Soft Gingerbread Cookies

These scrumptious Soft Gingerbread Cookies are so full of flavor, slightly crispy on the edges and soft and chewy on the inside.  They are a family favorite and are perfect for holiday gift giving.

I think hubby ate a half dozen of these yesterday and would have kept going if I had not cut him off.

Are you a fan of gingerbread?  I absolutely love it.  I like the soft and chewy kind not the hard need to soak in milk kind.  These easy Soft Gingerbread Cookies are the best.  One of the key ingredients is molasses. Which by itself is not the best tasting ingredient but lookout when you mix it with butter, sugar, flour and fall baking spices.  Considered yourself warned because these cookies are amazing!!

What is molasses?

Molasses is the dark, sweet syrupy by product from refining sugar cane or sugar beets into sugar. It is a different type of sweetener just like honey or agave syrup and is often used to produce a certain type of flavor.  Just as honey produces a different taste than sugar so does molasses. It is next to impossible to describe but you will know it when you smell and love it when you mix it in this cookie batter.

These delicious cookies are perfect for your holiday gift giving, cookie exchanges and parties.  They are quick to come together and they freeze exceptionally well.

How to make Soft Gingerbread Cookies!

Grab a medium bowl and combine your flour, ground ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and salt. Set this bowl aside for a few minutes.

Using mixer cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy.  Stir in egg, coffee and molasses.  Slowly blend flour mixture into butter mixture.  Shape dough into one inch balls and roll through sugar.  Bake on parchment covered cookie sheets.  Move to cookie cooling rack after five minutes.

Can you roll these Gingerbread Cookies for cutting into shapes?

Yes you most certainly can. Divide the dough in half and shape as round mounds. Cover each fully with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator for at least four hours up to three days.  Remove from fridge and place on generously floured surface, using rolling pin covered with flour roll to one-quarter to one-third inch thick.  Using cookie cutters cut and place on parchment covered baking sheets one inch apart.  Combine and re-roll scraps.  Bake at 350 degrees for eight to twelve minutes.  After five minutes remove to cookie cooling racks. Cool completely and decorate as desired.

If  you are rolling the dough and cutting than these cookies will become more crisp. Much of the aeration is removed by rolling the cookies.  The cooking time for cut cookies is reduced to 8-12 minutes.  I suggest you run a test run with 1-2 cookies to establish optimum cooking time.

How to freeze Soft Gingerbread Cookies.

After baking let the cookies fully cool.  Double wrap in Ziploc freezer bags (removing as much air as possible) and place in sturdy freezer containers. Place in freezer for up to two months.  When thawing remove from all packaging and place on serving plates in single layer until they are thawed.  Once thawed they can be stacked for serving, packed in airtight containers, or packaged for gift giving.  It is the condensation that builds up in the freezer bags that ruins the cookies.

If you like gingerbread you have got to try these cookies.  They are delicious, dependable and easy to prepare.  They freeze well, package well and are prefect for holiday gift giving! What’s not to love about them?

Other cookies you will love!!

• Homemade Sugar Cookie
• Small Batch Almond Joy Cookies
• Christmas Cookie Sparkles
• Peppermint Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies
• Best Butter Cookies
• Peanut Butter Blossom Cookies

This post was originally published October 21, 2018 and was republished October 18, 2019 with new content.

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