These gingerbread cookies are incredibly soft, flavorful, and packed with spices like cinnamon, cloves, and ginger. Plus, they’re perfectly dense and taste great even without any icing on top!
Table of Contents
These gingerbread cookies are great even without icing, softer than other gingerbread cookies for the perfect bite every time. They’re a must-try for anyone who loves the classic gingerbread flavor in a cookie that’s not too hard or too soft.
If you’re a fan of gingerbread cookies, you’ll also love my recipes for ginger snap cookies and vintage molasses cookies. They all share that wonderful spicy-sweet flavor that’s perfect for the holidays.
I tested this recipe over and over until I found the perfect spiced flavor and texture. This family favorite will not disappoint!
Why I Love This Recipe
- Not Your Typical Gingerbread: This recipe does not produce your typical snappy crunch gingerbread that makes for sturdy walls in a decorated house.
- Perfectly Soft: Instead, they are slightly crunchy on the outside and soft and moist on the inside – just as I prefer a cookie to be.
- No Butter Needed: This recipe doesn’t require any butter or shortening. Instead, it uses a unique combination of canola oil and blackstrap molasses for a healthier option without sacrificing flavor.
- Family Favorite: These gingerbread cookies have the perfect amount of spice without being overpoweringly gingery. My kids love them, and they’re a hit with the whole family!
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Key Ingredients
- Canola Oil: This will be used as the main fat in our recipe, providing a moist and tender texture to our gingerbread cookies. The unique blending of canola oil and blackstrap molasses is what makes our cookies stand out.
- Blackstrap Molasses: It will add a rich, robust flavor and a deep, dark color to our gingerbread cookies. Its unique flavor is not overpoweringly sweet, which pairs perfectly with the icing.
- Dark Brown Sugar: This will sweeten our cookies and also add a hint of molasses flavor, complement the blackstrap molasses, and keep the cookies moist.
- Eggs: They will act as a binding agent in our recipe, holding all the ingredients together, and also add a bit of structure to the cookies.
- All-Purpose Flour: This is the base of our cookie dough, providing the structure for our cookies.
- Ground Cinnamon, Ground Ginger, Ground Cloves: These spices will give our gingerbread cookies their signature warm, cozy flavor. The spice is there, but not overpoweringly strong, making them perfect for kids.
- Salt: It will enhance the flavors of the other ingredients in our recipe, making the cookies more flavorful overall.
Equipment
- Mixer: You’ll need a stand mixer or a handheld mixer to blend the oil, molasses, brown sugar, and eggs, as well as to incorporate the flour mixture into the wet ingredients.
- Rolling Pin: This is essential for rolling out the gingerbread cookie dough to a 1/4 inch thickness before using cookie cutters to cut out your shapes.
- Cookie Cutters: These are used to cut the gingerbread cookie dough into your desired shapes before baking.
How to Make Gingerbread Cookies
Preparation
First, gather all your ingredients and make sure they are at room temperature. This will help them combine more easily and evenly.
Step 1 – Prepare the Dry Ingredients
Start by whisk together the flour, ground ginger, ground cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. Once they are well combined, set this dry mixture aside.
Step 2 – Mix the Wet Ingredients
In a separate bowl, using a hand mixer, combine the vegetable oil, molasses, and brown sugar. Once these are mixed, add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
Step 3 – Combine the Ingredients
Now, slowly add the dry flour mixture to the wet ingredients in the mixer bowl. To make this easier, add the flour mixture one cup at a time. The dough will be quite sticky at this stage.
Step 4 – Kneading the Dough
Flour a clean, flat surface and your hands. Turn the sticky dough out onto the floured surface and knead it, adding more flour as needed, until the dough is no longer sticky.
Step 5 – Chill the Dough
Once the dough reaches the right consistency, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate it. It’s best to leave the dough in the refrigerator overnight, but it should be chilled for at least 3 hours.
Step 6 – Preheat the Oven and Roll the Dough
After the dough has chilled, preheat your oven to 350˚ F. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to a 1/4 inch thickness.
Step 7 – Cut the Cookies
Use cookie cutters to cut the rolled-out dough into your desired shapes. Place the cut cookies on ungreased baking sheets.
Step 8 – Bake the Cookies
Place the baking sheets in the preheated oven and bake the cookies for 8 minutes. You’ll know they’re ready when they just start to crack.
Step 9 – Cool and Serve
After baking, let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for 2 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely. Once cooled, the cookies are ready to serve. Enjoy your delicious, homemade gingerbread cookies!
Expert Tip
To ensure your gingerbread cookies have the perfect texture, don’t skip the step of refrigerating the dough. Chilling it for at least 3 hours (or, even better, overnight) allows the flavors to develop and makes the dough easier to handle when it’s time to roll and cut out your cookies.
How to Make Gingerbread Cookies Video
Recipe Variations
- Icing: Instead of just dusting with powdered sugar, you can also try spreading or decorating with vanilla icing after the cookies have cooled.
- Thicker Cookies: If you prefer your gingerbread cookies on the thicker side, roll out the dough to 1/2 inch thickness instead of 1/4 inch.
What to Serve With
- These gingerbread cookies are a classic holiday treat and are perfect for serving at festive gatherings. You can serve them with a glass of cold milk for a delicious afternoon snack.
- If you’re hosting a holiday party, you can also include these cookies in your dessert spread. They pair well with a hot cup of coffee or tea.
- These gingerbread cookies also make a great homemade gift. You can package them in a decorative tin or box and give them to your friends and family.
Make Ahead Instructions
Preparing and freezing the dough is an easy way to prep ahead. You can pop the dough in a freezer bag and store it in the freezer for up to 3 months. Allow it to thaw completely before rolling, cutting, and baking.
Recipe FAQs
Using blackstrap molasses gives a more robust flavor to the cookies. Because it is more concentrated, I suggest using it for this recipe to bring out the bold flavors.
If your dough is not fully chilled, it can alter your finished product. For this recipe, we recommend chilling for at least 3 hours, but overnight is best.
The cookies need to be cool before adding any icing. If it’s added when the cookie is warm, the icing will melt, and you won’t have those nice tight white lines on your gingerbread men if you choose to add icing.
Storing and Reheating
- Storing: After baking, let the gingerbread cookies cool completely. Store them in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 wees.
- Freezing: You can also freeze the dough. After you cut out the cookies, place them on a baking sheet and freeze until solid. Then transfer them to a freezer bag or airtightly sealed container. They can be frozen for up to 3 months.
- Thaw: When you’re ready to bake, simply let the dough thaw in the refrigerator. Once it’s completely thawed, roll and cut the cookies as usual.
More Cookie Recipes You’ll Enjoy
Serving Size
- What to Expect: This gingerbread cookie recipe yields about 2 dozen deliciously spiced cookies.
- How to Scale: If you want to make more than 2 dozen cookies, you can double the recipe. Just make sure your mixing bowl is large enough to accommodate the increased volume of ingredients. Follow the rest of the instructions as directed, and you’ll have twice the number of tasty gingerbread cookies.
The Best Gingerbread Cookies Recipe
Video
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup canola oil
- 1/4 cup blackstrap molasses
- 1 cup dark brown sugar or light brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Whisk together the flour, spices, soda and salt. Set aside.
- Using a mixer, mix the oil, molasses and brown sugar together. Then, using the same wet bowl, mix in the eggs, one at a time.
- Next, slowly stir in your bowl of the flour mixture into the mixer bowl of wet ingredients. Add one cup at a time to make it easy for you.
- The dough will still be quite sticky. Place the dough onto a heavily floured surface and with floured hands, work in more flour with your hands until the dough is no longer sticky.
- Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours but it’s best to leave in refrigerator overnight.
- Preheat oven to 350˚ F. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough 1/4 inch thick and cut out! Bake for 8 minutes on ungreased cookie sheets until just starting to crack. Let cool for 2 minutes before removing from cookie sheet.
Notes
Nutrition
This recipe was originally published in 2015. It has been updated with more detailed instructions and more clear pictures. The recipe remains the same.
The recipe was easy to follow. The cookies look great but I found them to be quite sweet.
Thanks for trying them! You can always use less sugar next time. Sweetness level is always subjective 🙂
This recipe was absolutely perfect! Perfect flavor and texture! Definitely a keeper! Thank you!
Yay! Glad you liked it, Caitlin! 🙂
Yay! It’s one of our favorites as well.
Lovely recipe! We have some dietary restrictions in my family and I’ve been on the hunt for healthier yet yummy Christmas cookie ideas–so the no-butter aspect really appealed to me with this one. I did two tweaks with my batch: 1/ Instead of all canola oil, I used 50% canola and 50% good-quality olive oil with a mild flavor to increase omega3 content and 2/ I wanted a nice spicy flavor so I added an extra tsp of cinnamon and ginger plus an extra 1/2 tsp of cloves. (I also just formed the dough into logs and sliced cookies instead of using cookie cutters but just because I was running out of time.) I took the cookies out of the oven just as they started to crackle and added just a dusting of icing sugar when they cooled. The texture was just so good and the flavors came together nicely…will definitely bake these again.
Fellow pastor’s wife here! I tried these wondering how they would turn out with the canola oil. They are perfect!
The dough was really nice to work with after being in the fridge overnight. It’s going in my permanent Christmas notebook for regular use! Thank you.
Scrumptious!
Hi there ! They look delicious, can they be frozen once baked? I want to store them in the freezer for couple weeks so that going to be ok? Thank you!
Hi Caitlin!
They sure can! If you’re going to frost or dust them with powdered sugar, I recommend freezing them naked and letting them come to room temperature before decorating. Enjoy!
I discovered your recipe 2 years ago- delicious!!
So glad you enjoy the recipe, Robin! 🙂
These are delicious and relatively healthy…I love that no butter is needed
These are now my go to Gingerbread cookies!
Thank you for the feedback, Lori! So glad you like the recipe 🙂
What do you mean by “cracked”?
Hi Sofia!
Basically, when the dough is cooked through, you will see tiny cracks on top of the cookie.
Can the dough be frozen to use later?
Hi Sara!
I have never frozen the dough, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work like any other dough. Make sure to thaw it out well before rolling 🙂