Frosted Gingerbread Cookies
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Soft, chewy, and covered in a sweet glaze — this recipe for Frosted Gingerbread Cookies is the Christmas cookie of your dreams. These classic gingerbread cookies are topped with a sweet cookie cookie glaze to create the perfect combination of chewy, spicy, and sweet.
If you are looking for more holiday cookie recipes, check out my Hot Chocolate Cookies, Christmas Shortbread Cookies, or my Eggless Spritz Cookies.
Table of Contents
This is one of my all time favorite cookie recipes, and it’s in my book Cookies for Everyone! These soft and chewy gingerbread cookies with icing just transport you right to Christmas, no matter where you are or what time of year it is.
But there’s no better time than now to make the best soft gingerbread cookies with icing. These Frosted Gingerbread Cookies are a must for the holidays. If you’re only going to make one gingerbread cookie — these soft and chewy gingerbread cookies with icing are definitely what you should choose!
I covet these cookies when I make them. My close friends all know how special these are, and they all want some whenever I make them! If you are looking for an easy and festive Christmas cookie, then these Frosted Gingerbread Cookies are it!
Why You'll Love This Recipe
Soft and Chewy: These soft and chewy gingerbread cookies with icing have the best texture!
Simple and Festive: I love cookies that are simple, yet festive. This one is not red, green, or covered in sprinkles, but when you take a bite it just takes you to Christmas!
Seasonal: While you can make gingerbread cookies anytime of year, it just makes them more special when make them around the holidays because they are so nostalgic.
Secret to Perfect Gingerbread
I believe gingerbread only needs three spices: cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. I call it the magic trio. These three spices combined with molasses, dark brown sugar, and the right combination of butter and flour make magic happen in the kitchen!
These are the best soft gingerbread cookies with icing — like ever (my blonde, Midwest personality is screaming this at you right now)! I can’t tell you how excited I am to share this recipe for my Frosted Gingerbread Cookies. If you love soft and chewy gingerbread cookies with icing, you will be in heaven with this recipe.
There are so many other amazing cookie recipes in my book Cookies for Everyone! It makes the best Christmas gift too so be sure to check it out.
Ingredients
- Butter: I use Organic Valley Salted Butter.
- Cane Sugar: Costco Kirkland Organic Cane Sugar is amazing when you're baking tons of gifts!
- Dark Brown Sugar: I use my Homemade Organic Dark Brown Sugar.
- Vanilla Extract: Simply Organic Vanilla Extract is my fave!
- Molasses: Wholesome Organic Blackstrap Molasses is the best organic option.
- Eggs: I love Organic Valley Large Eggs!
- Flour: Cairnspring Mills Organic All Purpose Flour is fresh milled, it's my fave!
- Spices: I use Frontier Co-Op Organic Korintje Cinnamon, Frontier Co-Op Organic Cloves, and Frontier Co-Op Organic Ginger for my holy trio of gingerbread spices.
- Salt and Baking Soda: A must for cookies!
- Powdered Sugar: Wholesome Organic Powdered Sugar is what I used today.
- Milk: I use Organic Valley Grassmilk in the icing, but you can also use water.
Tools Needed
Baking Sheet Half Sheet Pan (use code MIMIBAKES for 10% off my favorite stainless steel sustainable bakeware!)
Parchment Paper (get my favorite nontoxic parchment paper and get 10% off with MIMIBAKES)
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Step by Step Instructions
Step 1
Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Step 2
To make the dough: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the butter, cane sugar, dark brown sugar, molasses, and vanilla extract. Mix on low until combined and there are no chunks of butter.
Add the eggs and mix slightly, enough to break the yolks. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, gin¬ger, cloves, baking soda, and sea salt. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture, and mix on low until a stiff dough forms.
Step 3
Using your hands, form the dough into 24 balls and place them on the prepared cookie sheets, leaving 1 inch between them (12 should fit on each cookie sheet). Flatten each ball slightly. They should look like disks that are about 2 1/4-inches in diameter.
Step 4
Bake for 11 minutes, or until the cookies look puffed and cracked on top. Let cool completely on the cookie sheets. (If you're baking at high altitude, be sure to check the Notes at the bottom of the recipe for high altitude baking instructions).
Step 5
To make the icing: In a medium bowl, add the powdered sugar and milk and whisk until a smooth glaze forms. Using a butter knife or a small spatula, spread the cookie glaze on top of each cookie.
How to Store
These Frosted Gingerbread Cookies are soft and chewy, so they need to be stored in an airtight container. But, because these have an icing or cookie glaze, they need to set before you can store them. This is the most challenging part of this recipe.
I advise doing one of two things. The first being, put all the cookies onto one cookie sheet (make sure they are not on top of each other!), and then wrap that cookie sheet in plastic wrap. This will allow the cookies to set overnight, and the icing to harden. Then, the following day you can store them in an airtight container, and you can stack them and they won’t drastically stick together. You can also place a piece of parchment paper between them to ensure they do not stick together!
The second option is to place your cookie sheet in the freezer. This is more eco-friendly, as you’re not wasting plastic wrap. Something I hate about baking, but sometimes it is necessary to achieve baked goods perfection. The freezer has a good seal, so it acts like a Tupperware, and it allows the cookie glaze to set there. Then, the next day you can remove them and store. You can still put a piece of parchment paper in between each one to ensure they don’t stick together!
FAQ's
The short answer is yes. The long answer is no. While light brown sugar and dark brown sugar are interchangeable in a recipe — meaning they will not mess up or break the recipe if you use one or the other. But dark brown sugar contains more molasses than light brown. Therefore, the flavor of dark brown sugar is richer and more intense. So, if a recipe calls for dark brown sugar, it probably has a lot to do with the flavor. If you use light brown in its place, that recipe won’t be as dark, rich, or flavorful. If you don’t have dark brown sugar on hand, you can easily make your own with my Homemade Dark Brown Sugar recipe.
Yes, if your little heart desires you can roll out this cookie dough and use a cutter. If you choose to do this, you may need a little extra flour, so the cookie dough doesn’t stick. It’s okay to add more flour, but the more you add, the less chewy and soft the cookies become, and they will become crisper. Another option is to refrigerate the cookie dough before rolling, this will hopefully help prevent having to add extra flour and keep the cookies soft and chewy!
Craving More?
Frosted Gingerbread Cookies
Ingredients
Dough
- 113 grams salted butter (softened)
- 113 grams cane sugar
- 113 grams dark brown sugar (packed)
- 85 grams blackstrap molasses
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- 340 grams all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cloves
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
Icing
- 340 grams powdered sugar (sifted)
- ¼ cup milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- To make the dough: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the butter, cane sugar, dark brown sugar, molasses, and vanilla extract. Mix on low until combined and there are no chunks of butter.
- Add the eggs and mix slightly, enough to break the yolks.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, gin¬ger, cloves, baking soda, and sea salt. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture, and mix on low until a stiff dough forms.
- Using your hands, form the dough into 24 balls and place them on the prepared cookie sheets, leaving 1 inch between them (12 should fit on each cookie sheet). Flatten each ball slightly. They should look like disks that are about 2 ¼-inches in diameter.
- Bake for 11 minutes, or until the cookies look puffed and cracked on top. Let cool completely on the cookie sheets.
- To make the icing: In a medium bowl, add the powdered sugar and milk and whisk until a smooth glaze forms.
- Using a butter knife or a small spatula, spread the cookie glaze on top of each cookie.
- Using plastic wrap, cover the cookies on the sheets so no air gets in (or stick trays in the freezer). Allow to set overnight before stacking or storing cookies, this allows the glaze to set and prevents cookies from sticking to each other!
- Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 7 days.
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