A classic, well-loved recipe for Gingerbread Men Cookies creates the most adorable and delicious smiling holiday treats. These perfectly spiced cut-out cookies are simple to make and fun to decorate with an easy 2-ingredient cookie icing.
Almost too cute to eat!
Do you ever feel a little bad about biting into a gingerbread man cookie? I sometimes do! It’s weird, because I know they’re just cookies, but they take on a whole cute personality when they’re decorated and dressed in red and green sprinkles.
In any case, I’m working on getting over that, because these gingerbread people cookies are SO good. A blend of cinnamon, cloves, and ginger adds the perfect amount of spice to these soft, chewy cookies sweetened with rich molasses. They taste exactly like Christmas cookies should – Warm, bright, and magical.
The dough for these cookies can be made ahead of time, up to a day in the fridge or longer in the freezer, so they’ll fit into your holiday baking plans wherever you need them to.
Ingredient Notes
Complete list of ingredients and amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
- Flour, Baking Soda, and Salt: Baking soda gives the cookies some lift in the oven and is somewhat responsible for their light, chewy texture.
- Spices: Ground cinnamon, ground ginger, and ground clove give these cookies the best flavor. Other recipes call for nutmeg and allspice, too, but I find that using all of the spices can be a bit overpowering.
- Butter: Use unsalted butter for baking, and be sure to let the butter soften at room temperature before you start mixing. This will ensure that the butter and sugars can be well mixed together.
- Dark Brown Sugar: The darker the better when it comes to gingerbread. Light brown sugar will work here, but the flavor isn’t as intense. Cookies made with brown sugar stay softer than those made with granulated sugar.
- Molasses: This adds even more deep, rich sweetness. The dark molasses is also responsible for the dark brown color of gingerbread men cookies.
- Egg: Let the egg come to room temperature along with the butter so that it blends seamlessly into the gingerbread cookie dough.
- White Vinegar: Just a tablespoon of vinegar is the key to keeping these cookies soft and tender. Vinegar is acidic, so it tenderizes the gluten in the flour. You won’t taste any vinegar in the final product, I promise!
- Easy Cookie Icing: Why fuss with royal icing or buttercream when you can make the icing for gingerbread men with just powdered sugar and milk (or cream)? We are only using the icing for some small details, so it doesn’t need to be difficult.
Tip!
Use holiday sprinkles to add fun details like shirt buttons, bow ties, and hairpieces to each gingerbread person.
Cookie Baking Tips
- Chill the Dough: This cookie dough will not be easy to roll if you don’t allow it to chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours. If you need to, let it chill overnight. Cookies baked with unchilled dough will also spread way too much, and can lose their shape.
- Be Smart with Cut-Outs: The texture of the cookies will be best if the dough hasn’t been re-rolled more than one time. So, try to fit as many gingerbread man shapes on the sheet of dough as you can the first time!
- Decorate! I think less is more when it comes to decorating gingerbread men. Use the white icing sparingly to make outlines, the idea of pants or shirts, buttons, and of course, smiley faces, while letting the color of the gingerbread show through. For neat lines, use a small round piping tip and a piping bag.
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Gingerbread Men Cookies
Equipment
- Mixing Bowls
- Stand mixer or hand mixer
- Plastic wrap
- Cookie Sheets
- Parchment paper or silicone mats
- Cooling rack
- Piping bag with small round tip
Ingredients
Cookies
- ½ cup (113 g) salted butter
- ⅔ cup (147 g) dark brown sugar, packed
- 1 large egg
- ½ cup (170 g) molasses
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar
- 3 cups (375 g) all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground clove
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- Sprinkles for decorating – optional
Icing
- 2 cups (240 g) powdered sugar
- 1 ½ tablespoons (22.5 ml) half and half or whole milk
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, cinnamon, ground ginger, clove, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In a large bowl or in the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and dark brown sugar until combined.
- Mix in the egg until light and fluffy, then add the molasses and mix again until light in color.
- Blend in the white vinegar until incorporated.
- Add the dry ingredients and mix until a smooth dough forms, with no dry spots remaining.
- Place the dough in the center of plastic wrap, wrap it completely, and press it into a disk.
- Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or chill overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) or 160°C fan oven. Line three cookie sheets with parchment paper or a silicone mat and set aside.
- Lightly flour a clean surface. Unwrap the dough, dust the top with flour, and roll the dough to a thickness of ¼ inch.
- Cut out cookies with a gingerbread man cutter and place them on the prepared cookie sheets about 2 inches apart.
- Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until set.
- Cool on the sheet briefly, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.
- In a small bowl, stir the powdered sugar with the half-and-half until smooth. Adjust with a tiny amount of liquid or powdered sugar if needed.
- Transfer the icing to a piping bag fitted with a small round tip and decorate the cooled cookies.
Notes:
- Chill the dough for at least 4 hours, or overnight. Before chilling, the dough will seem sticky, but it will be much easier to handle once it’s cold.
- Storing: Keep these in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week. Separate layers with parchment paper to avoid messing up the icing. You can also freeze these for up to 3 months.
- Try other shapes. This dough can be cut into any shape you like using your favorite cookie cutters.
Nutrition Information
This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.
© Little Sunny Kitchen
The Christmas Cookies I’m Making This Year
I have lots of holiday cookie recipes to choose from, but I still love to create something new and exciting each year. This year, it’s these gingerbread men cookies, plus jam thumbprints and stained glass cookies. I just love how colorful these boxes turned out!
Christmas cookies make excellent gifts, so there’s every reason to keep baking all December long!
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