Soft Gingerbread Cookies

I've been looking for a soft, puffy gingerbread recipe for years. I bake a lot and try pretty much every gingerbread recipe I can find. This was pretty good, but didn't stay soft once it cooled. It did puff up when it was in the oven, but flattened again before it finished baking. It tasted really good and it kept it's shape really well, so it's definitely a good recipe, just not the best. By the way, this is much easier to work with if you roll the dough between two sheets of wax paper, loosen the paper on both sides, and then cut out with cutters. This way, you don't need excess flour which can toughen the dough.

I don't know WHAT any of the negative reviews could possibly be about!!! I found this recipe on here about years ago and have made them EVERY year since. EVERYONE I bring them too loves them. They are not as "harsh" as a typical gingerbread cookie ... softer in texture and milder in taste. Yes, the dough can be a bit hard to roll out but it is WAY worth it for the YUMMIEST gingerbread cookie I've ever had!!!

I'm not the most experienced baker, but most things I try for the first time come out good. I followed this recipe to the exact detail and the dough was terribly hard to roll out. It crumbled apart the more you tried. My husband suggested adding a little water but I didn't want to ruin the recipe...so I put a chunk of the dough on my board, sprinkled a tiny bit of water, rolled it out, and then cut a heart cookie. I baked that one to test it, and while the taste itself wasn't bad, the texture was weird. I chilled the rest of the dough overnight thinking maybe the minimum 3 hours wasn't long enough, tried again this morning, and ran into even more difficulty. Granted, this was my first attempt at making gingerbread cookies, but I probably would have had better luck just following the recipe on the bottle of molasses! Sorry to be critical, but that was my experience. I should have read more of the reviews before putting the time and effort into this, since the majority seemed to run into the same problems I did.

Cookies were very good. This is a mild tasting gingerbread cookie. I had to throw the first batch of dough out because it was very dry and wouldn't come together so I cut the flour by 1/4 cup and mixed all the wet ingrediants first than added the dry instead of alternating like the recipe said.

I thought these cookies were quick and easy! The flavor is mild gingerbread with a soft,yet firm texture, which made for easy decorating. I loved them and my kids loved them. We used the decorater's frosting made with butter, milk, vanilla, and powdered sugar found here at allrecipes. That frosting is sweet enough to make the cookies perfect. I don't know why some people had a hard time working with the dough. I divided it in half and rolled it out using flour as needed. Quickly cut them out and baked them. Could not of been more simple. In a nutshell: If you need a quick, easy, yummy gingerbread cookie recipe, this is it!

i'd rate this a zero if it was available. I followed your so called recipe to the letter,not only was this dough dry but what cookies were able to make it to a cookie sheet were the dryest flatest tasting cookies i ever made. next time get your recipe items correct. i will be sure not to use any of your recipes again!!!!!

As many have noted, these cookies are not very sweet at all. I wish I had read them beforehand, but I was under a deadline so I just jumped in. These cookies are bland as sand, with a texture about as good. Ended up throwing them all away.

This recipe is excellent. I did add grated orange peel and substituted honey for molasses to give it more of the Liebkuchen (German gingerbread taste) and it was excellent.

This was a really easy recipe. They turn out more 'cakie' than cookie like but delicious. I do not recommend making and decorating with small children... the cookies break really easy and they get upset... funny... kids!

i made these cookies for my boyfriend on valentines day. he said they reminded him of something, and when i asked what, he said, "flour."

I combined several suggestions on here. I doubled the spices, except the cloves. I substituted 1/2 cup of flour with whole wheat flour and used a full stick (1/2 c.) of butter. Also omitted the baking soda and used 2 tsp. baking powder. I used 1/2 c. brown sugar and 1/2c. white sugar and added a tsp. of vanilla. I refrigerated for a half hour and just dropped the dough onto the cookie sheet and flattened with a glass bottom coated in cooking spray and sprinkled with sugar. I cooked for 6 minutes and pulled directly off the cookie sheet. Very yummy and chewy and great if you want a quick cookie to serve with morning coffee!

While much milder than I was hoping , I thought the cookies that resulted from this recipe were very tasty and that the recipe itself was quite easy. I had to add a few more drops of water to the dough to get it to stick together, but that is not atypical in baking (as anyone who has ever made a pie crust will tell you), but if you use a little common sense this recipe is quite fun and easy and what you end up with is a cookie that is pleasantly reminiscent of an animal cracker (only chewier). The other bit of advice I can offer is to not marry yourself to the 8-10 minute baking time, if the cookies are done before that, take them out. If the cookies seem to be hard when they cool, reduce the baking time (remember, cookies continue to cook after they come out of the oven, so a softer cookie can often be achieved by knocking a minute or two off of the baking time). The only other thing i can suggest is that you beat the butter and sugars together first then beat in the water, otherwise it'll be next to impossible to get a smooth mixture. In other words, keep an open mind with his recipe and you will be pleasantly surprised.

The secret to keeping these cookies soft and chewy is to roll out the dough on plastic wrap or wax paper while it’s still warm; then chill it before cutting into shapes.

I love this recipe and got many compliments on it during the Christmas season. A great, mild, soft gingerbread. It's a keeper!

I thought these were pretty good...I don't know why people were so negative. I changed the 3/4 cup molasses for 1 cup and the 1 tsp ginger for 2 tsp. The extra molasses helped keep the dough together and the extra ginger balanced the flavor out so they didn't taste so much like molasses.

I have been looking for years for a soft gingerbread cookie recipe. I've finally found it! My husband who doesn't even like gingerbread cookies practically inhaled these cookies.

These were good! But not exeptional. If you are looking for a milder, sweet cookie this is the one for you! They are very soft, don't be mislead by the tough crumbly dough. Very good, but I like a spicier cookie.

I made these recently due to a sudden gingerbread craving. Rather than let them cool and then roll the dough out, I dropped tablespoon sized blobs of dough onto a tin-foil lined baking sheet and baked them straight away. If done like that, they finish baking with soft, almost cakey quality to them. Simply fantastic.

WoW. These are quite possibly the worst cookies I have ever made. I learned a valuable lesson however - never triple a recipe you've never tried to before, no matter how 'Christmas-rushed' you may be.

I loved these cookies! I was looking for a gingerbread cookie that was soft and this was it! The recipe was very easy to make and had basic ingredients that most people have available. The only changes I made to the recipe were, I only let my dough cool in the fridge for 1 hour and it worked out good. I also used pumpkin pie spice and cloves instead of the individual spices, tasted great! I also frosted them with powdered sugar icing which added the extra sweetness that I felt they needed!! My son LOVES these cookies. He has never liked any kind of cookie except for these gingerbread cookies!

These gingerbread cookies are excellent! I was looking for a softer cookie and this is it. I did not read any of the reviews before I made these, because I found them in my Allrecipe cookie cookbook and not on this site. I followed the recipe exactly and they turned out great. The only problem I had was when I was trying to get them off the cookie sheet--they were stuck, but came off with a thin spatula. I found that it was easier to get them off right after I took them out of the oven. To the reviewers who complained about these not being soft--gingerbread is different than other cookies. Normally it is dry and hard, these are soft and do not crunch when you bite into them. If yours came out hard, try putting them into a lock-n-lock plastic container for a few days. Gingerbread needs time, that's why in Europe it is made weeks before Christmas. I love the taste of these as well--they are not supposed to be sweet like many other American cookies. All in all, these were wonderful and I had no problems making them aside for the little problem mentioned above. I decorated mine with sliced almonds, walnut halves and raisins before I baked them and they look beautiful. I am going to hang some of them on my tree. Thank you for a wonderful recipe, Sara.

I AM professional baker, and I am embarrassed that I didn't see this coming. I ignored the bad reviews and went with this recipe anyway. I wasted money and time making these HORRID cookies! Dry, tough, and tasteless. YUCK!

I found these to be the best cookies when it came to gingerbreads. They were soft,chewy and very very flavorful. Thank You very much for sharing them!

The only change I made was to add an egg for cookie stability once baked. These are wonderful cookies. Soft, moist, and not too strong in flavor. I like the fact that there is no shortening in this recipe. I also iced my cookies with vanilla tub frosting. It sets up well and rounds out the flavor!

LOVE THEM! These are now a Christmas tradition for me. Fun and easy and would be great to double for more to go around.

This recipe was fantastic. My husband, who doesn't like anything without chocolate in it, loved these cookies. I did tweek the recipe a bit though. I did not use cloves and I used 1 tsp. cinnamon, 1 tsp. allspice and 2 tsps. ginger. This gave them a little more flavor, in my opinion.

I used this recipe for the first time this year and I will keep using it. These cookies were delicious. The dough was a little hard to work with but then again I didnt refrigerate it as my 3 year old was too excited to wait. I will definitely refrigerate it next time. I sprinkled flour on the counter and on the rolling pin and with a LOT of effort it rolled out fine for me to cut the shapes. Probably would have been less work had I chilled it first. Oh well, next time I will - and there will be a next time.

I had never attempted gingerbread cookies before. This recipie turned out to be great. I couldn't keep my two year old away from them. I did have some trouble with rolling them out and cutting them though. I've never done anything like that before so I had to figure out the hard way how to flour it enough and treat it more like bread dough. But they were wonderful!

By far the best recipe I've ever used for gingerbread cookies. The dough was easy to work with and the cookies are delicious!

This is a keeper! I followed this recipe exactly, and the cookies were sturdy enough for my three year old and her 2 1/2 year old friend to decorate (only three broke out of the whole batch). They were still chewy a few days later. They were a bit spicy, but that's what I expect in gingerbread.

Too many gingerbread cookie recipes are rock hard... this one is so much more enjoyable. Definitely use the "gingerbread frosting for cookies" with these cookies.. it gives them more flavor and a kick (kinda like "red-hots") Crumbly dough issue.. try molding the dough (like bread) before refrigerating.. this will distribute the moisture better, and allow for more consistency, less crumble.. and easier rolling. Flour: caution on the flour, use too much and you will have flour-powdered cookies.. when cooked the flour is still there. I like the rolling between wax paper suggestion (I will try that nex time). overall.. EASY recipe.. and enjoyable.. grab a glass of milk with these..

I tried this recipient last year, and it was extremely crumbly and dry, but I gave it another shot today and they turned out perfectly after adjusting a few things. Instead of 1/2 cup of white flour, I used whole wheat flour and I used 1/2 c. Brown sugar and 1/2 c. Sugar to make it a different kind if sweet. I also doubled all of the spices except the cloves and used 3/4 c. of molasses. The cookies turned out terrific! My family thought they were amazing, I wish I could have taken credit for the recipe. You just need to roll out the dough in between max paper or plastic wrap before chilling.

these were easy to make, and turned out great. i did modify the amount of butter to 3x what the recipe called for, and will prob do 4x next time (1/2 cup, or 1 stick). the dough becomes too crumbly otherwise. that aside, great results from this recipe!

The alternating reviews going from one star to four stars over and over had me intrigued enough to try this recipe. I upped the health quotient and the flavor by using some of the tips in past reviews. I used 1/2 whole wheat flour 1/2 all-purpose flour, about 1/4 c brown sugar and 1/4 c Splenda, I only had blackstrap molasses (good source of iron!), and I doubled all the spices except cloves. My cookies are soft and de-e-e-e-elicious! I had frozen some, and I just ate one straight out of the freezer - they're even good (and still soft!) that way!

Great recipe. To prevent from becoming hard do not over cook. This recipe requires very little cooking time. Be sure to roll these out to at least a 1/4 inch or else they will not be chewy.

I will stick to my other gingerbread recipe. I see why it didn't get a perfect five. The last time I make something that doesn't have a five. :(

My husband thought this was the recipe he used last year, well he was mistaken!! I usually try to be nice with criticism, but I did not care for the taste of these. They make easy, perfect cutouts, but the flavor is just not there! Researched and remembered he had made the McCormick spice recipe last year and they are great tasting. A gingerbread cookie should be able to be eaten with or without icing as I enjoy and this recipe really have no sweetness. Great for decorating the tree LOL

These were the softest gingerbread cookies ever! And they stayed that way for days! Very good.

These tasted like baked paste and the gingerbread men came out looking bloated instead of holding their shape.

These are the first gingerbread cookies I've baked, and I was very pleased with the results. The dough was a little difficult to work with, and I found it had to be very cold or it would soften too much and not be easy to cut out. Some of my batches turned out a little crispy so I had to watch the baking time very carefully, or they would over cook. There is a fine line between soft and crunchy with these cookies! The cookies turned out nice when baked properly, though. Nice, soft texture and good flavor. They didn't puff too much and retained their shape very well. We decorated using a butter cream icing and they tasted great! I'm making them again for our Christmas party this weekend.

even with the doubled spices these are bland bland bland. ther are so sticky with the extra butter suggestion as well. i wont make again

These cookies were THE best gingerbread cookies I've ever tasted! Everyone loved them and they were gone in a day! Thanks for the recipe :)

These were the easiest and most delicious gingerbread cookies ever. So soft...I love soft cookies and the fact I did not have to roll out the dough and use those annoying cookie cutters was the best part. My dough was super sticky so I did not roll the cookies in my hand. I used a cookie scoop and they came out just fine!

I thought the dough for these looked great...until they came out of the oven. I'm still looking for a good gingerbread cookie recipe.

I loved this recipe. After reading all the reviews, I followed the recipe exactly. I found out through the many jobs I have worked in, that you have to let the dough warm to room temperature, after it's been refrigerated for the 3 hrs. It's much easier to roll out that way, no need for wax paper. There's no eggs in the recipe, so no worries on bacteria. I also brushed the tops with honey for an added sweetness. WILL TOTALLY BAKE AGAIN AND AGAIN.

This recipe was excellent! Very tasteful even without the frosting (of course they are excellent with frosting too!). My husband who does not like gingerbread cookies actually liked these. My son and his friends all loved them too! The cookies aren't that sweet (which is exactly the way our family like) but very flavorful, soft and moist. The only changes I made were adding 1.5x of ginger than stated. Dough was bit hard to work with, but it is worth it!!!! Thanks for sharing this recipe... this will be our Christmas trandition :-)

These were amazing. Not sweet at all, perfect gingerbread cookies. I used dark molasses. The cookies stayed soft for a week. My husband said they were the best gingerbread cookies he ever had.

These cookies looked good, they smelled good. The dough was perfect, and rolled easily. The problem was the taste. They were bland, and almost bread like in texture. Not tasty at all.

Where do I begin...at first the dough would not stay together so I added 2tbsp of butter. I was really excited after that because the dough was perfect. The first batch came out and I tried one...not so good. It was soft and chewy but it lacked flavor. You need to keep adding spices until you get it right. Also the recipe says that it yields 36, I made 27.

Outstanding recipe. If you are looking for a soft gingerbread cookie you must try this one. Just made it for the first time, followed the recipe exactly, I have no idea why some others reported problems with the texture or dough consistency. Use soft (NOT melted butter), measure flour accurately and mix completely in your mixer and they turned out exactly as I thought.

I wanted to make my own gingerbread cookies along with my kids and I like them "soft". So came across this recipe! I did follow the directions, except for the chilling part. It was late in the evening when I started the preparing the dough. And after the dough was complete...It seemed a bit wet to be dough. So then not reading #3 in the directions before starting. I realized I had to chill it for a few hours. Hoping that after chilling it, It would firm up more, but the next day the consistency was the same. I don't know if chilling it longer then what the recipe called for had an effect. But I ended up adding more flour (wheat) that is. Also don't know if using the wheat flour made a difference either. Anyway I added the wheat flour to it. Would say a cup more and then rolled it out. I thought if they don't come out, then oh well. At least the kids got to decorate..lol By my surprise!!! These cookies came out awesome! I was really impressed. I was so concerned that they would taste like nothing but flour. Well they did NOT! They were soft, just as the recipe says! and yummy! I will use this recipe again.

Very good. The dough is tough though. I used about 1/2 a cup less flour, and added as I needed to where it wasn't as sticky. It was a good method to control the toughness. I also doubled the spice measurements, I liked it better than what the recipe calls for. Really love these cookies though!

This was the simplest most easy recipethat I have ever made. It was not tough toroll out it was alittle sticky but I just added alittle more flour. My first batchI used Wholewheatflour and I do not reccomened that because they came out with no flavour at all they were very floury and taste less. so I am doing another batch right now. I used regular flour and added vanilla as well. I upped the amount of PUMPKIN SPICE that I used and added 1/2 cup butter as well.The dough this time was easier to roll not tough at all which is surprising so much that people were complaining about this. this time i decreased the amount of molasses I hope this helps the taste. they are very fragile when they come out of the oven so you have to be careful. I cooked them for 6 minutes the first time but this time i will try 7 or maybe even 8.I'm sure everyone will enjoy. you just have to test out the amount of spice to your liking.Here comes the test!They look great and taste great! oh i got it right this time they are fantastic! i will use this reciepe all the time. putting icing on them and decorating them to your liking will help make them alittle sweeter. gingerbread cookies are not supposed to be sweet! A huge winner with me and a keeper for sure 5BIGSTARS!

These were definately the best gingerbread cookies ever! I made them over a week ago, and they are still very soft and delicious. The taste is very mild which makes them very good. I pressed them into a gingerbread men mold and baked them in that, and they were excellent. Definately a keeper! Thank you! Yum!!!

I agree these so delicious and are low in fat and yummy. I made them as little cookies. I also put 1/2 wheat flour and 1/2 white, and added 6 egg beaters. Then, my children had a tea party with them! Sooo good. I bet you could add a little more flour to make them cut outs.

On the plus side, the puffiness of the cookie was very cute, and the dough is relatively easy to work with (for this beginner cookie-baker). A nice plus is that these cookies seem to be (relatively) low calorie. However, they are not as flavorful as other gingerbread recipes.

Very good!! It helps if the cookie dough is cool before using.

Very disappointing cookies. Very bland taste and tough dough that crumbles easily. I have had success with so many baking recipes on this site and this was very first true let down. I combed through several reviews and decided to give it a shot because so many people have rated this recipe, usually this is a safe bet but not in this case. Tthe texture is nice but the it has nothing else going for it. As said already by me and others, very bland and not at all sweet tasting.

I made these cookies with my daughter and they turned out perfect! I did use the tip off another review to roll the dough between two sheets of wax paper with a little flour sprinkled on the paper. It was so easy and the cookies are delicious!!! We also had fun making some x-mas ornaments out of some of the cookies. We just cooked those a little longer.

completely satisfied!!! much better than another one I used before!

This is an awesome recipe! I've made 2 batches already this week and my kids eat them almost as fast as I can get them out of the oven! Very quick and easy to make with a great soft appealing texture and yummy taste!

i had my doubts ... i been re-searching for a good gingerbread cookies recipe but this recipe came out perfectly ... followed the recipe step by step and i did let the dough sit for overnight... my family and friends loved them.. i'm so ready for xmass..

They were great! I've never made gingerbread cookies before and so I was a little nervous. The recipe was really simple and they tasted great!

Awesome!!!

We made these cookies tonight, and they turned out AMAZING. Very easy to prepare the dough. They taste like what a gingerbread should taste like. For the folks who reviewed that the dough was to sticky, they probably didn't refrigerate it long enough. We prepared the dough last night and refrigerated over night and it was not sticky or goopy at all! Fantastic recipe Sal! Thank you for sharing!

My cookies turned out perfect! The dough was dry at first, but it was perfectly moist after it chilled for the three hours. This is a great recipe! I will be using it again!

After following the recipe exactly and cooling the so called dough for almost 3.5 hours it was crumbly and no where near ready to be rolled. I added almost another cup of water before it became rollable... all in all they tasted horrible and took way to long to make- this is not a good recipe at all!

These r the best gingerbread cookies i have ever had. And its so easy too.

they just need to be sweeter but these are great - soft and tasty. Added more spice as suggested by one reviewer. The dough was hard to work with but manageable. This is the recipe I will use every Christmas.

Fantastic! These are great! I did double the spices, and I left it in the fridge for about 6 hours! Wonderful, soft, and spicy!

Texture was like a cross between a cookie and bread, and very bland.

This is a good standard gingerbread recipe. People have to remember that molasses based cookie dough isn't the easiest dough to work with.

Either the recipe is wrong (1/8C of butter for 3 1/4C flour??) or it is meant to make decorative, not edible gingerbread.

The worst cookie recipe I have ever made. 1/8 cup of butter is a bad idea. A scant 2 tablespoons of butter makes a dry crumbly mess. I added some moisture to get the crumbs to hold together. I used apple juice. I do not recommend this recipe at all.

Great recipe! Came out well this Christmas. I varied the thickness and cooking times a bit, which resulted in a good mix of thin and thick, softer and crispier, cookies. Would definitely recommend!

This were pretty yummy, but I had to add an additional 1/4 cup of flour to the mix and use lots of flour on the countertop and dough to cut out cookies. Also, I had to make the cookies pretty thick and cook them for only 7 minutes to get a soft cookie. Otherwise, they were crispy as soon as they cooled. You can microwave them though and they will be soft again!

these turned out perfect! the dough was nice and soft and they came out of the oven beautifully.... and for those of you who gave bad reviews.... chances are you did something wrong... these are delicious!

Wonderful gingerbread cookie. Just like I remember from when I was little. Perfect flavor and great for decorating. Did make a few suggested changes. I used a half a cup of butter flavored shortening rather than butter, baking powder, not soda, and a half cup of brown sugar. I'm a big fan of this cookie, thank you for posting it and thank you to others who cooked it before me for helping me make it better!

Did I do something wrong? These are terrible. (They look beautiful but taste like bread dough.) I went back and reread the recipe and am positive I didn't leave anything out.

This needed icing otherise they aren't sweet enough.

Forgive me, but there is no ginger in this recipe, at least not the one I,m looking at Help please, what is a qualifier for gingerbread cookies? Renee

Greatest gingerbread recipe I've tried!! I always get compliments when I make them, because they stay soft. A definite crowd pleaser!

I am sure the rating says it all. But in case it doesn't this is a awsome recipe. I originally tried it for the calorie values and i do like a gingerbread with a bit of bite so read the reviews and added a little more sugar and spices oh and instead of br. sugar I used spenda br. sugar (it worked well) and I didnt have any butter so I used becel oil and it also worked well.I really dont know what the people that said it was hard to work with were talking about it was extremly easyu to work with also if you dont like the taste maybe you used yucky cooking molasses in it fancy taste much better

not sure what went wrong, but dough was way too dry and crumbly, no flavor, and had a weird chewy texture once baked. no one ate them

YUCK! These cookies were dry and bland. My daughters even refused to eat any more than a bite.

These cookies were pretty good and baked up perfectly. I omitted the cloves, added more of the other spices and upped the molassas to 1 c. I also rolled out between waxed paper and had no issues with it sticking. This is a good mild tasting cookie, good for people who don't like to spicey of a flavor (like kids).

Cookies didn't have as much flavor as I would have liked.

These were puffy and soft. I added a little more spice to suit my taste. The dough rolled out well. I will make them again!

Best gingerbread cookies. not too sweet, just perfect with royal icing

I've never been a lover of Gingerbread. I love to bake! Asked my coworkers what cookies they wanted, and one was Gingerbread! I voted soft gingerbread because I like soft cookies! I had never made gingerbread before so I took on the challenge. Yes the dough was dry, but no more dry then any rolled sugar cookie or sprtiz cookie. You just have to knead it a little in your hands and your good to go! I have already been asked by many people in the office for this recipe, and asked to make it again!

This recipe is pretty good. They do come out soft. Don't over cook or they do get stiff and stale like. It a was very kneadable dough. The finished product I think needs a bit more butter and spices in taste.

I make these cookies every year they are amazing!!!

These had NO flavor, and when put into the oven transformed into little pieces of soft, mushy pieces of bread.

I have shared the cookies with my family and friends. All have asked for the recipe. I just love this gingerbread cookie! I found that if it was too dry, adding a little water helped. I also found that rolling the dough when it was just mixed helped to prevent it from drying out and made it easier to roll. A friend drizzled dark chocolate on top. The cookie has a pleasently mild taste, not overpowering like some other cookies I've tried.

Sara, thank you for this simple yet 5 star cookie recipe. I followed your instructions, and unlike some rollout cookie doughs this one was easy to work with. The flavor was wonderful-- these cookies will be a staple around our house Yeay!!

pretty good. I was a little worried about the measurements when I was mixing it 'cause it seemed really dry; I ended up using my hands to mix it. It came out perfect though, although it definitely needs more spices - I doubled everything and added cardamom, and I think it could still use a bit more

the dough is tasty and cookies come out well, however, the dough is very difficult to work with, more so than other gingerbread recipies I have tried.

I wanted a soft gingerbread cookie and saw the good ratings so I tried it today. I followed the recipe and yet my dough came out so dry. I can't even roll it out. Don't know what I did wrong. I'll try it one more time.

I have made this gingerbread recipe for several different events and it is a hit! I love the fact that they are softer and cook up to be thicker. Thanks!