Thick, soft Gingerbread Cutout Cookies that hold their shape and don’t spread in the oven! It’s not Christmastime without a batch of these spiced cookies made, to decorate with frosting and sprinkles.
Do you like soft or crispy cookies?
I love soft cookies. I grew up on homemade crispy cookies, and always longed after the store-bought soft cookies. Now, I get to make my own cookies as soft as I like! 🙂
These Gingerbread Cutout Cookies are a great example of that. Cutout cookies can easily be too crispy or dry, to make sure they don’t spread in the oven.
My cookies have extra butter and more egg, for a cookie with extra structure and a very soft interior. These work fabulous if you’re living at a higher altitude too, because of the extra egg.
If you like soft cookies, gingerbread spices, and are looking for a cutout cookie that won’t spread… you’re in the right place! 😉
These cookies are really simple to make, you’ll just need 2 hours of chill time after making the dough.
I also decided to share a recipe for a smaller batch. With our Holidays looking a little different this year, I figured it may be a good idea. But, feel free to double the recipe if you want plenty to share or some to freeze. I think my husbands favorite dessert is leftover frozen cookies, ha!
Follow along, for some more tips on how to make these cookies and what to use.
Let’s talk ingredients first.
To keep these gluten-free, you’ll need to use a gluten-free all purpose flour blend. If you don’t need them to be, feel free to use regular white flour.
To make these dairy-free, I would recommend using a dairy-free butter alternative.
Do you like baked goods that are very spiced? These cookies have a lot of spices in them! If you’d rather have less, feel free to use less of the spices. You can either use my own blend of gingerbread spices (ginger, cinnamon, cloves, allspice and nutmeg), your own favorite blend, or about 3 1/2 tsp of a store-bought blend.
I recommend you use brown sugar to sweeten the cookies with, along with the molasses. However, if you prefer coconut sugar that will work as well. I do not recommend using any other sweetener.
Cutout Cookie Tips
There are a few important ground rules when working with cutout cookies. First, prior to rolling your cookie dough out, be sure to sprinkle your counters with plenty of flour.
Next, sprinkle a little flour across the top of your dough. This keeps the rolling pin from sticking to your dough. Part way through rolling you may need to sprinkle a little more on top.
Once your dough is all rolled out, you’ll use your cookie cutters and punch out your dough. If your dough does not come out stuck to your cookie cutter, it may be a little stuck on your counter. Use your best spatula to gently get underneath and pry it free!
Last, place cookies of the same sizes on one baking sheet, and other sizes on different sheets. Or, use cookie cutters that are all relatively the same size. This way, your cookies will all be cooked the same way with consistent results.
After the cookies have completely cooled, decorate them to your hearts content. You can use a Sugar Cookie Icing, like I did, or your favorite frosting. And don’t forget the fun, festive sprinkles!
If you need a classic cutout cookie recipe that you can count on, to not spread in the oven, this is it! These soft and spiced Gingerbread Cutout Cookies are a Christmastime favorite in our family, and it’s not the Holiday season without them.
If you make them, I hope you love them as much as we do! And I hope you have fun making memories decorating them too. Let me know, in the comments below, what you thought of them.
And while you’re here, might as well check out some more Christmas cookie recipes too! I’d recommend my gluten-free Mexican Hot Cocoa Cookies, Gingerbread Oatmeal Cookies, and grain-free & vegan Thumbprint Cookies.
- 1 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp gluten-free all purpose flour (or regular flour)
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 tsp ginger, cinnamon each
- 1/4 tsp cloves, allspice and nutmeg each
- 1/2 cup butter, softened (or dairy-free butter alternative)
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup molasses
- 1 egg
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
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To a small mixing bowl, add your dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, allspice and nutmeg) and whisk together.
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To a large mixing bowl, add your butter, brown sugar and molasses and beat them together with a mixer till creamy. Add your egg and vanilla and briefly mix in.
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Pour your dry ingredients into your wet ingredients and stir/fold together. Keep folding till you have one consistent cookie dough.
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Place a large piece of saran wrap on your counter and put your cookie dough in the middle. Wrap the saran wrap around the dough till it's covered entirely. Gently push your dough into a thick, disc-like shape (not a large ball). Place in the fridge and chill for at least 2 hours.
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After 2 hours, remove your dough from the fridge. Preheat your oven to 350 and spray two pans with non-stick spray (or line with parchment paper).
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To a large area on your counters, sprinkle flour across the top so the dough won't stick. Unwrap your dough and place it on your flour-covered counter. Sprinkle a little more flour across the top of the dough, to prevent it from sticking to your rolling pin.
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Roll your dough out to about 1/4 inch thickness, all around. Continue to sprinkle more flour on top if it gets too sticky.
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Using a cookie cutter, cut the dough into shapes. Use a spatula to remove the cookie cutouts and place it onto your pans. I recommend placing similarly sized cookie cutouts on the same pan, for consistent baking results.
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Bake for 7-12 minutes, or till the edges are set and the cookies are cooked through. Smaller cookie cutouts will take closer to 7-8 minutes, medium will take 8-10 minutes, and large will take 10-12 minutes.
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For the leftover cookie dough, you can push it together and re-roll it with your rolling pin (on lightly floured counters again) and cut more cookies out again. I recommend only re-rolling your dough two times.
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After your cookies have cooled entirely, it's time to decorate! Top them with your favorite frosting and sprinkles, and devour!
Stored in an airtight container, these cookies should last about a week. They will last a bit longer if you store them in the fridge.
I made both the gingerbread and chocolate version of these and they both turned out PERFECTLY! Although my favorite was marbling the scraps of the two doughs together to make chocolate gingerbread swirl! I was looking for a gf recipe to use with some cute Halloween cookie stamp cutters and these were perfect. I will be making again along with more of recipes from the blog!!