and Chewy Gingerbread Cookies, a tender crumb
These Soft and Chewy Gingerbread Cookies are an especially flavorful way to enjoy the holiday season! Each cookie gives you that familiar gingerbread flavor with a simple vanilla bean glaze brushed over the top.
Reasons You may like These Gingerbread Cookies
The Flavor. This house-made soft and chewy gingerbread cookie recipe uses full-flavor molasses and a combination of spices to give them their familiar gingerbread taste!
The Texture. What you may like about these gingerbread cookies—besides the flavor—is the soft and chewy texture! And when you top it with the simple vanilla bean glaze, you have the best cookie ever!
Straightforward to mix. This soft and chewy gingerbread cookie recipe is straightforward to mix and a fun one to do with family or friends!
And if you love these gingerbread cut-out cookies, be sure to check out my gingerbread whoopie pies, small-batch gingerbread cupcakes, gingerbread cake, and house-made gingerbread houses (not for eating, just enjoying)!
What goes in
- Vegetable Shortening. You can use plain shortening or butter-flavored shortening.
- Unsalted Butter. Room-temperature unsalted butter is best, but you can also use salted butter. Just omit the salt from the method, then.
- Baking Powder and Baking Salt. Leavening agents were added to give the cookies some height and shape.
- Granulated Sugar. Helps give the cookies their sweetness to balance out the flavors from the molasses and spices!
- All-Purpose Flour. Use your favorite all-purpose flour for this method. Mine is from King Arthur Baking.
- Spices. You'll need ground ginger, ground cinnamon, ground cloves, and salt, which gives us that familiar warm gingerbread flavor.
- Egg. Brings all the ingredients together and helps give them their softness.
- Molasses. Full flavor is the best type to use here, which gives these gingerbread cut-out cookies their familiar gingerbread flavor.
- Apple Cider Vinegar. Gives the cookies a little more height and helps to keep them soft and chewy. When added (it's only a tablespoon), I promise you won't notice the taste. You can use white vinegar as a substitute.
How it comes together
Below is a brief outline of how to make soft, chewy gingerbread cookies. Looking for the full detailed recipe? Visit the method card below.
- Cream the butter and shortening together. These should be at room temperature to ensure they blend well with the other ingredients.
- Add in the sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and spices.
- Mix in the egg, molasses, and apple cider vinegar.
- Add in the flour. The cookie dough will be very soft but thick.
- Chill the cookie dough. You can chill it in the bowl or roll it out into two slabs and then chill it. The minimum chill time is 1 hour. If rolling out into slabs, you can chill them in the freezer between sheets of wax paper.
- Cut out the cookies and bake. Space them about 1″-2″ apart on the parchment paper-lined cookie sheet. Bake for 6-8 minutes at 375ºF. Cool the cookies on the cookie sheet for 5-10 minutes before transferring them to a wire cooling rack.
- Top with simple vanilla bean glaze. This is an optional step, but I highly recommend it. They're just so good with the vanilla bean glaze! Allow the glaze gingerbread cut-out cookies to dry completely before storing them in an airtight food container with a slice of bread (to keep them soft longer).
Questions on this bake
Where are your cookie cutters from?I found these on Etsy! They are super cute and were easy to use with this gingerbread cookie dough. Search for 'town theme cookie cutters' over on Etsy. And I haven't used these, but Tovolo also makes a cute set of gingerbread cookie stamps.
Can Use this gingerbread cookie dough to make a gingerbread house?No, this cookie dough would be too soft. Instead, check out my House-made Gingerbread Houses tutorial, which is only meant for creating them, not eating them.
How do you keep gingerbread cookies soft?It's best to keep them in an airtight container with a slice of bread tucked in, which will keep the cookies nice and soft for days.
My gingerbread cut-out cookies look puffy out of the oven.Use a flat spatula to pat them down gently.
Why are my gingerbread cookies dry and crumbly?More than likely, you added too much flour to the cookie dough. Because measuring cups vary in size, it's best to measure your ingredients with a reliable food scale.
- Yield 48 cookies
- Prep 20 minutes
- Cook 8 minutes
- Total 1 hour 28 minutes
- Calories 86
Ingredients
Gingerbread Cookies
- 1/2 cup Vegetable Shortening
- 1/4 cup Unsalted Butter
- 1/2 cup Granulated Sugar
- 1 tsp Ground Ginger
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
- 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
- 1/2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp Ground Cloves
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 1 large Egg
- 1/2 cup Full Flavored Molasses
- 1 tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar, do not use apple cider
- 3 cups All-Purpose Flour
Vanilla Bean Glaze
- 1 cup Sifted Powdered Sugar
- 2 tbsp Milk (any dairy)
- 1/2 tsp Vanilla Bean Paste, or vanilla extract
Method
- In a large bowl, using either your hand mixer or stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the vegetable shortening and unsalted butter on medium-high speed until well blended.
- Add in the granulated sugar, ground ginger, baking powder, baking soda, ground cinnamon, ground cloves, and salt. Then beat in the egg, full-flavored molasses, and apple cider vinegar.
- Add in the all-purpose flour, then stir together on low speed until the cookie dough has come together.
- Divide the cookie dough into two sections, then roll each one out to 1/4" thick between two sheets of lightly floured wax or parchment paper. Transfer each slab of cookie dough (keep the wax paper on top) to a baking sheet (you can stack them on top of one another), then chill in either the refrigerator or the freezer for a minimum of 1 hour. The colder the dough is, the easier it will be to use cookie cutters.
- Adjust the oven to the 2nd level position (just above the center) and preheat your oven to 375ºF.
- Dip your cookie cutters in a little bit of flour, then cut out your cookies placing them 1"-2" apart on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Reroll any leftover scraps of cookie dough.
- Bake them for 6-8 minutes at 375ºF. Let them cool on the baking sheet for 5-10 minutes before transferring them to a wire cooling rack to finish cooling. If the cookies are puffed up when brought out of the oven, gently pat them down with a flat spatula.
Vanilla Bean Glaze
- In a small bowl, whisk together the sifted powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla bean paste until blended. The mixture should be thick but not so thick you can brush it easily onto the cookies.
- Using a silicone brush, brush the vanilla bean glaze on top of each gingerbread cookie. Let them dry completely before storing them in a food container.
Baker notes
For chilling the cookie dough. You can also cover and chill the cookie dough immediately after it's made in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour, then roll it out if you wish.
For adding the glaze. Alternatively, you can dip the cookies into the glaze. Place them on a wire rack with a baking sheet or a paper towel underneath to catch any excess vanilla bean glaze. Let them dry completely before storing them in a food container.
The number of cookies this method yields will depend on your cookie cutter.
Recipe adapted from Better Homes and Gardens.
