Soft Gingerbread Cutout Cookies

These classic gingerbread cutout cookies bake up with soft centers, crisp edges, and cozy flavors. Making these cookies is like an essential Christmas ritual that should be accompanied by family and friends and maybe a cheesy Hallmark movie or two! Make this super simple cookie dough ahead of time, then the next day throw on your ugly Christmas sweater and get to baking and decorating! Dip them in chocolate, decorate them with royal icing (recipe below) and sprinkles, or leave plain! 

For more Christmas cookie recipes, try Soft Brown Butter Molasses Cookies, Chocolate Peppermint Crinkle Cookies, and Salted Caramel Linzer Cookies. 

Why you'll love these gingerbread cookies:

• Soft & Chewy Texture: These gingerbread cookies bake up soft & chewy, rather than crisp. Be sure to not roll out the cookie dough too thin!
• Pronounced Molasses Flavor: I don't know about you, but I like my gingerbread cookies to smack you in the face with molasses flavor. So that's exactly what these cookies do. 
• Easy to Decorate: My three ingredient royal icing comes together so quickly and is so easy to use for decorating. It's just right the consistency that it settles into place and hides any imperfections, so don't worry about making them look perfect!

Ingredient Notes

• All-Purpose Flour: You'll need about 1 ¾ cups of all-purpose flour.
• Baking Soda: You'll need ½ teaspoon of baking soda.
• Spices: I used a combination of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, and cloves. 
• Unsalted Butter: You'll need 70g of unsalted butter at room temperature. 
• Dark Brown Sugar: For that classic deep molasses flavor, use dark brown sugar.
• Molasses: You'll need 100g of unsulphured molasses. 
• Egg Yolk: You'll need just one egg yolk. A whole egg would make these cookies too cakey, but one egg yolk gives these cookies the perfect texture.
• Powdered Sugar: You'll need 80g of powdered sugar for the royal icing.
• Meringue Powder: Meringue powder makes the royal icing a perfect pipeable consistency that also sets in just a few minutes. 

See recipe card for full information on ingredients and individual quantities.

Step by Step Instructions

Here are step by step photos and instructions on how to make this gingerbread cutout cookie recipe! For the full ingredient list and method, see the recipe card at the end of this post.

STEP 1: Combine the dry ingredients. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, and spices. Set aside.

STEP 2: Finish the cookie dough. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter for 1 minute until smooth. Add the dark brown sugar and molasses and beat on medium-high speed until just combined. Beat in the egg yolk, vanilla, and milk. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, and mix until just combined. Do not over-mix! Shape dough into a disk and wrap tightly with plastic wrap. Chill for at least three hours or overnight. 

STEP 3: Roll out the cookie dough. Roll out the chilled dough on a lightly floured surface to about ¼" in thickness. Cut out the dough with well-floured cookie cutters, then freeze for at least 15 minutes.

STEP 4: Bake the cookies. Bake the cookies for about 10 minutes or until the edges are golden. Allow cookies to cool completely on the baking sheet.

STEP 5: Make the royal icing. In a small bowl, combine the powdered sugar, meringue powder, and water. Using an electric mixer, beat on high speed for about 1-2 minute until thick.

STEP 6: Decorate! Transfer the icing to a small piping bag with a very small round piping tip. Decorate cookies as desired. 

Expert Baking Tips

• This cookie dough has to chill for at least three hours or overnight for the flavors to fully develop and to make it easier to roll out. 
• Roll out the dough on well-floured parchment paper for easy clean up!
• Before re-rolling cookie dough scraps, be sure to chill it in the fridge for about 15 minutes first. 
• I highly recommend freezing the cutout cookies before baking just to ensure they don't spread when baked!
• When decorating with the royal icing, use a toothpick to round out the eyes and buttons for smooth dots.

All of the recipes on this blog are carefully developed with gram measurements so you can easily recreate them in your own kitchen with success. Volume measurements are extremely inaccurate and leave room for significant errors. Not all measuring cups are made equally, so your one cup of flour will be different from my one cup of flour. By providing precise measurements in grams (aside from minor ingredients, which are given in tsp/tbsp), you can make these recipes accurately and with less cleanup! All you need is this kitchen scale. 

If this still isn't enough to convince you, I have provided volume measurements in the recipe card. If you are interested in understanding the conversions, this is the best conversion chart.

But trust me, once you try baking in grams you'll never turn back!

Happy baking! x