Eileen's Spicy Gingerbread Men

I have tweaked this recipe, after a few attempts, to perfection (for my tastes). First of all, I think the variances in dough texture people are having is in the way they measure their flour. I am one of those bakers that measures flour by spooning it into the measuring cup lightly and using a knife to level off. The first time I made these(exactly as the recipe states) the dough was like mush. I ended up working in an extra cup of flour with my hands. I rolled in between two pieces of parchment because of the toughness extra flour always adds to cut-outs. The cookies were tasty but to floury with a cardboard texture. I finally ended up using 1 and 1/2 cups flour. I substituted 3/4 c brown sugar for the white sugar, because I thought they needed to be sweeter as well, and I thought the brown sugar would help to keep them moist. I used a 3 inch gingerbread cutter and cooked for 7 minutes. Delicious, soft and chewy. The spices are perfect, it is a spicy cookie just as the recipe says. I used white chocolate to pipe on the features, buttons, bowties, and scarfs. Not only are they adorable, they are out-of-this-world tasting. I will try to upload a picture later today. Thanks Eileen, at last, a gingerbread man I can actually eat!!!

This recipe barely misses a 5 star rating for one reason only. The cookies are not "spicy" as the title promises. They have a pleasant, mildly spiced flavor, but this recipe lacks the "bite" usually associated with genuinely spicy gingerbread. For those, however, who have palates that appreciate milder spices, this recipe is perfect. If you long for a spicier kick to your gingerbread, double the listed spices except cloves, and add a liberal dash or two of cayenne. The dough was very easy to work with, after chilling. I made it before going to bed, then rolled them out the next morning, taking only what could be rolled and cut at one time out of the fridge. The dough is, like any recipe made with a large quantity of any syrupy substance (i.e. molasses, corn syrup, honey,) sticky if not adequately chilled. Sticky dough is impossible to work with. The temptation is to add more flour to the dough, but resist it! More flour toughens your product. In fact, when rolling, it is always advisable to use a pastry cloth on your board and pastry sock on your rolling pin. This enables you to incorporate the least amount of flour possible, yet still work easily with the dough. Another good quality is that these don't puff up and lose their shape when baked. In fact, what you see when on the sheet before baking is just about what you get. They're good keepers, still soft a week after baking (kept in an airtight tin.) Excellent recipe, but some tinkering with the spices could improve it.

Just okay. I agree that too much cloves leaves an aftertaste. Dough is sticky --I'd add another 1/2 cup of flour. Separate the dough into 3 small amounts to chill. Don't overbake because the cookies'll dry rock hard. Had a hard time not overbaking because they were so soft and looked raw in the middle, but the ones I removed on time cooled perfectly soft but not mushy. My cookies spread, & my Better Homes & Garden cookie mag says it might be caused by using margarine w/ "less than 80 percent vegetable oil" and putting the dough on hot cookie sheets. BH&G says your margarine should be at least 100 calories per T. I didn't know that about the hot cookie sheet either, so next time I'll alternate sheets. I love the idea of rolling the dough on parchment, cutting the shapes, removing scraps, & baking on the parchment. I prefer the Joe Froggers recipe on this site, which is easier to roll, eggless, uses shortening (which doesn't compete with the spices), and 1/2 as much cloves for 2x as much flour! But I do like the cinammon in this recipe so I'll add some to my Froggers. Also, just FYI for anyone getting psyched to make gingerbread cookies this season, my Better Homes & Garden cookie mag says this about dark vs. light molasses: "When describing molasses, light refers only to flavor, not color or calorie or sugar content. Light is sweet in flavor. Dark molasses is not as sweet but has a distinctive robust flavor. Light and dark are interchangeable in recipes."

Made these in our cookie shop this past week and everyone who tried them loved them, especially when they were still warm out of the oven. I'm very impatient and time is always limited, so I never wait for dough to stiffen in fridge. I added a about 3 extra tbsp of flour so the dough would be dry enough to roll out immediately. Turned out great. Easy to roll out and it didn't toughen the finished product at all. Even on Friday (four days after they were baked) cookies were still delicious and tender. This is definitely our new gingerbread recipe. And I wouldn't change the proportions of the spices at all. The taste was wonderful as is.

This is a very good gingerbread recipe. However, one must watch the men carefully when you open the oven, lest they jump out and run out the door yelling, "Run, run, as fast as you can, you can't catch me; I'm the gingerbread man!"

I was looking for a classic, soft, delicious gingerbread cookie recipe, and I found it! This recipe makes such a nice, soft dough with the perfect blend of spices. I used Grandma's original molasses (not robust) and light brown sugar. I think you could get away with adding about 1/4 cup more flour to make it a little firmer. You may want to double the recipe for your holiday cookie baking. I don't remember liking gingerbread so much!

These turned out really well, and my kids loved cutting them out and decorating them. (**Don't be discouraged by the amount of dough - it makes a LOT more cookies than it looks like it will.) After adding the ginger, I substituted an equal amount of Pumpkin Pie Spice (2 tsp.) for all the other individual spices, and it worked perfectly. I will be pretty generous with the spices next time, though - by the time my 14-year-old worked in enough flour to handled the dough, it was a little bit diluted. Still yummy, and we'll probably make them a few more times this holiday season. **Just remember to use a pastry brush to get all the excess flour off your cookies (top AND bottom) before placing them on the baking sheet - prettier and tastier!

Delicious! The recipe was perfect- no extra flour needed and no tampering with the spices. Dough WILL be a little sticky but the trick is to make it as cold as possible. Freezing for a short while may help and using small portions at a time may help. I also followed the advice of rolling it between 2 lightly dusted sheets of baking paper. I used a broad lightly floured spatula to lift it up. Again, the colder the dough, the easier it is to lift. If u like your gingerbread a little chewy and soft, then 8min at 350F is great. But if u like 'em a little crispy, then try baking it a second time at (300F 7-8min) or perhaps longer.

This is a very good gingerbread recipe. However, one must watch the men carefully when they are in the oven. My cookies got slightly overcooked and hardened very fast, so it was difficult to affix M&Ms and cinnamon drops as decorations.

ABoslutely fabulous! The gingerbread stayed soft for days (in a sealed bag). If you like really spicy gingerbread, I recommend doubling the amount of spice in the recipe, except for the cloves, they shoudl be 1 1/2 times what the recipe says. On the whole, highly recommended recipe.

I've been using this recipe every Halloween and Christmas for about five or six years now, and each and every time my cookies get raves. Several people have even told me that they're the best gingerbread cookies they've ever had, and actively look forward to me making them. This is a great recipe! I bake them for 8 minutes instead of 10, so they'll stay chewy. Also, I'll refrigerate the dough for about 12 hours to let everything get settled together. This is the best gingerbread recipe you're going to find. Stop looking now.

I was hesitant to make these cookies after reading the mixed reviews, but I'm glad I picked this recipe. I doubled it and used butter instead of margarine. Otherwise, I followed the recipe exactly. At each step I gave the dough plenty of time to mix completely. I was rushed for time and barely chilled the dough for an hour. I rolled out half the dough at a time, used plenty of flour, and baked the cookies for 7 minutes. A pastry scraper made it easy to transfer the cookies to cookie sheets. The kids had fun decorating, and at a family gathering today the plate we brought vanished quickly. Doubling the recipe gave me about 36 cookies, each 3 or 4 inches "tall." The flavor is good, but not too spicy for the kids.

These are great! I used butter instead of margarine. I added an extra 1/2 cup of flour. Let the cookies cool COMPLETELY before removing them from the pan! They didn't spread much so it's OK to cut them as close as a 1/2 inch. I piped royal icing onto the snowflakes. I also frosted some using the Sugar Cookie Icing from allrecipes.com and the cookies that I "flooded" the frosting on became VERY soft and broke VERY easy. (I'm assuming because of the added moisture that the icing gives the cookies.) If I decorate the cookies this way in the future, I will bake them longer so they are stonger. These cookies have a great flavor!

It's easy and very tasteful! Perfect!

For the past 15 years I have been trying out gingerbread cookie recipes, trying to find one that matched the cookies my grandma made. They were always either too bland, or the dough a mess, or just not like Grandma's. I am thrilled to say the search is ended with this recipe. They tasted great, were easy to work with and my house smelled phenomenal while they baked. Thank-you!

To me, the cloves left the recipe very bitter, I threw out the first batch because of the aftertaste. But I halved the cloves, and used brown sugar instead of white to make them chewier, and also butter instead of margarine, and they were terrific!

Really good flavor with these cookies. I used 3/4 cup brown sugar instead of white sugar. For the baking I would recommend the following: I put the dough in the fridge for 24 hours. I then rolled the down out in between two sheets of parchment paper. The refrigeration and parchment prevent any stickiness. I also baked the cookies on parchment. My first batch got completely stuck to the baking sheet, so the parchment paper really help with the next batch.

Delicious! I made 1.5x the recipe so I'd have enough. Followed the recipe but I had run out of nutmeg so replaced with pumpkin pie spice (which has nutmeg). Next time, I'd like to try it with nutmeg. I would say the "ready in" time estimate is misleading, though. Let's say you mix and put in the fridge, maybe 10 minutes plus 1-2 hours of chilling. Then, unless you've got a big oven that can fit a lot of cookie sheets, you're repeating the rolling/cutting/transferring onto cookie sheet/onto cooling racks steps a few times, so that's maybe 45 minutes for 3 sheets of cookies. Then the cooling for maybe 30 minutes and add in time to decorate them all (10-20 minutes, depending on how intricate your designs are), then time for the icing to set before you'd realistically serve them..... All in all, this is something that requires some planning and lots of time before the moment you'd actually be serving them, so you need to plan your time around them, doing other things while you wait in between steps. That doesn't change my rating, but just something to keep in mind! They kept very well for me. I'm eating them today, at day 3, and they are still excellent!

Definitely not to my taste. Too ... something. Spicy? Salty? Too much cloves? Too much molasses flavour and not enough sugar? I would definitely add more sugar as one review suggested if I make them again. No one in the family liked them. Although, I did find one or two people who did genuinely seem to like them. Most found them overpowering, however.

These are literally the best gingerbread men I've tasted. The flavor is wonderful (maybe it's just me, but most gingerbread cookies are tasteless). I only did a few things differently. First of all, I ground the cloves and nutmeg myself (MUCH more flavor) and added about 1/2 teaspoon of allspice and 1/4 teaspoon of cardamom. As I am a cinnamon addict, I added what must have been 1 1/2 tablespoons of cinnamon. I also began to knead the dough with my hands when mixing in the powders as the dough was much too tough and crumbly. I coated my hands continuously with water, which pressed the clumps together. When I was tasting the dough, I was thinking the cookies would turn out with much too powerful of a molasses taste. However, once cooked, these cookies were filled with warming spices and just a slight hint of molasses. This was my first time making gingerbread cookies, and this will definitely be the only recipe I use. Thank you so much!

Without a doubt the best recipe for gingerbread men. I made these and decorated them with Royal frosting and everybody ate them right up!

these were delicious! yet the only spices i added were ginger and cinnamon and it turned out great. i personally don't like molasses so i only added 1/4 cup and added and additional whole egg instead. i half to warn you that if you roll it out too thin it will burn on the edges. you can refrigerate it for more than an hour ( which is really convenient during the holidays, being busy and all). don't hesitate to try this recipe, even if this is your first time.

These cookies are PERFECT! I love the spice levels and the way they stay soft. I converted the recipe to make them vegan and gluten free. I also decorated them with icing and candies. I have another batch going right now!

These were great! We had some plain and some dipped in chocolate.

I changed the recipe a little bit, and they turned out more like chewy spice/molasses crisps rather than gingerbread cookies. I put half a cup less flour than what was called for after reading many reviews, and I also added some more spices. I also traded the 1/2 cup of sugar for 1/2 brown and 1/4 white. It turned out a little too sweet though. I put more cinnamon and ginger, and replaced the cloves for 1/2 tsp of allspice because I didn't have any. I never use margarine, so I chose butter instead as well. They tasted good, but they were not Gingerbread men material (I should have added the amount of flour that was called for, I guess) Even with less flour, it was pretty easy to work with, after leaving it stand overnight. I would advice to put most of the 2 cups of flour to make them more cookie-like.

This is all the most wonderful tasting Cookies I've had! Reminds me of those store bought little gingerbread men but better. The recipe was great and easy to go by, If you fallow the directions everything will be great! The cookies were nice and soft and had a great flavor to them. After a day or two they still are soft but don't break when held up right! I used an old fashion cookie cutter (look like a tin man but really was a gingerbread man I guess), so they were huge cookies about 5x3 inches! But really great! I'll make a bigger batch next time so I can have way more cookies that huge! I used some icing I made because I wanted to have that nice white icing outline so I made the icing with about 1 1/2 cup of confectioner's sugar, 1 egg white and 1/4 tsp. of Cream of tartar. Not sure if that tartar helped but the icing was manageable to make the outlines. There's probably a better recipe for the icing but it came out really good. GREAT RECIPE!!! THANKS!

I followed others advice and doubled the spices, they were spicy, chewy, and delicous...and GONE!

This recipe was amazing! I did not have ginger, so I substituted the spice mixture for 3 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice. Kept everything else in the recipe the same. It was perfect; thanks for sharing it!

These were judged as "yummy" by both those who have a sweet-tooth and those who live on the spicy side of life! Note: For best blend of flavors, make these well ahead of time, and of course, store air tight.

This is by far the best gingerbread recipe I have used. It is the perfect amount of spices...not bland and boring.

We add a little extra spice because we like it really spicy. Great cookie, used it three times already this week. Unfortunately, you have to bake it for an extra 10 minutes to use for making a house. The extra baking makes it taste icky, but it held up really nicely.

Delicious and easy to make!

This is a great recipe. I started it last night, so I let the dough sit overnight. I also used less molasses and couldn't find the ginger so used a little more sugar and more cloves and cinnamon. I also added vanilla, lemon juice, and sour cream because I use them in all my cookies ;) Anyway, they taste great and are just soft enough, no too soft, nor too hard. Love 'em.

This recipe is very good and very easy! But I made a couple of tweaks! I used 1/4 cup of molasses instead of 1/2 cup, one whole egg, and reduced the amount of cloves to 1/2 tsp. Also, I didn't have any nutmeg, so I left that out. I used a shaped cookie pan, so I didn't have to refrigerate the dough. The dough was actually quite easy to work with. :)

Fantastic, flavorful, and chewy! These cookies took a little work (as all rolled cookies do) but they were well worth the effort. I cut the cloves in half and added a little allspice, and they still had plenty of zing. I also added 1 Tbsp fresh orange zest. I took other reviewers advice and subbed half the white sugar for brown sugar, and also added 1/2 c. flour to make the dough more workable. It took some muscle to work in all the flour - my mixer isn't very powerful - so I kneaded it in like bread. A quick chill in the freezer for 45 minutes did the trick, and rolled the dough out thin between two sheets of floured wax paper - it was hard to work with at first, but softened a lot when it warmed up. Once the cookies were on the baking sheet, I stuck them in the freezer for a few minutes to firm up their shape before baking (I also re-chilled the baking sheets before putting the next batch on) - this trick worked really well, and the few cookies I forgot to chill down looked very "blobby" in comparison. I baked for only 7 minutes, and they were perfectly soft but not doughy when cooled - I like soft cookies better. Some I sprinkled with red sugar before baking, the others I piped around the edges with a little icing. See the Royal Icing I recipe on this site, the icing was easy to work with, hardened quickly, and has a nice, not-too-sweet flavor (it worked out perfect because the cookies need egg yolks, and the icing needs egg whites!). I also piped white "buttons

these turned out realy well,instead of mollases i used honey and i also used brown sugar,i found doing it this way made it more delicate and realy let the spices shine through

this is a really good recipe, it doubles well. you can cook them soft or crispy.

This was the first time I made gingerbread. It turned out awesome! I didn't change a thing!

Wow! This was the best gingerbread recipe ever! Many people in my family don't like gingerbread but NO ONE could resist this! I made a gingerbread house by doubling the recipe and it was the exact right amount.

The worst dough I have ever worked with. I made as instructed and even chilled the dough overnight. This dough stuck to the counter so much that it was impossible to work with. Even after incorporating more flour into the dough it was still too soft to even lift a cookie up without loosing its shape. After several attempts I gave up ... a waste of time and ingredients for me and I'm a baker. This dough seems to me to work best when well chilled but when you roll it that alone warms it up making it very difficult to keep it chilled to be able to work with it.

These are delicious - I grew up using a certain recipe which I thought was great (sort of thin and chewy), but I think I'm switching to this one from now on. Make the dough the day before and you won't have a problem with it being sticky (I did it 24 hours in advance). I decreased the cloves and added a little black pepper. And most importantly, through trial and error, I found it was best to roll this dough THICK (a full 1/4 inch) and bake a full 9-10 minutes. (I tried it thinner and cooked for less time and didn't like the results). By doing it thick and cooking the full 9-10 minutes, I got thick soft cookies which are delicious. Someone suggested rolling them out on powdered sugar and I may try that since the kids might prefer them that way.

I followed the recipe and still needed to use more flour. I chilled the dough for over an hour and still couldn't work with it using the amount of flour in the recipe. I probably added about a cup more. They tasted great but they all broke. I made another batch and used a smaller cookie cutter and rolled the dough out a little thicker. This did the trick. I used the sugar cookie icing on this site with lemon flavoring and they tasted superb.

Very good cookies, although I altered the recipe slightly,I used about an extra cup of flour (maybe the 2 cups in the recipe is a mistake and should have said 3)otherwise you can't work with the dough at all, anyway, I also only used half tsp cloves instead of 1 tsp and I used 1 tsp cinnamon instead of half tsp, I used black treacle whis is meant to be the same as mollases. They turned out really good, I rolled them out to 1/4 inch onto greaseproof paper then picked them up with a pallet knife/ metal spatulla and then placed them onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment/greaseproof paper on 170 c for 10 mins, still soft and chewy 4 days later. I iced them with royal icing which was 2 egg whites about 1lb of confectioners sugar and a tsp of lemon juice (apart from helping to cook the egg whites, I don't know what else the lemon does! as it is not enough to flavour the icing. I tried another recipe that only called for ginger, no cinnamon no cloves no nut meg and no treacle and only a tiny bit of sugar, they were terrible, I will keep this recipe as my gingerbread man recipe for sure. by the way the strong treacle smell goes away and is ovbiously used to compliment the rest of the ingredients and works really well.Thanks

LOVED! Made it exactly as written and I was surprised at how versatile the dough was. We could reroll it unlimited times and it was smooth and you can adjust the thickness of the dough/time of baking to make them as chewy or crunchy as you want. We made both soft chewy ones and crunchy, crisp ones. Will reuse anytime we need gingerbread, found my perfect recipe, thank you!

This was only my second time ever making home-made cookies and I must say this recipe was fantastic and very easy to make, though I didn't follow it exactly. I did what other reviewers suggested and halved the cloves and doubled the other spices. I also used honey instead of molasses because that's all I had. The dough was perfect, easy to roll and cut. My kids enjoyed cutting the shapes and icing the cookies. The end result was the best gingerbread cookies I have ever eaten. My family loved them so much that they ate the entire batch within 24 hours (which was almost 3 dozen!) and asked me to make more. My oldest daughter also asked me to make some for her school Christmas party and bake sale. Thank you for a wonderful recipe that my family enjoyed making and eating.

Excellent recipe! Based on other reviewers' suggestions, I added 1/4 cup of brown sugar (for flavor and to make the dough more solid), used 1/2 tsp cloves, and doubled the cinnamon and nutmeg (to give a stronger spice flavor). Like other reviewers, I recommend rolling out the dough between two sheets of parchment paper and chilling the scraps before re-rolling. Used colored royal icing (1 3/4c confectioner's sugar, 1/2 tsp lemon juice, 1 egg white beaten together till smooth) to decorate: this icing hardens well and won't crack when cookies are stacked.

First off, this was the first time that I made gingerbread cookies. I never really cared for them as a kid, but decided I wanted to give them another try. After researching many recipes and reading many reviews, I decided to try this one. I also decided to substitute half the molassas for honey. In addition I omitted the cloves because I didn't have any. Other than that I followed the recipe exactly, no extra flour. I found the consistency of the dough to be perfect. I refrigerated it for a couple hours, and was pleasantly suprised at how easy it was to roll & cut out. I did have to use the flour liberally in doing so, but no more than making other cut out cookies. The cookies were delicious & chewy with just the right amount of spice and not too strong. I think the honey helped to mellow out the cookies at bit, as I'm not a fan of the strong molassas flavor in traditional gingerbread, also it added a little exta sweetness. I will definitely use this recipe when making gingerbread cookies.

These were perfect for decorating! My kids had a lot of fun with them. I substituted butter for the margarine, but otherwise followed exactly. I think the taste was a little bland and they were too hard to eat after a few hours, so keep that in mind if that's your plan. We weren't eating them, so it was ok. This will be my go-to recipe for decorating gingerbread from now on.

You REALLY need to watch how long these are in the over for. I had 4 pans going and the two on the lowest rack were pretty inedible, but the middle rack were delicious.

Great cookie, but I had to work in a lot of extra flour when I rolled it out. I halved the cloves and increased the cinnamon and they taste great. I will probably increase the spices a bit next time. My husband loved these.

after reading the previous reviews, i was a bit apprehensive about making this recipe, especially since it was my first attempt at gingerbread men! i followed the recipe almost to a "T"...however i did use butter instead of margarine and brown sugar instead of white sugar. i was worried about my dough at first because it seemed VERY crumbly and nowhere near the sticky mess most people wrote about. i formed it into a ball and let it chill for 2 hours in the fridge. it rolled beautifully with a bit of flour and wax paper and the dough once shaped was very easily transferred onto cookie sheets. my first tray was a bit undercooked because i was nervous about over-cooking (!!!) but my 2nd tray worked out perfectly! the flavour is exactly what i was going for and the cookies aren't dry or crumbly! will file this in my regular holiday recipe box and make for years to come!! thank you!

These are wonderful! COuldn't get enough of them!!!!!!!

I read the reviews beforehand, and being the novice that I am, I took them into heavy consideration. I wanted a gingersnap, hard, spicy cookie and these looked like the best bet. I ended up using a little less than 2 cups of flour since the recipe called for 2 and reviews called for 1.5, I also used the 3/4 brown sugar substitution for the regular sugar. After mixing everything, the dough was a little dry so I added another heaping tablespoon of margarine. The result was a semi-hard cookie with the spiciness that I wanted but not exactly the texture. The cookie is delicious, don't get me wrong, the spices were strong (probably could have been stronger, I think I'll add pumpkin spice next time too as one of the reviews suggested). I also used Grandma's ROBUST molasses. The store didn't have anything else. When I make another batch, I'll probably try to regular molasses and regular sugar to try to get them a little harder.

Perfect! This is my new gingerbread recipe. I followed the advice of a previous reviewer and used 3/4 c. brown sugar instead of the white, and a bit more flour. I chilled the dough for only 30 minutes, and it was easy to roll and baked up perfectly. Didn't change the spice level at all, and the cookies were nice and spicy, just the way I like them.

Excellent, my son and I had tons of fun making these, and yes they do have great flavor too! 8 minutes was the charm for my oven.

I just made these for Xmas 2006. I doubled the recipe, and they turned out deicious. One suggestion; spray your rolling pin with cooking spray before rolling dough, this will eliminate having "floury cookies" on top. I baked them for 10 minutes and they turned out perfect, not too hard, not too soft, as I prefer a crisp cookie. I decorated them with icing made of 1 egg white with icing sugar added until it was stiff, colored one half red and used a plastic zip loc bag with a small snip in the corner as my icing piping bag...they turned out great! The icing dries hard. Make em!!!! Oh, one more idea, I made giant letters for my 3 kids first name and also made them and put them ontop of childrens gifts. I used a sharp knife and made them aprox. .5" in width for each side of the letter (if you know what I mean). Enjoy!

I made these just for the fun of it tonight since I have never made gingerbread cookies before. These were so good! The best I have ever had and my hubby and my son loved them. I made my own frosting and decorated them just like in the store. Oh and I didnt change a thing to the recipe. It was excellent as is!

They were okay. The cookies were. We were busy, so the dough sat in there for a few days, too. But the dough tasted a little weird, and it was all crumbly. I had to add more flour and a little water. I'd probably make a different recipe next time.

I used this recipe for my gingerbread house- it was great! It held together nicely and smelled wonderful!

Very good flavor, but the cooking time is way off. I did a batch in 350 degree oven for 8 minutes and after they cooled they were very crisp and hard. I changed the final batches to a 325 degree oven and cooked for 6-7 minutes and they are much better. I also upped the cloves to 1/2 TBS based on other reviews and I'm glad I did. Didn't have to add more flour like others did, but I did make sure the dough was nice and cold before rolling. Great recipe! It's a keeper!

I made this recipe for a Christmas dinner party. The gingerbread people served as place cards with everyone's name on them. Big hit! ...and incredibly tasty, just the right amount of spice! I actually made it and then left it in the fridge over night it made rolling it out the next day soooo much easier!

These cookies are spicy and delicious, and keep very well. We intended to frost and decorate them, but they were so yummy with just a light dusting of granulated sugar that we've been eating them just like that! Thanks for sharing this recipe.

I agree with many of the other reviewers, I also had some issues with the texture of the dough and had to add more flour. Except that, the spices were great, and the cookies keep well for days, if not weeks after. :)

Wonderful recipie! These cookies taste so good, and yes, they stay soft. They have a very nice balance of the molasses and the spices. I did use butter instead of margarie. This recipie is great! You have to try it.

I have been looking for a gingerbread cookie with taste and FINALLY I have found it! I also like how they are a bit chewy rather than dry and crunchy. I made these for my sons class and they turned out awesome. The dough was sticky but I rolled it out between two pieces of parchment paper instead of getting the flour marks on the cookies had I used flour instead. Thanks you for the recipe, it will definitely be a keeper in my home!

Wow! These are fantastic cookies. The dough is really a pleasure to handle. The cookies have great flavor and have a light, crispy texture, not tough at all. I've found my perfect gingerbread cookie! I chilled the dough overnight - not my orignial intent, but it worked out okay. I divided the dough up into 3 sections and wrapped each in Saran Wrap to chill. It makes it easier to work with and roll out. Keep your board and pin floured and there'll be no problem. I did not alter the recipe at all. In my opinion it's perfect as-is.

I have been looking for a good gingerbread cookie recipe for a while, and this is the one! Most are too bland, but not these. I omitted the clove, because I am not a fan. But I added 1/4 tsp. of black pepper. The cookies came out great! I must disagree with those that found the dough hard to work with. I thought it was a very easy dough to roll out! Before I put it in the fridge, I formed it into a disk, and wrapped it in plastic wrap. With a little flour on the board, I had NO problem. I rolled mine a little thinner than 1/4 inch. I used the sugar cookie icing on this website for decoration. They taste better the next day.

What are you people talking about??? This recipe was so sticky..half of the dough is in my kitchen sink! I had to scrape it off of my fingers!! Dough stayed in the fridge for hours and still sticky sticky sticky!! I am so sad. Will not use this recipe again.

This recipe was perfect and exactly what I wanted! I definitely followed the tips of the some of the other reviewers to make sure the dough was very cold (refrigerated it overnight) and to roll it out between two sheets of parchment paper. They were delicious as is, but I could have used a little more spice, so I would add 50% to each of spice next time. I also added 1/2 teaspoon of cardamom and would add a pinch of white pepper next time. The cookies expand when you bake so make sure you separate them a good distance before putting them in the oven. Refrigerating the dough cutouts for a few minutes makes them easier to lift and move on the parchment paper without stretching out the shapes. If you are decorating them without frosting (e.g. pressing raisins or red hots on for buttons or eyes) you have to move quickly, as they won't stick after the cookies cool even a little bit. This recipe was absolutely perfect as is--you just have to follow it! I would recommend making it exactly as stated first, then fiddling with it afterward, so you can make a bigger batch exactly how you like. It made 16 cookies for me, and I will definitely double the batch next time!

A really tasty gingerbread cookie. I have tried many recipies including those real ones with black pepper and this is the best. Just the right amount of spice. I've made it with crisco instead of margarine and that works well too!

They were just what the name promised: spicy! I've had trouble finding a decent gingerbread recipe because they're usually too bland but this one was perfect.

I only had 1/3 cup of molasses, and made up the difference to 1/2 c with water to make sure the cookies were moist enough. I also omitted the nutmeg and used whole wheat flour ,and 3/4 cup of brown sugar ( loosely packed). They were amazing~! We used them to make a gingergread house , and they held great, while still being moist and soft.

This recipe is absolutely fantastic. I first found it online in 2005 and I've been making it for the holidays ever since. Everyone who tries these cookies seems to love them, and I love having a recipe this good!

These are like the old fahioned gingerbread. That's good!! Some things should stay "traditional". I made the mistake of rolling my dough a little too thin. Make it the 1/4 " thick. If these seem a little "hard", just put a piece of bread in the container with them. They'll soften right up.

DELICIOUS! I loosely followed the recipe after doubling it. I used Grandma's original molasses, and used 3 1/2 cups of flour (unsifted), ground allspice in place of cloves, butter instead of margarine, and used a Tablespoon of fresh ginger. If anyone wants to use fresh, I recommend that if you want it to spread more, you should freeze your ginger knob and run your knife perpendicular to the direction you're cutting, so it's sort of like a grater, although I find that this method grates the ginger more finely than just a grater. Rolling was easy, as I wrapped and refrigerated for a day in plastic wrap, and just rolled it out in between pieces of plastic wrap. Transferring just took removing the pieces from around the plastic wrap after cutting out the shapes, and flipping it over onto my foil. I found that for gingerpeople, 7.5 minutes in the oven was just right, while larger pieces for my gingerbread boat required 12 minutes of baking. The cookies crack easily warm from the oven, but about 5 minutes of cooling hardened them up. I would use this recipe again!!

Wonderful Recipe...I found that you only needed to cook them for about 6.5 minutes. Thanks!

I doubled the spices except the cloves, and added a couple dashes of Cayenne. I also used dark brown sugar instead of white. I let the dough sit overnight and it was absolutely fabulous to roll out. They are so soft inside and delicious! Finally a gingerbread recipe I'm satisfied with!! Thank you!

These cookies are the BEST!!!! I rolled mine in between floured waxed paper and had no problem with them sticking. I reduced the cloves to 1/2 tsp., cloves are potent, a whole teaspoon seemed like waaayyyy too much for me. I added a tad more cinnamon in place of the cloves and they tasted great. Recipe only makes a small amount, I ended up with a dozen last night and they are all gone as of 15 min. ago when my son ate the last one!!

I made a gingerbread house with this recipe. Yes, it is sticky, but if you refrigerate it that is not a problem. It worked beautifully for my gingerbread house.

Great recipe! Thank you Lord for patience and Steph67 for a great recipe when in the kitchen with little ones! This great disaster-proof recipe was delicious. I really like spicy so I added allspice and black pepper. We decorated them with the Gingerbread Cookie Frosting also on this site and they were delicious.

These were really good!! Very chewy. I would give it 5 stars but I made changes as suggested by others. I replaced the spices (except ginger) with 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice, increased the flour to 3 cups, and refrigerated over night. It was easy to roll out between 2 floured sheets of wax paper. Baked for 8 minutes.

Loved this recipe, did change and rating based on the fact that I substituted Splenda for the sugar and they came out fabulous. So for those who have family with sugar issues and need a recipe that adapts well to Splenda..definitely a keeper! Great taste and texture, just like they should be!!

I LOVE this recipe. I made it last year and I am making it again this year, but I will be making a few changes to soften it up a bit and make it a little chewier. I will be adding an extra egg yolk and subbing bread flour for half of the flour total. I am subbing brown sugar for all of the white sugar and using an extra quarter cup of shortening. The shortening will make up for the extra moisture/fat that the bread flour will need and will make for a little more cake-like cookie. The extra yolk and bread flour will amp up the protein making a chewier cookie.

I've used this recipe for several years now and have never had a problem with it - I make it exactly as it is. The dough is easy to roll out and the cookies come out tasting fantastic. Do watch while they are in the oven - it depends on how thin you've rolled out your dough and how hot your oven runs. It's just common sense no matter what the cookie recipe.

This recipe was PERFECT. I didn't change a THING! Only needed to flour the dough a bit while rolling it out. I worked half the dough at a time, and it made the most wonderful gingerbread men! I doubled the recipe and it made 34 large men (the Wilson cutter with the green comfort handle). Tasty and spicy - - my 5 yr old even liked them. This will be my annual gingerbread recipe! Thanks so much!!!!

Great cookies, I searched a long time before finding such a good one. I make these for my family during Christmas, they enjoy them :)

Yummy! Just what I was looking for, a soft, spicy gingerbread cookie. I didn't have any cloves, so I just added more of the other spices. Excellent with icing and even better the next day!

These are the very best gingerbread cookies I have ever tried! Everybody in my family just kept eating and eating them. If you don't over-cook them they are so chewy and delicious! The dough is easy to roll out between two sheets of waxed paper. I didn't change the recipe at all. I can't wait to make them again next Christmas!!!

This is a wonderful recipe, and the amount of sugar is just fine. If you follow exactly the amount of what the recipe says, there shoudn't be problems like too sticky or not moisture enough. I guess the reason about the dough getting out of hand probably is due to the temperature (turn the heater down a little bit perhaps) My freinds just couldnt get enough of them. And I take half of the dough and use cocoa init, it becomes chocolate flavor gingerbread cookies. Difintely will make it again next year.

I noticed some people complained about it not being spicy enough. The only thing you need to add to give it that special kick people may be looking for, besides doubling the spices, is a 1/4t of cayenne! It's just that simple!

Yummy! We've made this a New Year's Day tradition--making a huge gingerbread man and decorating him together--and then of course eating him! This gingerbread is lovely--tender, sweet and very spicy! This is the first recipe I picked from allrecipes.com, and I don't feel the need to ever try any of the other recipes--I got perfection on the first one!

this is by far the best gingerbread recipe. it's sturdy enough to use to build houses with yet soft and spicy enough to be an excellent "eating" cookie. for the best flavor and color i recommend only using FANCY molasses, not cooking or blackstrap.

Just what I was looking for! Easy and just the right amount of spice.

This makes unbelievable gingerbread men. I'll be using this gingerbread recipe from now on. Rave reviews from the family. I made a couple of minor adjustments. First, I used 1/4 c. white sugar and 1/4 c. brown sugar instead of 1/2 c. white sugar. Second, instead of 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, I doubled it and used 1 tsp. cinnamon. Also, I used butter rather than margarine. And most importantly, 8 minute cook time was the right length of time. 10 minutes would have been wayyy too long.

These turned out perfect.

Taste just as good as they look :) But the idea of rolling on wax paper and pulling the dough away from the cut out and then lifting on to a cookie sheet is a must. I tried other ways and this worked the best. Thanks for the tips from everyone. First time I've made gingerbread men but not the last!! Thanks :)

These are delicious! Very gingery and good.

Great recipe! First time tried it as written. Second time I adjusted spices to my liking - upped the ginger and cinnamon and decreased the cloves. I chilled the dough in a disc (like I would for pie dough) in a plastic ziplock bag. When I was ready to roll out the cookies, I divided the dough into 3 sections and only took one section at a time out of the fridge. The dough wasn't too sticky as some have commented. I had no issues with rolling the dough. I used 2 in star cookie cutter for shapes and left them plain without icing. I made 10 dozen for the cookie walk at school and they were gone before many of the other more 'fancy' cookies. These were a hit! I will be making more next week for a cookie exchange - those I will ice with royal icing.

I just wanted to let you know these were the best gingerbread cookies I have ever had. I enjoy spicy. Thank you for the recipe.