These delicious Gingerbread Cookies are soft and chewy, loaded with cozy spices and molasses, and hold their shape perfectly when baked-no chilling required. The perfect gingerbread cookie recipe for making gingerbread men and other festive shapes for your Christmas goodie tray, cookie exchanges, and holiday gifts.
For more classic Christmas cookies, try No Spread Cut Out Sugar Cookies with Buttercream Frosting That Hardens or Chocolate Chip Cut Out Cookies.
❤️You're Going to Love These
- Soft, chewy gingerbread cookies with the perfect combination of cozy spices
- No chill dough, so you can bake right away
- Rolls easily (not too sticky) and cuts cleanly for sharp cutouts
- Perfect dough for making gingerbread people
- Great plain or decorated with simple gingerbread cookie icing
These soft, tender, no-chill gingerbread cookies are made with dark brown sugar, molasses, warm gingerbread spices, plus two secret ingredients that make them taste like Christmas. The dough is easy to handle (not too sticky!), rolls out easily, and bakes into soft, puffy cookies that hold their shape without chilling, so you can roll, cut, and bake right away.
Enjoy them this holiday season, plain or frosted with this gingerbread icing recipe, stackable sugar cookie icing, or crusting buttercream.
🍪Ingredients
See recipe card at the bottom of the post for the full list of ingredients and exact amounts.
- Unsalted butter. Use room temperature butter that is cool to the touch, neither cold nor soft and squishy. If using salted butter, reduce salt to ¼ teaspoon.
- Dark brown sugar. Dark brown sugar has a rich molasses flavor. Light brown sugar will also work, the cookies may be lighter in color with less intense flavor.
- Egg. Let the egg sit at room temperature so the dough mixes smoothly and easily.
- Spices. Ginger, cinnamon, allspice, and cloves give that classic gingerbread flavor. Adjust to taste.
- Molasses. I use Grandma's unsulphured molasses for the best flavor. Do not use blackstrap molasses.
- Cookie cutters. The dough holds its shape even with intricate cookie cutters. Here are links to cookie cutters for gingerbread snowflakes, mittens, hats, Christmas trees, gingerbread men, and gingerbread houses. For reindeer, I used my Easter bunny cookie cutter from this set.
🍊Substitutions or Variations
- Flavor extracts. Add a little almond extract or orange extract.
- Frosting. Instead of my gingerbread frosting recipe, try royal icing or cream cheese frosting.
🥣How to Make Soft Gingerbread Cookies without Chilling
Step 1. In a large bowl, beat the butter for one minute. Mix in the brown sugar and molasses, then egg and vanilla.
Step 2. Sift in the dry ingredients (or whisk flour mixture in a separate bowl). Mix on low speed until a thick, soft dough forms.
Step 3. Form the dough into two balls. Roll each with a rolling pin to ¼ inch thickness between parchment or on a lightly floured surface.
Step 4. Cut dough with a cookie cutter into different shapes like a gingerbread man, reindeer, and Christmas trees. Place cutouts 2 inches apart onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Step 5. Bake cookies in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 6 to 8 minutes or until the edges are set and the cookies are puffy. Cool 5 minutes on the pan before transferring to a rack.
Step 6. Enjoy plain or use a knife or piping bag with a small round tip to frost with this simple powdered sugar gingerbread icing recipe.
👉Top Tip: If you roll the cookie dough in flour, you can easily brush excess flour off the cookies after they've baked and cooled.
☑️Tips
- If the dough is too soft or sticky to work with, chill it in the refrigerator.
- Cool baked cookies completely before icing them.
- For the cleanest edges, roll dough no thicker than ¼". Roll thinner for crispier cookies.
🎁Storage
- Store gingerbread cookies in an airtight container up to one week. For longer storage, freeze up to 3 months.
- Freeze leftover dough in a ziplock bag up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight.
📅Make Ahead
To make gingerbread cookie dough ahead of time, wrap it in plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator for 2-3 days. Let it come to room temperature before rolling.
❓FAQs
This is a soft cookie recipe. Bake for 6 to 8 minutes max for a soft gingerbread cookie. Use a longer bake time for a crispier cookie.
No. I do not recommend using this recipe for gingerbread houses, as these gingerbread cookies are soft and chewy, perfect for eating!
Yes. The no-chill gingerbread dough rolls cleanly, and the cookies bake up puffy without spreading.
🎆More No Chill Cut Out Christmas Cookies
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📖 Recipe
Soft Cut Out Gingerbread Cookies (No Chill)
Equipment
- Rolling pin guides optional, I use dowels
Ingredients
- 10 tablespoons butter, room temperature
- ⅔ cup dark brown sugar
- ½ cup molasses
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon ground ginger
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon allspice
- ¼ teaspoon cloves
- ⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- ⅛ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- gingerbread cookie frosting
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line baking pans with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat butter on medium-high with an electric mixer for one minute, until smooth and fluffy. Mix in the sugar and molasses, then the egg and vanilla. Mix well. Sift in the flour, spices, baking soda, and salt (or whisk them in a separate bowl before adding). Mix on low until a soft dough forms. Do not overmix.
- Form the dough into two balls. Roll each ball to ¼" thickness between layers of parchment paper or on a well-floured surface. Cut with cookie cutters.
- Place cutouts 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets. Bake 6-8 minutes or until the edges are set and the cookies are puffy. Cool cookies on the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Enjoy plain or iced with this simple gingerbread cookie frosting recipe. Add sprinkles and candies while the icing is still wet. Let the icing set for several hours (overnight is fine) to harden.
Notes
- For more frosting ideas, try this sugar cookie icing or buttercream frosting -- both dry to a firm, stackable finish.
- If the dough is too soft or sticky to work with, chill it in the refrigerator.
- To roll dough to an even thickness, use dowels or rolling pin guides
- For cookie dough rolled in flour, brush any excess flour off the cookies once they've baked and cooled.
- For the cleanest edges, roll dough no thicker than ¼". Roll thinner for crispier cookies.
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