half of the dough on a sheet of parchment paper. Cover with another sheet of parchment paper and roll out until ¼” thick. Do the same with the other half. Place both sheets of dough in parchment paper on top of each other on a baking sheet to keep them flat. Freeze for 30-60 minutes (or overnight) to firm up.
Preheat oven to 355°F (180°C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Take out one sheet of cookie dough. Peel the top layer of parchment paper off. Put it back on without pressing it down, flip the cookie sheet over, and peel the back layer of parchment paper off. This helps make it easier to cut out cookies. The cookie dough should be laying on top of a sheet of parchment paper with nothing on top.
Use a cookie cutter to cut out cookie shapes, keeping them as close to each other as possible. Remove the excess cookie dough around the cookie shapes, set them aside.
Transfer the cut out cookies on parchment lined baking sheets, leaving 1 inch of space in between. If they're not cold anymore, pop the cut cookies back in the freezer for 5 minutes.
Bake for 5-8 minutes or until the tops of the cookies stop being shiny and puff up a bit. Remove from the oven and transfer to cooling racks with a spatula to cool completely.
Repeat with the rest of the cookie dough and reroll the cookie scraps between parchment paper, reusing the parchment paper sheets.
Buttercream
In a large bowl or stand mixer, add butter. Beat with an electric mixer until creamy and lightened in color.
⅕ ½ butterAdd powdered sugar, half a cup at a time, beating well in between each addition. Continue beating well for about 5 minutes, until super
⅕ 1 powdered sugarAdd salt and vanilla extract. Beat well to combine. Add heavy whipping cream and beat well to lighten the texture of the buttercream.
⅕ ⅛ sea salt⅕ ½ pure vanilla extract⅕ 1 heavy whipping creamTransfer buttercream to a piping bag or zippered sandwich bag with the end cut off and pipe designs on top of the gingerbread cookies. I decorated mine with smiles, buttons, and squiggles. I added sparkly sugar on the buttons
