Description
Soft Gingerbread Cookies are a delightful holiday treat featuring a perfect balance of warm spices like cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. These cookies are tender, slightly chewy, with a rich molasses flavor and a hint of brown sugar sweetness. Optionally, a simple powdered sugar glaze adds a decorative and tasty finish.
Ingredients
Scale
Dry Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¾ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
Wet Ingredients
- ½ cup butter, softened
- ¾ cup brown sugar, packed
- 3 tablespoons molasses
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Simple Gingerbread Glaze (Optional)
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1–1 ½ tablespoons milk
Instructions
- Mix Dry Ingredients: In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and sea salt. Set aside.
- Cream Butter and Sugar: In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the softened butter and brown sugar for 1-2 minutes until the mixture is light and fluffy.
- Add Wet Ingredients: Beat in the molasses, egg, and vanilla extract for 60-90 seconds until the batter is smooth.
- Combine Ingredients: Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and beat on low speed until fully combined into a dough.
- Chill Dough: Transfer the dough to an airtight container and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or overnight to firm up the dough.
- Preheat Oven: Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Shape Cookies: Use a small cookie scoop to portion 1 ½ to 2 tablespoons of dough and roll into balls. Place them on the prepared baking sheet about 2 inches apart.
- Bake Cookies: Bake in the preheated oven for 11 minutes, or until the tops look just set but not browned.
- Cool Cookies: Let the cookies rest on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Prepare Glaze (Optional): Whisk powdered sugar and 1 tablespoon milk together. Add more milk up to ½ tablespoon as needed to achieve a thick but pourable glaze consistency. Drizzle over cooled cookies and let harden at room temperature or in the refrigerator.
Notes
- Do not over-bake; cookies should be just set and puffed. They will continue to cook slightly on the baking sheet after removing from oven.
- For softer cookies, bake closer to 9 minutes; for firmer but still soft, bake the full 11 minutes.
- Substitute salted butter with unsalted or vegan butter if preferred.
- Dark brown sugar can be used to enhance the molasses flavor.
- Use unsulphured or light molasses instead of blackstrap molasses for best flavor.
- To make gluten-free, substitute all-purpose flour with a gluten-free all-purpose flour blend.
- Ensure your spices (ginger, cinnamon, cloves) are fresh for the best flavor balance.
- Freeze cookie dough balls on a waxed paper-lined baking sheet and transfer to an airtight container to bake later. Let thaw before baking.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 199 kcal
- Sugar: 14 g
- Sodium: 120 mg
- Fat: 8 g
- Saturated Fat: 5 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 3 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 27 g
- Fiber: 1 g
- Protein: 2 g
- Cholesterol: 30 mg
