These Iced Gingerbread Cookies are an old fashioned holiday recipe that’ll soothe the soul. They’re perfectly spiced, soft but chewy, and simply decorated.
For more gingerbread goodness, try my Gingerbread Pie Dip!
Decorating cookies is my all-time favorite thing to do during the holidays! And these Iced Gingerbread Cookies have been a tradition for my family for years. They always surprise me with their flavor and texture… soft, spicy with a strong note of molasses, and chewy of course.
These cookies are a fun activity for adults and children alike. They store well and are great for gifting at the holidays. There is really nothing better and most people expect sugar cookies, so these are a pleasant change with the same ole same ole.
Iced Gingerbread Cookies Ingredients
Here’s everything you will need to make these gingerbread men and a few important notes too. Keep reading!
- All-Purpose Flour: I use unbleached, all-purpose flour. This recipe has not been tested with gluten free flour. Just make sure you are using the scoop and level method when measuring your flour out.
- Baking Soda
- Salt
- Gingerbread Spices: You’ll need ground ginger, ground cinnamon, ground allspice, and ground cloves.
- Unsalted Butter: Make sure it’s brought to room temperature and cut into chunks. If you use salted butter, omit the added salt above.
- Brown Sugar: Feel free to use light or dark. I prefer light because this recipe has enough molasses in it to get flavor from.
- Molasses: You’ll want to use dark, unsulphured molasses and NOT blackstrap. Blackstrap molasses acts differently and will alter the texture and taste of your cookies.
- Egg: Also brought to room temperature.
- Vanilla Extract
- Icing: You’ll need powdered sugar (confectioner’s sugar), warm water, corn syrup, and gel food coloring (if you want colored icing).
You’ll also want to grab your hand-mixer or stand-mixer, cookie sheets lined with parchment paper, a heavy rolling pin, and a gingerbread cookie cutter(s). To ice your cookies like I did, you’ll need piping bags, and small round piping tips (#2, #3, and #4).
How to Make Iced Gingerbread Cookies
1. Make and chill the gingerbread cookie dough. Cream together the unsalted butter and sugars. Add the molasses, egg, and vanilla extract. Fold in the dry ingredients. Form the cookie dough into a disk, wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate.
2. Roll out, cut, and bake the gingerbread cookies. On a lightly floured work surface roll out the gingerbread cookie dough to no less than a 1/4 inch thick. Cut out gingerbread men with cookie cutters and transfer to baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake for 9 to 12 minutes (depending on the size).
3. Whip up the icing and color it. In a small bowl whisk together the powdered sugar and warm water, then the corn syrup. Keep some of it white and color the rest with green and red. Place each individual icing in a disposable piping bag with small round tips.
4. Ice your gingerbread cookies as desired or like mine! You can even frost them using a butter knife, keep them plain, or dust your cookies with powdered sugar.
Elizabeth’s Cookie Decorating Tips
I absolutely love decorating elaborately iced cookies and I have a few tips to making it easier. Don’t forget, piping bags and small round piping tips will give you the most control when you’re designing your gingerbread men.
Colors too bright and saturated? Use a little black gel food coloring! This is my favorite hack for getting deep and beautiful colors. I just dip my toothpick into the black food coloring and add a very small amount to the icing.
Grab a toothpick to smooth out the icing. Sometimes when you’re piping designs they can get air bubbles or pointy dots. Just lightly poke those with your toothpick and it will immediately smooth them out.
Give the icing time to dry. This recipe uses a simple royal icing that will dry hard but be soft when you bite it (because of the corn syrup). But it needs between 6 and 24 hours to dry depending on the humidity in your home and how thick the icing is on your cookie. Allowing it the time to dry means you’ll be able to handle them without ruining your designs.
Storing & Freezing Information
Once the icing on your gingerbread cookies have dried and hardened you will want to store them in an airtight container with waxed paper between the layers of cookies. You can also store them in a sealable plastic bag if you are not concerned with them potentially getting damaged.
At room temperature your cookies are best to eat within 7 days, in the refrigerator 10 days, and in the freezer 3 months.
Please note refrigerated gingerbread cookies tend to dry out faster because of the cool, dry air. If I want my cookies to last longer than 7 days I prefer freezing them. Then when I want to serve or eat them, I set the cookies at room temperature for an hour or so.
Gifting & Serving Tips for the Holidays
I LOVE gifting these Iced Gingerbread Cookies during the holidays because most people I talk to have never had homemade gingerbread before.
The easiest way to do this is by placing them in a tin container and in a single layer (with waxed paper in between each layer). I do not recommend putting other types of cookies in the container with them because the spices are strong and will make your other goodies taste like gingerbread.
If you need to put multiple flavored cookies in one box, I recommend heat sealing the gingerbread men in cellophane baggies. This is also a great option for gifting one or two gingerbread cookies at a time. And just so you know, heat sealing cookies in cellophane increases the room temperature storage time to up to 1 month!
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ’s)
More Holiday Recipes You Might Enjoy
- Peppermint Mocha Cookies
- Christmas Sugar Cookie Bars – in the shape of Christmas trees and snowy squares
- Peanut Clusters – Mom’s slow cooker recipe
- Vanilla Crinkle Cookies
- Cranberry Pistachio Shortbread Cookies
- Snowball Cookies – shaped like snowmen
- Coconut Rice Krispie Treats
- Cranberry Pie Dip
- 30 minute No Chill Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Edible Sugar Cookie Dough
- Browse all of my Christmas recipes!
Iced Gingerbread Cookies
EQUIPMENT
- 2 baking sheet - light colored metal, lined with parchment paper
- 2 wire cooling rack
- Rolling Pin - heavy marble
- piping bag - disposable, 12 inch
- piping tip - #2, #3, #4
- gingerbread cookie cutters - I used a large and small
INGREDIENTS
- 3 ½ cups all-purpose flour - measured using spoon and level method
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon ground ginger
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground allspice
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- 10 tablespoon unsalted butter - softened to room temperature and cubed
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ⅔ cup molasses
- 1 egg - room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
FOR THE ICING
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar - confectioner's sugar
- 2 – 2 ½ tablespoons warm water
- 1 teaspoon light corn syrup
- gel food coloring - green and red
INSTRUCTIONS
- In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, baking soda, salt, ground ginger, ground cinnamon, ground allspice, and ground cloves. Set aside.
- Cream together the unsalted butter, light brown sugar, and granulated sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 to 4 minutes.
- Add the molasses, egg, vanilla extract, and combine, about 1 to 2 minutes.
- Add the dry ingredients from step 1 and combine until all of the flour has absorbed, about 1 to 2 minutes.
- Form the gingerbread cookie dough into a 2 inch thick disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 3 to 4 hours or overnight.
- Preheat oven to 350 °F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- On a lightly floured work surface roll out the dough between ¼ inch and ½ inch thick. ELIZABETH'S NOTE: If the dough is hard to roll out, cracking, or tearing, wait 5 minutes for it to warm up a bit and try again.
- Using a lightly floured cookie cutter, cut gingerbread men and transfer to baking sheet. Keep the cookies 1 to 2 inches apart.
- Bake for 9 to 12 minutes – 9 minutes for 2 inch cookies, 10 minutes for 3 inch cookies, 11 minutes for 4 inch cookies, and 12 minutes for 5 inch cookies. ELIZABETH'S NOTE: These baking guidelines are for dough rolled to ¼ inch to ½ inch thickness.
- Remove gingerbread cookies from the oven and allow them to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Form cookie dough scraps into a flat disk, wrap with plastic wrap, and freeze for 15 minutes. Re-roll the cookie dough, cut out gingerbread men, transfer to a baking sheet, bake and cool (as directed above). Continue this process until all the cookie dough is gone.
- In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar and warm water until smooth. Slowly add the corn syrup and continue to whisk until it is fully incorporated. This is the consistency I used to pipe what is seen in the photos.ELIZABETH'S NOTE: For a thinner consistency add warm water 1 teaspoon at a time. Add powdered sugar 1 tablespoon at a time for a thicker consistency.
- Place half of the white icing in a piping bag with a small round tip. Divide the remaining icing equally between two small bowls.
- In the first bowl, add 1 drop of red gel food coloring and combine. Place the icing in a piping bag with a small round tip.
- In the second bowl, add 1 drop of green gel food coloring and combine. Place the icing in a piping bag with a small round tip.
- Ice the gingerbread men like mine, or as desired. ELIZABETH'S NOTE: Use a toothpick to work out air bubbles or bumps in the icing.
- Allow the icing to harden before storing and serving.
RECIPE NOTES
STORING INFORMATION
- Room temperature, in an airtight container or sealable plastic bag, for up to 5 days.
- Refrigerated, in an airtight container or sealable plastic bag, for up to 1 week.
- Frozen, in an airtight container or freezer-safe bag, for up to 3 months.
- Heat sealed individual cookies in cellophane last up to 2 weeks.
Metric conversions are calculated automatically. I cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.
