Not sure what led to this cookie decorating itch, but I can’t seem to let it go. It started around Halloween when I attempted to decorate pumpkins and ghosts with royal icing. They came out great, but not fantastic. And then I dropped almost all of them before they dried! I needed to redeem myself for Christmas. And what cookie screams Christmas more than gingerbread cookies?
After watching many YouTube videos on how to make royal icing, I think I made the perfect 15 second icing. When I made the Halloween cookies, the icing was too thick to make borders and too loose to flood. But with patience on my side, I made a 15 second icing that I used to make the borders and flood the cookies. It dried faster than the last time and I hope to make it the same way again!
These gingerbread cookies are phenomenal. They’re not your grandmother’s gingerbread house gingerbread. They are soft and chewy; the kind of cookies you want to keep eating. Although they’re soft, they hold their shape in the oven and are full of the gingerbread flavors you love. They are perfect.
Perfectly soft and chewy Gingerbread Cookies
I made these gingerbread cookies once a year for the last six years. But this year, I noticed something about the directions that I never followed. I always left my butter out to come to room temperature and then just mixed it into the dough. They always came out OK, but a little flimsy. After making pie dough for the first time a few days ago, I learned how to cut cold butter into the dough. You’ll need to do the same here, but with slightly softened dough. This is the secret to holding their shape in the oven.
Note: the cookies will expand in the oven, but let them sit when they come out and will go back. Watch how close you keep the cookies together on the cookie sheet. I always feel like a plastic surgeon trying to separate conjoined gingerbread cookies before they cool when I put them close together when baking.
For decorating, I did a mix of royal icing and tube frosting. Don’t roll your eyes at me food snob, yes, tube frosting. It’s delicious. If you don’t like it, use whatever you like. However, the contrast of Gingerbread cookies and white royal icing is beautiful. I threw in some of the colorful frosting to play around with decorating.
To get a good 15 second icing, the best advice I found is add a 1/4 tsp of water at a time to get the right consistency. Start with 1/2-3/4 tsp of water, stir and add 1/4 tsp as needed. Too watery? Add powdered sugar. I also expect eye-rolls on the next sentence. I used Wilton’s canned royal icing because it’s easier. But if you’re making it from scratch, this advice still works.
Shop the post:
- Pastry blender
- Tube frosting
- Christmas Cookie cutters
- Mini icing bottles (flooding)
- Bottle Couplers (borders)
Lilies and Loafers has affiliate relationships, so we may get a small share of revenue from your purchases. Items are sold by the retailer, not by Lilies and Loafers.
Soft and Chewy Gingerbread Cookies
Ingredients
- 3 cups flour
- 3/4 cup dark brown sugar
- 3/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tbsp ground ginger
- 1/2 tsp ground cloves
- 1 1/2 sticks butter, cut into tablespoon squares and slightly softened, but not room temperature
- 3/4 cup molasses
- 2 tbsp milk
Directions
- Mix flour, dark brown sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves until well combined.
- In a separate bowl, mix molasses and milk until evenly combined. A little whisking will help.
- Drop your butter into the flour mixture and stir them around until they are coated with the dry ingredients. Then, with a pastry blender, fork, or your hands, cut the butter into the flour mixture. You want a fine meal. If you’ve made pie dough from scratch before, you’re looking for the similar consistency.
- Slowly incorporate the molasses mixture into the dry ingredients. Add a 1/4 cup at a time until you get soft cookie dough.
- Ball up the dough and cut it in half.
- Place one half of the dough between two sheets of plastic wrap and roll it out so it’s a 14-inch thick. Place that on a cookie sheet and repeat this step with the other half of dough. Stack the other dough on top of the other cookie sheet.
- Place the cookie sheet in the fridge for at least 2 hours, overnight or until the dough is firm.
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F and line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- Remove one of your firm, rolled dough from the fridge.
- Remove one layer of plastic wrap and then cover it back up. This will prevent sticking when cutting.
- Flip over and remove the other layer of plastic wrap completely. You should still have one layer of plastic wrap on the bottom.
- Cut out your cookies and place them on the cookie sheet.
- If you’re into it, gather your scrap dough and roll out new shapes. Place them in the fridge to firm up.
- Bake the cookies for 8 minutes (longer for larger cookies).
- They won’t be firm when they come out of the oven. Leave them on the cookie rack to continue cooking. Let them cool for 5-10 minutes and move to a cookie rack to cool completely.
- Repeat steps 9-15 with the other firm dough/dough scraps.
- Decorate your cookies when they are fully cool!
Time to decorate these Gingerbread Cookies
To achieve the green-frosted Christmas trees, I used a star attachment on the frosting tube. I started at the bottom and worked my way up. For the lights, I used mini M&Ms and turned them on their side.
For the frosted mittens, the same star attachment. The stark white royal icing is ’15-second’ consistency for both borders and flooding.
Classic Gingerbread people looks. I used tube frosting and a round attachment to get the green and red buttons.
