Classic Gingerbread Cut Out Cookies

Classic Gingerbread Cut-Out Cookies are soft, spiced, and perfect for decorating. Use the royal icing recipe provided to embellish the cookies and attach candy decors.

If you’ve been searching for an authentic gingerbread recipe that rolls out effortlessly and bakes into soft, smooth cut out cookies ready for decorating, then I’d like to think your search ends here. This classic gingerbread delivers all the spicy warmth and nostalgia of traditional gingerbread with a dough that’s as forgiving as it is flavorful. The unsticky dough helps cookie cutters to stamp out shapes cleanly. It’s so easy to work with. I opted for both jumbo 8-inch gingerbread men and smaller 3-inch cookies. Large or small, this dough bakes up like a dream!

Everyone needs a trusty gingerbread recipe! It has such rich flavor – and history! And while this particular blog post isn’t the place to deep-dive its ancient origins, you can find an interesting article on the subject .

On to the recipe!

Mixing the Dough

Begin with 5 cups of all-purpose flour, just a touch of baking soda for leavening, and salt. Then sift in alllll the spices. This formula is not shy when it comes to seasoning. A hallmark of traditional gingerbread is the blend of warm spices like ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. This recipe uses all of these, creating the deep, aromatic flavor that is classic to gingerbread.

Cream together butter, light brown sugar, and then add the molasses. I used a , which yields an intense flavor and color. A touch of apple cider vinegar is the secret – and a more modern addition – in this recipe for tender cookies. As it reacts with the baking soda to help the dough rise slightly and stay soft. With the vinegar addition to the wet ingredients – the mixture may look curdled – that’s completely normal! Once the flour is incorporated, you’ll have a supple dough that’s easy to handle after chilling. You’ll need to plan for at least 2 hours in the refrigerator for the dough to rest and chill.

Roll the Dough

Roll the dough between sheets of parchment paper for an even, mess-free process. This also removes the need for dusting the dough with flour. Which can leave dusty white marks on the surface of the cookies. For jumbo gingerbread men, to create a dozen bold, centerpiece-worthy cookies. Smaller 3″ cutters are more standard-sized, and your dough will yield nearly 50 cookies! Remember to chill the cut shapes briefly before baking to help them hold their edges.

Bake the Gingerbread Cookies

Bake similar-sized cookies together to ensure even cooking. As for these , I could only fit 1 per quarter sheet pan. I eventually swapped it out for a much larger pan for faster work (and you should, too!). Keep an eye out for a puffed and matte surface. Because that the visual cue for perfectly baked gingerbread. Allow cookies to cool fully before moving on to the fun part. Decorating!

Add a Bow!

Create big festive bows for your gingerbread cookies by filling with red melted candy wafers. Pipe the candy into the mold, ensuring it fills every detail, and tap the mold on your work surface to smooth the surface and remove air bubbles. Once the candy sets in the refrigerator, unmold the bows carefully.

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The mold I used is so pretty, but more than once, the ribbon tails broke off during unmolding. If you look closely, you can see this in the photo. But the good news is, each time the break was so clean, I just stuck it back together with more melted candy. If this happens to you, just use a dab of melted candy to glue the pieces back together seamlessly.

Do Just a Little Piping

Pipe royal icing frills on the hands and feet. Add a happy smile with heart-shaped candies for cheeks and large black confetti sprinkles for eyes. A simple #2 or #3 plain round decorator tip works well for this. See the recipe for links.

Pro Tip: Have your sprinkles and candy decors ready to hand, and decorate each cookie fully before moving on to the next. This ensures the royal icing doesn’t dry before adding embellishments.

Decorate the smaller cookies similarly but scale the features down with smaller confetti for eyes and cheeks, and petite candy bows. You can find the small bow mold I used .

This Classic Gingerbread Cut Out Cookies recipe is a true holiday classic; a heritage recipe that’s perfect for creating soft, spiced cookies that are as pleasant to eat as they are to decorate.

To see the process in action, don’t miss the video tutorial. There you’ll find step-by-step guidance on mixing the dough, baking, and decorating. This is a recipe I hope you’ll love sharing, and you may even pass it down to future generations.

Related Recipe:

Classic Gingerbread Cut-Out Cookies royal icing recipe comes from the .

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