20 Easy Gingerbread Cookie Recipes To Spice Up Your Holidays (2024)

20 Easy Gingerbread Cookie Recipes To Spice Up Your Holidays (1)

Whether it's decorated like a house or transformed into cute (but tasty) people, here is something about gingerbread that makes it only appropriate for Christmas time. Now that we think about it, have we ever really seen gingerbread cookies outside of the holidays? Nevertheless, gingerbread cookies are a must when it comes to Christmas cookie baking. Even if you aren't a fan of them yourself, you can't ignore how good they smell baking in the oven, or how cute they look decorated with some royal icing, sprinkles, edible glitter, and occasionally, some frosting filling.

You can never go wrong with the classic gingerbread man cookie shape, but we compiled 21 different gingerbread cookie recipes in case you were looking to get a little more creative this year. From gingerbread stockings to sandwiches and even stencils, there is sure to be a cute gingerbread cookie recipe that will become your best kept secret for years to come.

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1

Gingerbread Men Smores

20 Easy Gingerbread Cookie Recipes To Spice Up Your Holidays (2)

These chocolate and cream cheese marshmallow s'more sandwiches are the ultimate sweet treat.

Get the recipe for Gingerbread Men S'mores.

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2

Gingerbread Trains

20 Easy Gingerbread Cookie Recipes To Spice Up Your Holidays (3)

Choo! Choo! This is the perfect recipe for those creative bakers out there who want more of a challenge.

Get the recipe for Gingerbread Trains.

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3

Gingerbread Girls

20 Easy Gingerbread Cookie Recipes To Spice Up Your Holidays (4)

Customize these gingerbread girls with candy, sprinkles, and icing.

Get the recipe for Gingerbread Girls.

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4

Hang the Stockings Gingerbread Cookies

20 Easy Gingerbread Cookie Recipes To Spice Up Your Holidays (5)

Hang one of these cookies on your tree for an edible decoration.

Get the recipe for Hang the Stockings Gingerbread Cookies.

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5

Chocolate-Gingerbread Hugs

These cookies blend chocolate with ginger spices to create a delicious combination of flavors. A hug tops the cookie off to give it a hint of vanilla.

Get the recipe for Chocolate-Gingerbread Hugs.

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6

Reindeer Gingbread Cookies

20 Easy Gingerbread Cookie Recipes To Spice Up Your Holidays (7)

Looking to change it up? Use a gingerbread cookie cutter to make cutouts that can be made into reindeer when turned upside down.

Get the recipe for Reindeer Gingerbread Cookie.

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7

Gingerbread Snow Angels

20 Easy Gingerbread Cookie Recipes To Spice Up Your Holidays (8)

This gingerbread man will look so cute making icing and sugar snow angels.

Get the recipe for Gingerbread Snow Angels.

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8

Gingerbread Cookies

20 Easy Gingerbread Cookie Recipes To Spice Up Your Holidays (9)

You can't go wrong with a classic gingerbread cookie recipe.

Get the recipe for Gingerbread Cookies.

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9

Gingerbread Animals

20 Easy Gingerbread Cookie Recipes To Spice Up Your Holidays (10)

These cute gingerbread animals put the regular gingerbread men to shame.

Get the recipe for Gingerbread Animals.

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10

Gingerbread Village

20 Easy Gingerbread Cookie Recipes To Spice Up Your Holidays (11)

Why stop at a gingerbread house when you can design this gorgeous gingerbread village?

Get the recipe for Gingerbread Village.

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11

Gingerbread Polar Bears and Frosted Stars

20 Easy Gingerbread Cookie Recipes To Spice Up Your Holidays (12)

Instead of gingerbread men, make polar bears complete with a fluffy white shredded coconut fur this Christmas.

Get the recipe for Gingerbread Polar Bears and Frosted Stars.

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12

Gingerbread Cookie Trees

20 Easy Gingerbread Cookie Recipes To Spice Up Your Holidays (14)

These spiced cookies taste so good that you won't be too sad to see your display disappear within seconds. Consider it compliments to the chef.

Get the recipe for Gingerbread Cookie Trees.

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13

Chocolate Gingerbread Snow Angels

20 Easy Gingerbread Cookie Recipes To Spice Up Your Holidays (16)

This one's for the chocolate lovers! Add some cocoa to your favorite Christmas gingerbread cookie for a rich, chocolaty flavor.

Get the recipe for Chocolate Gingerbread Snow Angels.

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14

Gingerbread Cookie Wands

20 Easy Gingerbread Cookie Recipes To Spice Up Your Holidays (18)

Crispy cookie wands covered in edible glitter and sprinkles that have a hint of pumpkin spice.

Get the recipe from Good Housekeeping.

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15

Gingerbread Trees with Lemon Icing

20 Easy Gingerbread Cookie Recipes To Spice Up Your Holidays (19)

Lemon icing gives these gingerbread trees with crystallized sugar on top a citrus zing to these cookies.

Get the recipe from Delish.

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16

Stenciled Gingerbread

20 Easy Gingerbread Cookie Recipes To Spice Up Your Holidays (20)

These gorgeous cookies use cocoa powder and sugar to create snowflake and holly stencils on these thin gingerbread cookies.

Get the recipe at Delish.

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17

Gingerbread Snowflakse

20 Easy Gingerbread Cookie Recipes To Spice Up Your Holidays (21)

These elegantly iced snowflakes will look gorgeous as a centerpiece for any table.

Get the recipe from Delish.

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18

S'mores Gingerbread Cookie Cups

20 Easy Gingerbread Cookie Recipes To Spice Up Your Holidays (22)

Combine gooey marshmallow cream, chocolate chips, and spicy gingerbread cookie dough to make these mouthwatering treats.

Get the recipe at Delish.

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19

Caramel-Gingerbread Cookie Bars

20 Easy Gingerbread Cookie Recipes To Spice Up Your Holidays (24)

We're drooling over these beauties. Decorate them with mini gingerbread men sprinkles for a clever touch.

Get the recipe at Delish.

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20

Caramel Gingerbread Cookie Cups

20 Easy Gingerbread Cookie Recipes To Spice Up Your Holidays (26)

Taking a bite into these cookie cups will fill your mouth with flavors of sugary caramel, spicy cinnamon, and creamy vanilla.

Get the recipe at Delish.

20 Easy Gingerbread Cookie Recipes To Spice Up Your Holidays (2024)

FAQs

What's the difference between gingerbread cookies and ginger cookies? ›

While molasses cookies and gingersnaps are rolled into dough balls and then baked, gingerbread is rolled flat then use cookie cutters to cut your desired shape. This Gingerbread Cookie recipe is foolproof and SO easy to make.

What to get to decorate gingerbread cookies? ›

Gumdrops are the perfect candy for giving gingerbread men buttons and providing different textures and flavors. Other candies commonly used to garnish gingerbread cookies and houses include licorice, candy canes, jelly beans, and mints.

Why are my gingerbread cookies bland? ›

Mistake #1: Underseasoning your dough

Something has definitely gone wrong if your gingerbread is bland and doesn't have a distinct ginger flavor. To prevent this from happening, Lomas recommends using several different types of ginger: dried ground ginger, fresh ginger and candied ginger.

Why do people make gingerbread cookies for Christmas? ›

In the late 17th century, gingerbread became associated with Christmas. Russian bakers prepared gingerbread men and women, usually as replicas of those people attending parties. Gingerbread houses were introduced about 200 years later, when the Grimm brothers wrote Hansel and Gretel. A new holiday tradition was born.

What are the three types of gingerbread? ›

The three distinct types of gingerbread are brown gingerbread, wafer-based gingerbread and honey gingerbread.
  • BROWN GINGERBREAD.
  • WAFER GINGERBREAD.
  • HONEY GINGERBREAD.

Should gingerbread cookies be hard or soft? ›

Should gingerbread cookies be hard or soft? Soft gingerbread biscuits are ideal. They ought to be flexible. However, they should still be somewhat elastic, and if you hold them too firmly because you're so excited to eat them, you might even be able to leave your fingerprints on the cookie!

What compliments gingerbread? ›

Needing to be foiled, gingerbread loves whipped cream. But it also takes to tart winter fruits like a shortcake to strawberries. Poached or broiled pineapple sings alongside gingerbread, as do a few spoonfuls of pomelo curd, garnished with candied pomelo peel.

What do professionals use to decorate cookies? ›

With these in your arsenal, all you'll need to bring to the pastry kitchen is a little artistic sensibility.
  • Rolling pin with thickness rings. ...
  • Piping tips and couplers. ...
  • Piping bags. ...
  • Piping bag ties. ...
  • Scribe tool. ...
  • Gel food coloring. ...
  • Edible paint pens.
Aug 27, 2019

Why does my stomach hurt after eating gingerbread cookies? ›

Ginger cookies, which have ginger, sugar, flour, butter and other ingredients, may actually aggravate the condition, for example. NBC News Health and Nutrition Editor Madelyn Fernstrom echoed this advice. “Don't be fooled by most holiday treats that sound like they can help an upset stomach,” she said.

Should gingerbread dough be chilled before baking? ›

Refrigerate until chilled, about 3 hours. (The dough can be prepared up to 2 days ahead.) To roll out the cookies, work with one disk at a time, keeping the other disk refrigerated.

Should you refrigerate gingerbread dough? ›

Chilling it for at least two hours or overnight gives the ingredients a chance to absorb one another, making it a whole lot easier to roll out the dough without it cracking. Follow this tip: Let the dough chill in the refrigerator, well-wrapped, for at least two hours or overnight before rolling it out.

What does the gingerbread symbolize? ›

Long before it became a holiday treat, gingerbread was a royal favorite, a token of fertility, and a tool for witches to exact their vengeance. The pudgy gingerbread man with his candy eyes and icing smile has a sinister backstory—a link to death and the demonic.

What country is gingerbread from? ›

According to Rhonda Massingham Hart's Making Gingerbread Houses, the first known recipe for gingerbread came from Greece in 2400 BC. Chinese recipes were developed during the 10th century and by the late Middle Ages, Europeans had their own version of gingerbread.

What country invented gingerbread? ›

Food historians trace the origins of gingerbread back to the ancient Egyptians, who used it for ceremonial purposes. The ancient Greeks followed suit with the first known recipe for gingerbread around 2400 B.C.

Is gingerbread the same as ginger? ›

In Medieval England, the term gingerbread simply meant “preserved ginger” and wasn't applied to the desserts we are familiar with until the 15th century. The term is now broadly used to describe any type of sweet treat that combines ginger with honey, treacle or molasses.

Why are gingerbread cookies called ginger? ›

Originally, the term gingerbread referred to preserved ginger. It then referred to a confection made with honey and spices. Gingerbread is often used to translate the French term pain d'épices (literally “spice bread”) or the German term Lebkuchen or Pfefferkuchen (pepperbread, literally: pepper cake).

Does gingerbread cookies taste like ginger? ›

Also with as much ginger this recipe calls for, keep in mind even after baking these cookies will have a strong ginger flavor which is great for gingerbread cookie lovers like myself, but be prepared for the non-fans.

What is a ginger cookie? ›

(dʒɪndʒəʳbred ) uncountable noun. Gingerbread is a sweet biscuit or cookie that is flavoured with ginger. It is often made in the shape of a person or an animal. It works really well because the gingerbread has a sweet bite to it.

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