Our Favorite Gingerbread Cookie Recipe
Nothing says it is “holiday time” quite like the smell of freshly baked gingerbread cookies! I started the yearly tradition of making gingerbread cookies (specifically gingerbread people) about six or seven years ago when I worked as a childcare provider. Each holiday time, usually sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas, I would purchase a cheap pouch of Betty Crocker gingerbread cookie mix and bring it with me to babysit. Somewhere along the way, I purchased some cookie cutters in the shape of gingerbread people.
Was the mix whole-foods based? Definitely not. Did the kids love the experience? Definitely yes! At the time, the mix was a good price point for my budget, and I did not yet have the know-how for making baked goods, like cookies, from scratch.
A few years later, when our son was born, I decided that I was going to take the leap and try my hand at making homemade gingerbread cookies. I started with a from-scratch recipe in my Betty Crocker cookbook, and then I began swapping out some of the less desirable ingredients for those that better fit my values. Below, I share my version of the beloved recipe, along with a link to a great homemade cream cheese frosting recipe (you can find it in the notes section of the recipe).
If you try the recipe, please let me know what you think. I hope you enjoy this gingerbread cookie recipe as much as my family has over the years!
Our Favorite Homemade Gingerbread Cookie Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup coconut sugar
- 1/3 cup butter, salted
- 1 1/2 cups pure molasses
- 2/3 cup cold water
- 7 cups spelt flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon salt (I avoid table salt and opt for a less processed salt, such as Himalayan pink salt.)
- 1 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (If you do not have allspice or cloves, just substitute cinnamon, increasing your cinnamon amount to 3 teaspoons.)
Instructions
- Mix coconut sugar, butter, pure molasses, and water.
- Stir in remaining ingredients.
- OPTIONAL: Cover and refrigerate 2 hours up to a day to help the flour hydrate and for the flavors to blend.
- Heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease cookie sheet lightly, if needed.
- Roll about 1/4 of the dough 1/4 inch thick on a floured board or clean counter. Cut with floured gingerbread cutter or simply roll dough into balls and then flatten (about 2 tablespoons of dough per cookie). Repeat process until you work through the rest of the dough.
- Place cookies about 2 inches apart on cookie sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes, or until lightly browned. (I typically like to keep the cookies still soft-to-the-touch and let them cool down before removing from cookie sheet and frosting.)
Notes
Yours truly,
Erica Barlow
Gift Ideas for Kids 2023