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Chewy Gingerbread Cookies

Extra chewy gingerbread cutout cookies have soft centers, are full of warm Christmas spices and decorated super cute! 
5 from 20 votes
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Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Chill Time 2 hours
Servings 32 cookies

Ingredients
 

For the Gingerbread Cookies

  • 3 cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled (please see notes) 375 g
  • 1 tablespoon ground ginger
  • 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • ¼ teaspoon ground allspice
  • ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ¾ cup unsalted butter, softened 170 g
  • ¾ cup light brown sugar, packed 165 g
  • 2 egg yolks, at room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • ½ cup unsulphured molasses 170 g

For the Icing

  • 3 cups powdered sugar 390 g
  • 4-5 tablespoon whole milk 60-75 ml

Instructions
 

For the Gingerbread Cookies

  • Add flour, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, cloves, salt and baking soda to a medium sized bowl. Whisk to combine and set aside.
  • To a large bowl add the butter and brown sugar. Cream together with an electric mixer until fluffy, 1-2 minutes.
  • Add the egg yolks, molasses and vanilla to the butter/sugar mixture and mix until smooth, about 1 minute.
  • Add in the dry ingredients and mix until combined.
  • Form the dough into a disk and wrap it tightly with plastic wrap. (It's easiest to do this with floured hands.)
  • Chill the dough for 1 hour until it's cold and only slightly soft.
  • On a well floured surface roll the dough out until it's ¼ inch thick.
  • Cut cookies out with various cookie cutters.
  • Transfer the cut cookies to a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Chill the cut cookies for at least 1 hour, or until ready to bake. (You can chill the cookies together on one or two baking sheets, and then separate them out when ready to bake.)
  • When ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. (Line another baking sheet with parchment paper if the cookies are together on one sheet.)
  • Arrange the chilled cookie cutouts about 2 inches apart from each other.
  • Bake regular sized cookies, that are roughly 3 ½ inches for 9-10 minutes. Bake mini cookies, that are roughly 2 inches for 7-8 minutes.
  • Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for two minutes, then transfer them to a cooling rack to completely cool.

For the Icing

  • Sift powdered sugar into a medium sized bowl.
  • Stir in milk. (Start with 4 tablespoon and add in more milk if too dry.) The icing should be thick and drip slowly off of a spoon.
  • Add icing to a piping bag fitted with a very small circular tip, or just cut a tiny bit off the end of the piping bag.
  • Decorate the cookies as you wish. Let the icing dry, then serve!
  • Store leftovers in an airtight container for up to four days for the best taste.

Notes

This recipe will yield roughly 32 3 ½  inch cookies, or 64 2 inch cookies.
 
Measure your flour properly. This is always my #1 baking tip. Do not ever scoop a measuring cup into your flour. This will always lead to using too much flour. (Trust me, I've learned the hard way that I need to measure properly!) Instead, sprinkle spoonfuls of flour into your measuring cup and swipe excess flour off with the back of a knife. Or better yet, weigh your flour. 1 cup of flour equals 125 grams.
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