I love to bake, but making any sort of cutout cookie can challenge my patience and short attention span! Plus, finding a good gingerbread cookies recipe is a challenge in itself!
However, both my little ones have been sick and Haiden has been requesting gingerbread men cookies for the past several days. Since I'd do my best to give my kids anything they wanted, especially when they're unwell, making cookies doesn't seem like such a chore 🙂
are my favorite. The metal cuts through dough easily, and the “grip” reinforces the shape of the cookie cutter so it doesn't get bent out of shape.I also like using my Nordicware half-sheet pans as cookie sheets. They're sturdy, they heat evenly and they're big–maximizing the amount of cookies I can get into the oven at the same time!
This is my favorite gingerbread cookies recipe. I like that it comes together easily. To be honest, I usually dump all the ingredients but the flour into the bowl of my KitchenAid pro series mixer, cream them together, then slowly add the flour. It makes mixing up the dough a snap!
Gingerbread Cookies Recipe
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1/2 cup butter-flavored shortening
- 1 1/2 cups white sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- 3 tablespoons molasses
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Directions for the Gingerbread Cookies recipe:
- Cream the butter, shortening and the sugar together. Add the egg, vanilla and molasses and mix until well-blended.
- Add the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, ground cloves and salt, mixing until well combined. Use a wooden spoon if your mixer can't handle it.
- Transfer the dough to an airtight container and chill for 2-3 hours.
- Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
- Lightly flour a surface and roll the dough out to 1/4 inch thick. (this is the perfect rolling pin. Seriously.)
- Use cookie cutters to cut out the dough in Gingerbread Men or other shapes
- Place cookies 1″ apart on greased cookie sheets.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes until cookies are light brown along the edges.
Enjoy!
sandy says
December 22, 2011 at 8:52 amis there corn syrup in the recipe? I saw about it in the instructions, but not in the list of ingredients. Thanks, Sandy
Sarah Miles says
December 7, 2015 at 8:16 pmThese were fantastic! My 2 and 4 year old helped to mix the dough, cut the cookies and decorate with various gel icings. And most importantly everyone loved eating them!
Jeannie says
October 20, 2016 at 10:19 pmMary Beth, I notice this recipe has 2 tsp baking soda in it. Does this make the cookie spread and lose shape?
Marybeth Hamilton says
October 24, 2016 at 10:04 pmNot in my experience.
Dawn says
November 20, 2016 at 3:19 pmHow many cookies does this recipe yield?
Mandy says
December 4, 2016 at 3:03 pmI made these last week and we really enjoyed them…these turned out great and I’ve added them to my “to make for Christmas list” 🙂 thanks for such a yummy and easy recipe 🙂
Tia says
November 29, 2017 at 6:50 pmHow many cookies does this recipe yield?
Jennifer says
December 2, 2017 at 9:40 pmThe dough was really dry, not sure if it was the 3 cups or what. Flavor was fantastic!!!! I rolled them thicker because we like chewy cookies. Was soft for a few minutes but then the got crunchy. Was there only supposed to be 3T. Molasses and not like 1/2 cup?!
Kelly says
January 20, 2018 at 10:14 amDo you still have this recipe? I used it around Christmas and now wanted to make again for my kids and it isn’t showing up? If you have it anyway you could post for me?? I’d greatly appreciate it!! 🙂
Kelly says
January 20, 2018 at 10:09 amWhere did the recipe go??? I used this over Christmas and everyone loved them and I wanted to make them again and now the recipe isn’t showing up 🙁 Please help!!!
Lee Ann says
November 9, 2018 at 8:29 pmIs it okay to just use butter flavored vegetable oil as my daughter-in-law is lactose intolerant? These sounds yummy.
Marybeth Hamilton says
November 10, 2018 at 2:46 pmI would use all shortening before using vegetable oil. It’s important for these cookies to keep their shape, and I’m afraid the liquid state of the oil would cause problems.
Emily says
November 12, 2018 at 10:43 amHow many cookies does this yield?
Cori says
November 30, 2018 at 11:29 amI followed the recipe exact and the dough was extremely crumbly. It wouldn’t turn into a dough at all let alone dough to be rolled. I had to throw it all out.
Nicole says
December 10, 2018 at 2:37 pmThe mixture didn’t turn to dough it stayed really crumbly and I may have to throw it out. Help??
Betsy says
December 14, 2018 at 11:55 amCan I make the dough the night before?
Marybeth Hamilton says
December 14, 2018 at 5:08 pmAbsolutely!
Christopher says
December 18, 2018 at 1:19 pmDo the gingerbread men come out soft or are they more of a hard cookie?
Ron Peterson says
December 21, 2018 at 11:12 amMy Wife and I just made your Wonderful Gi overbroad Men ! We made them to give to our friends and family for Christmas and we made some
for Church Christmas Party and everyone just love them and asked us if We would give them the re pie for them . Thank You for sharing this
Recipe with us. You have a very MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY AND WONDERFUL NEW YEAR ! And ” GOD BLESS US EVERYONE “