This classic gingerbread cookie recipe is soft and delicious. While I love crisp gingerbread for a gingerbread house, my preference for cookies is soft and chewy.
This recipe delivers perfect dough for cutout shapes (similar to sugar cookies) with all the cinnamon and spice flavor you love from gingerbread.
Gingerbread cookies are my husband’s favorite cookie, and I make this recipe multiple times each holiday season. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!
Related recipes: Snowball Cookies, Pinwheel Cookies, Peanut Butter Blossoms.

Gingerbread Cookie Ingredients:
- 1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup granulated white sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 tablespoons white vinegar
- 1 cup dark molasses
- 5 cups all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- 1 teaspoon ground cloves

How to Make Gingerbread Cookies:
- Mix the flour, baking soda, salt and all spices. Set mixture aside.
- In your stand mixer bowl, combine butter and sugar and beat until mixture is fully combined—about 3 minutes. Scrape down sides if needed.
- Slowly add the molasses, egg and vinegar until fully combined. It’s normal for the mixture to appear curdled.
- Add the flour mixture slowly, scraping sides as needed. Be sure the bottom and top of your bowl are both fully combined. If the dough is crumbly, it is not fully mixed.
- Divide the dough into 3-5 flattened balls and cover in plastic wrap.
- Chill the dough for at least 30 minutes before rolling. Chilling is an essential step to create cutout shapes with nice edges. If you skip this step, your cookies may lose some shape while baking.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Roll dough using as small amount of flour as necessary. I use parchment paper to roll if my dough is sticky at all. Dough should be about half an inch thick for a nice, soft cookie.
- Place cutout shapes on a parchment lined baking sheet. Gather and re-roll shapes as needed. You do not need to chill your dough again unless it becomes very soft.
- Bake cookies at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Allow cookies to cool on pan for 5 minutes before transferring.
- Decorate your cookies as you like. I used this royal icing recipe. We also have a vegan royal icing recipe.

Tips for Making Gingerbread Cookies:
- If you prefer crispy gingerbread, simply roll the dough thinner (1/4 inch) and bake for 12 minutes instead of 10.
- You can use light or dark molasses, but do not use blackstrap or cooking molasses or your cookies will be bitter. I used the brand Grandma’s Original Molasses, which is easy to find in the U.S.
- Here’s a link to Christmas cookie cutters I used.

More Holiday Recipes:
Other recipes you may like:
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
How long can you keep the dough refrigerated?
While the minimum time to chilling your dough is 30 minutes, there really is no maximum. You can keep your dough in the fridge for up to 3 days with no issues.
Can you freeze this dough?
Yes. This recipe makes a lot of dough, so if you aren’t able to use it within two to three days, freeze it for a future cookie session.

P.S. Love this post? Check out my Gingerbread House Decorating Party.
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Ingredients
- 1 cup salted butter (room temperature)
- 1 cup granulated white sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 tablespoons white vinegar
- 1 cup dark molasses
- 5 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons ginger
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- 1 teaspoon cloves
Instructions
- Mix the flour, baking soda, salt and all spices. Set mixture aside.
- In your stand mixer bowl, combine butter and sugar and beat until mixture is fully combined, about 3 minutes. Scrape down sides if needed.
- Slowly add molasses, egg and vinegar until fully combined. It’s normal for the mixture to appear curdled.
- Add flour mixture slowly, scraping sides as needed. Be sure the bottom and top of your bowl are both fully combined. If the dough is crumbly, it is not fully mixed.
- Divide the dough into 3-5 flattened balls and cover in plastic wrap.
- Chill the dough for at least 30 minutes before rolling. Chilling is an essential step to create cutout shapes with nice edges. If you skip this step your cookies may lose some shape while baking.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Roll dough using as small amount of flour as necessary. I use parchment paper to roll if my dough is sticky at all. Dough should be about half an inch thick for a nice, soft cookie.
- Place cutout shapes on a parchment lined baking sheet. Gather and re-roll shapes as needed. You do not need to chill your dough again unless it becomes very soft.
- Bake cookies at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Allow cookies to cool on pan for 5 minutes before transferring.
- Decorate your cookies as you like. I used this royal icing recipe. We also have a vegan royal icing recipe.
Nutrition
Notice: Nutrition is auto-calculated, using Spoonacular, for your convenience. Where relevant, we recommend using your own nutrition calculations.

Perfect gingerbread cookies for decorating! Love that they are soft in the middle.
Made these over the weekend, and they are the PERFECT texture and full of flavor.
The perfect gingerbread! Just made these and they turned out beautifully.
My 3yo asked me to bake gingerbread cookies, and I knew just where I would be getting the recipe from-ABM! (Remembered to come post this while listening to their xmas cookie pod episode)! This recipe was short, sweet and to the point, which made it super easy to follow. I have to mention I am horrible in the kitchen, but ABM recipes always bring out the chef in me.The cookies came out FANTASTIC. We all really enjoyed them!
If you want to actually eat your gingerbread cookies- this is the recipe. I heard Elsie mention it a few times on the podcast and gave it a try. Very good as is, and if you’re a crazy spicy person, you could add more cloves or maybe even some more ginger to zing it up.
I’ve never made gingerbread cookies (not sure why) but this recipe was amazeballz! I turned them GF DF with King Arthur’s baking flour and increased the Baking soda to 2tsp and Country Crock home style dairy free. I also refrigerated the cut cookies on the tray for 15 mins before popping them in the oven! I’ll decorate tomorrow with my DF buttercream!!! Merry Christmas
I seriously love this recipe, but it makes so much at once. Any tips for freezing the dough?
You can absolutely freeze the dough! It lasts up to 3 mo. I used to give frozen dough as gifts to people with directions so they could have fresh baked cookies whenever they wanted!
Hands-down the best gingerbread recipe ever! Everyone in our house loves these cookies, so much fun to make with the grandkids!
I’ve been making this recipe since 2020. My family, neighbors, and coworkers all agree: these cookies taste like Christmas. Makes a huge batch, so great for sharing.
Made these cookies for the first time this year, and they are so delicious! I used a buttercream frosting and candied ginger on top, and they disappeared in minutes at my office party
I baked these cookies for my preschool’s Holiday party, and they were a big hit! Several families requested the recipe afterwards. The cookies are the perfect balance of sweetness and flavorful spice, and I loved the texture.
A perfect recipe. This made my Christmas! My first successful batch of gingerbread cookies. And it made so many. I had the best stash of cookies to have multiple cookie decorating parties.
These cookies are AMAZING! Simple & scrumptious!
Made this for Christmas and received many compliments! Will definitely be making these every year from now on.
These are really tasty and soft!
This is the first time we’ve ever made gingerbread cookies at home, and this recipe ensured that it wouldn’t be the last. They were soft, perfect amount of spice and made sooo many cookies! A holiday must!
this is a great recipe!! it’s easy to follow and it makes A LOT of cookies!
i hosted some friends for a cookie decorating party and this recipe was perfect!
Made these over the weekend and used a star cookie shape about the size of a silver dollar. Frosted some of them with the Royal Icing Recipe (hint, the meringue powder is on the top shelf of the baking section of the grocery store, not in the spices. When a friendly older man offers to help you find something and then goes on and on about how you don’t need meringue powder because he used to work in a pie shop and its about the humidity and just keep your bowl and your beaters in the freezer and on and on and on, don’t start crying like me just get out your grocery store app and search for it! Anyway….) and left some of them plain. The family loves them. Thanks for the recipe!
(I also couldn’t find my pumpkin pie spice and my cloves were whole instead of crushed so I shook in some allspice and just hoped for the best.)
These taste just like the gingerbread cookies I grew up with! They are so soft and yummy.
I made these this weekend and cut the recipe in half (just used a small egg) and they were perfect! Just enough cookies to decorate with my 4.5 year old son. Will make these again, they are delicious!