Description
Let’s make Soft Gingerbread Cookies this holiday season! Soft, pillowy gingerbread with sunken centers and slightly crisped edges, plus little nooks and crannies packed with ginger spice and molasses. These are SO GOOD!
Ingredients
Gingerbread Cookies
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1/3 cup molasses
- 2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour (300 grams)
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1–2 teaspoons ground ginger
- granulated sugar for rolling
Maple Glaze
- 1 tablespoon melted butter
- 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar (180 grams)
- 2 tablespoons milk (and a very tiny bit more if you need more)
- pinch of salt, to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Cream butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer until light and fluffy. Add egg and molasses; mix until incorporated.
- Add flour, baking soda, salt, and ginger. Mix until a soft dough forms.
- Scoop into small balls (a little smaller than the size of a golf ball) and roll in sugar. Bake for 9-11 minutes; remove from pan so the cookies can sink / flatten slightly as they cool.
- Whisk maple glaze ingredients together until smooth (it will be very thick – if it’s too thick, just add a teaspoon more milk at a time until it becomes dippable, but we want this to be very thick so it sets nicely). Dip one side of the cooled cookies into the maple glaze, run the edge of the cookie along the side of the bowl to remove excess drips, set on a piece of wax paper, and add a few festive sprinkles before the glaze sets!
Notes
300 grams of flour is the perfect amount to achieve the texture and crinkly flat look of these cookies. If you find that your first batch is a bit flatter than you’d hoped, mix in a tablespoon or two of flour to the rest of the dough to get a thicker center.
Give these cookies some holly sprinkles to bring them over the top! I bought these ones on Amazon (affiliate link).
For this recipe I use unsulphured molasses. For most of my testing I used the Grandma’s brand which can be found in the baking section of many grocery stores. Blackstrap molasses is less sweet and would not be recommended here.
The glaze should set to become fully dry to the touch with just an hour or two of sitting on the counter. For the best / most beautiful and travel-proof glaze results, you might want to wait to glaze until within a day of serving. The cookies can be baked ahead and stored (without glaze) in the freezer until you’re ready for glaze!
I prefer the flavor of the maple glaze which is why that’s how the recipe is written, but if you need a glaze that is more sturdy, melting 1/2 cup white chocolate chips with 1 tablespoon coconut oil will also work and it will hold its shape better for travel.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: soft gingerbread cookie, gingerbread cookie, christmas cookie
