Soft and chewy cut-out gingerbread men cookies are a classic Christmas cookie recipe. These are easy to make and so fun to decorate with a glossy 4-ingredient icing. Get out your cookie cutters and let the holiday baking begin!
Making gingerbread cookies from scratch is my favorite way to get into the Christmas spirit. They’re easy to prepare, fun to decorate, and deliciously festive! Plus, the whole house smells like holiday spices. Instant Christmas.
This fail-proof recipe makes soft and tender cookies with lightly crisp edges that have no problem holding their shape. Adapted from my popular cut-out sugar cookies, these gingerbread men are guaranteed to stay soft and moist for days with proper storage.
These Gingerbread Men Cookies Are Santa-Approved
- A classic. Gingerbread men are such quintessential Christmas cookies! I’ll show you how to make them with the best cookie dough. These are picture-perfect and hold their shape, ideal for cookie plates.
- Easy to make. The cookie dough does need chilling, but the soft-baked middles and crispy edges once it’s baked are more than worth it!
- The best icing for decorating. Once the cookies are baked and cooled, they’re decorated with a simple homemade icing that comes together in seconds. After it hardens on the cookies, you can add extra icing on top of it to create detailed designs.
Ingredient Notes
These crowd-favorite cookies come together with a super simple list of ingredients. Here are some things to note. Scroll down to the recipe card at the bottom of this post for the full recipe.
- Molasses – A must-have ingredient in gingerbread recipes that adds flavor and keeps the cookies soft and moist.
- Milk – Use whichever milk you have in your fridge (whole milk, 2%, etc.)
- Baking Soda – These cookies use just enough baking soda to help them rise a little without causing them to spread. Check the best-before date so you know it’s not expired.
- Spices – You’ll need ground ginger, ground cinnamon, and nutmeg for that unmistakable gingerbread flavor.
For the Icing
- Powdered Sugar – Used for the icing, you’ll want to sift to remove any clumps.
- Corn Syrup – For that shiny finish
- Clear Vanilla Extract (Optional) – You can substitute this with almond extract or another desired extract if you’d like. Just be sure the extract is clear – otherwise, you’ll lose that bright white icing color.
Let’s Make Gingerbread Men Cookies
In order to achieve the softest cookies, I recommend lining your pan with a silicone baking mat rather than parchment paper. Cookies bake faster on top of parchment paper, and the bottoms tend to crisp up too quickly.
Prepare and Chill the Cookie Dough
- Beat the butter and sugar. Beat the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until the sugar is dissolved and creamy.
- Dissolve the baking soda in milk. This helps kickstart the chemical reaction in the baking soda. Combine the baking soda and milk in a small glass.
- Combine the wet ingredients. Next, add the molasses, milk mixture, vanilla, and egg to the butter and sugar. Beat until all of the ingredients are well incorporated.
- Add the dry ingredients. Combine the remaining dry ingredients in a large bowl and slowly add them to the wet ingredient mixture, beating until the dough forms.
- Chill the dough. Now, form 2 softball-sized balls of dough, flatten them into discs, then wrap each one tightly in plastic wrap. Chill the wrapped dough in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours, but the longer the better.
Make Ahead Tip
If you’d like, you can keep your plastic-wrapped cookie dough in the freezer instead of the refrigerator. The frozen dough should be used within 3 months. Let it thaw overnight in the fridge before you roll it out and bake the cookies.
Roll, Cut, and Bake the Cookies
- Soften the cookie dough. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and let it sit at room temperature for 10 minutes.
- Roll and cut out the cookies. Roll the dough out on a well-floured surface until it’s 1/4-inch thick. Use a cookie cutter to cut out the gingerbread men, then transfer them to a large cookie sheet lined with a silicone baking mat. Brush off excess flour with a pastry brush.
- Bake. Bake the cookies at 350ºF for 8-10 minutes. Remove them from the oven just as the edges start to crisp. In my oven, that’s 9 minutes. The centers of the cookies will still be soft, but baked through. Allow your cookies to cool for several minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
How to Make Icing for Gingerbread Cookies
Leaving your cookies plain is an option, but I think every gingerbread man should have a smiling face! This quick-fix icing is so easy to make, and it adds tons of character to your cookies.
- Mix the ingredients. Combine the sifted powdered sugar, corn syrup, and 2 tablespoons of milk in a bowl and whisk until well combined. The icing will be thickened.
- Add milk to thin it out. Next, add additional milk 1 teaspoon at a time to thin out the icing until it reaches the right consistency.
If you’d like, you can add any gel food coloring of your choice to the icing. I’d recommend Amerigel or Wilton’s Color Right Color System. Avoid using liquid food coloring as it will thin out the icing.
Get the Right Consistency
To test the consistency of your icing, pick up a small amount and drizzle it back into the bowl. The drizzled bit should take 3-4 seconds to reabsorb into the rest of the icing (this means it’ll stay in place when it’s piped onto the cookies). If it’s too thin, add an additional 1/4 cup of powdered sugar.
How to Decorate Gingerbread Men Cookies
You’ll find loads of helpful tips, tricks, and decorating ideas in my tutorials for decorating Christmas cookies, how to use a piping bag, and my guide on how to use piping tips.
- Use a small piping bag and tip. Pipe the icing onto your cooled cookies using a small piping tip or a plastic bag with the corner cut off. I also love using these tipless bags, no piping tip needed. Let the first layer of icing set for several hours before you add any additional icing details on top of it.
- Add any sprinkles before the icing sets. If you’d like to add sprinkles on top of the icing, do so before it sets. Once all of the icing hardens on the cookies, serve or store them as you wish.
Tips for Perfect Cut-Out Cookies
Read over these quick little tips and tricks before your holiday baking begins. They’ll help you make the best soft gingerbread cookies ever!
- Chill, chill, chill. You’ll notice that the dough is quite sticky when it first comes together. Once it sets in the fridge, it will have the same consistency as sugar cookie dough. If you don’t refrigerate it for long enough, you’ll have a harder time rolling it and cutting it out.
- Flour your work surface. In order to transfer the cookie dough from your rolling surface to your baking sheet, you’ll have to flour the surface generally. I also recommend flouring your rolling pin. Any excess flour on the gingerbread men can be brushed off with a pastry brush.
- Smooth out any cracks before baking. Make sure there are no cracks in your gingerbread men before you bake them. If there are cracks in the dough, there will be cracks in the finished cookies. You can see this below.
Storing and Freezing Instructions
- At room temperature. Keep your cookies in an airtight container at room temperature once they have cooled and the icing has set. Place a sheet of parchment or wax paper between layers to prevent sticking. These are best if they’re eaten within 2-3 days of being baked.
- Freeze. You can also store your baked cookies in the freezer if desired. I recommend doing this before you make the icing and decorate them. Frozen cookies will last for up to 3 months and should be thawed out on a wire rack before they’re iced and enjoyed.
More Easy Christmas Cookie Recipes
Gingerbread Men Cookies
- Prep Time: 3 hours
- Cook Time: 9 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours 9 minutes
- Yield: 36
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
These soft and chewy cut-out gingerbread men cookies are easy to make and so fun to decorate with a glossy 4-ingredient icing. Get out your cookie cutters and let the holiday baking begin!
Ingredients
For the Gingerbread Men
- 1/2 cup (113g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup (110g) light brown sugar, packed
- 1/2 cup (118ml) molasses
- 1 large egg
- 2 tablespoons (30ml) milk
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 3/4 cups (385g) all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons (5g) ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon (2.5g) ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
For the Gingerbread Cookie Icing
- 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
- 2 tablespoons +2 teaspoons milk
- 1 tablespoon corn syrup
- ½ teaspoon clear vanilla or almond extract (optional)
Instructions
Make the Cookies
- Beat the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until the sugar is dissolved and creamy.
- In a small glass dish, dissolve the baking soda in the milk.
- Add the molasses, milk mixture, vanilla and egg to the butter mixture. Beat until all of the ingredients are well incorporated.
- Combine the remaining dry ingredients in a large bowl and slowly add them to the wet ingredient mixture, beating until the dough forms.
- Form 2 softball-sized balls of dough, flatten them into discs, then wrap each one tightly in plastic wrap. Chill the wrapped dough in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours, but the longer the better.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a large cookie sheet with a silicone baking mat.
- Remove the dough from the refrigerator and let it sit at room temperature for 10 minutes.
- Roll the dough out on a well-floured surface until it’s 1/4-inch thick. Use a cookie cutter to cut out the gingerbread men, then transfer them to the lined baking sheet. Brush off excess flour with a pastry brush.
- Bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes. Remove them from the oven just as the edges start to crisp. In my oven, that’s 9 minutes. The centers of the cookies will still be soft, but baked through.
- Allow your cookies to cool for several minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Make the Icing
- Combine the sifted powdered sugar, corn syrup and 2 tablespoons of milk in a bowl and whisk until well combined. The icing will be thickened.
- Add additional milk 1 teaspoon at a time to thin out the icing until it reaches your desired consistency. In order for the icing to hold its place on your cookies, it should take 3-4 seconds to flatten on its own surface when you pick some up with the whisk and drizzle it back down into the bowl. If it’s too thin, add an additional 1/4 cup of powdered sugar.
- Pipe the icing onto your cooled cookies using a small piping tip or a plastic bag with the corner cut off. Let the first layer of icing set for several hours before you add any additional icing details on top of it. Once all of the icing hardens on the cookies, serve or store them as you wish.
Notes
- This recipe makes 24-28 cookies, depending on the cookie cutters used. My cookie cutters are 3 1/4” tall.
- To Store: Keep cooled cookies in an airtight container at room temperature once the icing has set. Place parchment or wax paper between layers to prevent sticking and enjoy cookies within 2-3 days.
- To Freeze: Unfrosted cookies can be frozen in an airtight container with wax paper in between layers. Frozen cookies will last for up to 3 months. Thaw them on a wire rack before icing and enjoying.
My grandchildren love the gingerbread man cookies.
I am so happy to hear that! Thank you for sharing my recipe with your family!
Hi I have not made these yet but actually making dough for my nephews wife. the question is can I freeze the dough for about 2 weeks before cutting and baking.? Please let me know . Thank you Cindy
Hi Cindy, yes the dough will freeze well. Double wrap in foil
I have a question on the flour measurement. King Arthur all purpose flour is 120 grams per 1 cup. Your recipe calls for 2 3/4 cups or 385 grams of flour. What is the correct flour measurement?
Hi Mary, great questions. I have always based my recipes on 140g for one cup of flour. Not all flour brands measure the same for 1 cup. But if KAF is 120g, you can go ahead and use their gram measurements and the results will be similar.