Gingerbread Nutcracker Cookies
Serves 24
30 mins prep
30 mins cook
30 mins Chill Time
60 mins total
These gingerbread nutcracker cookies are spiced, soft, chewy, and shaped like cute little nutcracker soldiers. They hold their shape well and don't spread in the oven. They're decorated with a simple and easy royal icing. Or, you could use pre-made store-bought cookie icing if you prefer for a shortcut. They're the perfect festive cut out gingerbread cookies to make and decorate with friends and family during the holidays. I made these gingerbread cookies for my 2025 nutcracker themed holiday cookie boxes.
Gingerbread Cookie Dough
Royal Icing
Gingerbread Cookie Dough
In a large bowl or stand mixer, combine butter, brown sugar, and salt. Beat until light and creamy, scraping down the sides.
cup unsalted butter
cup brown sugar
tsp sea salt
Add egg, vanilla extract, and molasses. Beat until light and creamy. Scrape down the sides.
large egg
tbsp pure vanilla extract
cup molasses
Add ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and cardamom (optional) into the same bowl. Beat until combined.
tbsp ginger
tsp cinnamon
tsp nutmeg
tsp cloves
tsp cardamom
Sift 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.
cup all purpose flour
tsp baking soda
Divide 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.
Royal Icing
Add the powdered sugar and meringue powder into a large bowl or stand mixer with a whisk attachment.
cup powdered sugar
tbsp meringue powder
Add water and vanilla extract to the powdered sugar. Start on low speed to prevent an icing cloud, and increase the speed until high speed for 2 minutes.
tbsp water
tsp pure vanilla extract
When you lift up the whisk, the icing drizzle should disappear into the bowl in 6-8 seconds. If the icing is too thin, whip for another minute (the longer you whip the thicker it gets), and if that doesn't work, add more icing sugar. If the icing is too thick, add a tablespoon of water at a time, mixing to get the correct consistency.
Transfer the icing into a piping bag with the tip cut off. You can reserve any leftover royal icing in a freezer safe bag and freeze for up to two months. Defrost and re-whip before using.
Pipe outlines on the cookies, waistcoat button lines, and any designs that you like! Lay the cookies out in a single layer for a few hours or overnight to let the icing set before storing them in airtight containers or bags.