With the holidays fast approaching, it’s almost time to start thinking about Christmas baking and the spicy smells of gingerbread, cinnamon, and hot apple cider.

It’s funny, I never actually liked gingerbread much as a kid; and frankly, it’s still not my favourite thing to eat… But the smell of it is so deliciously full of Christmas nostalgia that I just can’t let the season go by without making it in one form or another.

About this recipe

This gingerbread recipe is perfect for making cookies and houses. When baked, it comes out of the oven soft and fluffy (which is my favourite way to eat it), but as it cools, it hardens into a nice crunchy cookie that holds it structure perfectly. Its flavour is mild, sweet, and spicy.

Baking tips

Since gingerbread is made with molasses, the dark syrup/sugar content allows the cookies to harden easily, making it perfect for creating cookie houses and sculptures. There are a few keys, however, to making sure that gingerbread comes out right.

Allow the dough to rest

Like sugar cookies, gingerbread is able to best develop flavour and structure by resting in the fridge overnight before you make your cookies. You can make cookies without the resting time, but the flavour will not have developed to its full potential. Furthermore, the cookies may spread in the oven more than usual, since the flour will not have had time to absorb the soft/liquid ingredients.

Use enough flour

There are few things more frustrating than rolling out a bunch of dough, cutting out your beautiful cookies, and then finding that they all stick to your work surface and get mangled as you transfer them to your baking sheets. Gingerbread is especially susceptible to this, since the molasses makes the dough quite sticky.

To prevent this, make sure you dust your work surface with enough flour! You can try rotating your dough and adding flour as you roll it to keep the dough from adhering to your work surface.

Place the the cookies on parchment paper before baking

Since taking the pictures for this post, I’ve started always baking cookies on parchment paper. This prevents them from becoming too dark, and it also prevents them from getting damaged during the transfer process from pan to cooling rack.

You can of course bake them as pictured, just on a cookie sheet – but I highly recommend using parchment when you can!

Bake the cookies long enough

Especially for baking gingerbread houses, it’s important to make sure they are baked long enough. If the cookies are underbaked, they will not hold their structure, and you may find that the roof of the house bends, warps, or even breaks over time.

How to keep your cookies from spreading in the oven

I always recommend a couple of good tips for making sure cookies don’t spread in the oven.

Make sure your dough has enough flour.
You can test bake 1 cookie first to see how much it spreads. After your cookie dough has rested in the fridge, roll out a little bit of dough and cut out a single cookie. If it spreads a lot while it bakes, you can knead in a little bit of flour to stiffen the dough slightly.
Freeze the cookies before you bake them.
Freezing the cookies before you bake them is one of the best ways to ensure your cookies will not spread too much while baking (this is what I do). I find it especially helpful for keeping the pre-measured sides of gingerbread houses the right size to fit together perfectly.

What is the best kind of molasses to use for gingerbread cookies?

You can use fancy (table) molasses or blackstrap molasses for this recipe. My preference is the former, since I like the flavour of my cookies to stay a little more mild. If you like the strong molasses flavour, feel free to use blackstrap instead for a slightly darker, bolder flavoured cookie.

What kind of icing to use for gingerbread houses and cookies

Royal icing is the stuff you want to use for that snow-white, hard drying frosting. It is the perfect “glue” for gingerbread houses and makes perfect peaked icicles to hang off of their roofs. It is also a great icing to stick little candy buttons onto your gingerbread men and women!

Other fun ways to use this recipe:

At some point in the future, I want to make a gingerbread castle! We’ll see if I can get that to happen… If I do, it will surely end up on the blog!

To make this recipe, you will need:

Ingredients (see recipe card)
Mixing bowls
Measuring cups and spoons
Stand mixer (optional)
Christmas cookie cutters or gingerbread house cutter set
Rolling pin
Miniature sieve
Baking pans
Cookie lifter
Parchment paper
Cooling racks

Easy Homemade Gingerbread

Ingredients

1/2 c. butter
1/2 c. sugar
1 egg
1/2 c. fancy molasses I always take "Fancy" as table molasses, which is milder... But you can use anything
2/-1/4 c. all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. ginger
1-1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. cloves
1/2 tsp. nutmeg

Instructions

Cream butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg and molasses; mix to combine. Add dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. Chill dough at least 4 hours or overnight.
Roll and cut into shapes.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 8-10 minutes, or until done. Cool on wire racks.