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 is the best way to decorate gingerbread cookies? ›

Just stir up a batch of easy royal icing (it's our Test Kitchen's favorite frosting for decorating cutout cookies), add it to a piping bag fitted with a small round tip and pipe away! You can use small candies and sprinkles to add more detail. It's Christmastime, so go crazy with the extras!

What is the difference between gingerbread and ginger cookies? ›

Both are spiced cookies. The main differences are that gingersnaps are typically rolled into balls, while gingerbread is rolled out and cut into shapes. Gingersnaps are also baked slightly longer, which is where they get their snappy crispiness. Gingerbread is typically a little chewier.

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.

What is the #1 cookie in the United States? ›

The chocolate chip cookie is far and away America's favorite cookie This should come as no surprise to anyone who enjoys the tasty treat. More than 53% of American adults prefer the cookies over the next most popular kind, peanut butter.

What is the #1 cookie in the US? ›

America's favorite cookie and the one dubbed “the American cookie” is the Chocolate chip cookie. Chocolate chip cookie is simply tantalizing both in flavor and in texture.

How to decorate Christmas gingerbread? ›

One of our favorite aspects about making gingerbread cookies from scratch is being able to decorate them after they cool. Sprinkles, icing, gum drops, mints, chocolates—you can use all these edible items and more to give your cookies their own unique personalities.

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 do gingerbread cookies have to do with Christmas? ›

Gingerbread was brought to Europe in 992 by an Armenian monk. Through the 17th century, gingerbread was used for religious ceremonies. 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.

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.

What are gingerbread men called now? ›

A bakery has sparked backlash over its decision to change the labels on its gingerbread men to the more “politically correct” gingerbread people.

What is Victorian gingerbread? ›

Gingerbread is an architectural style that consists of elaborately detailed embellishment known as gingerbread trim. It is more specifically used to describe the detailed decorative work of American designers in the late 1860s and 1870s, which was associated mostly to the Carpenter Gothic style.

What brings out the flavor in cookies? ›

Add Spices To Your Dough

Spices can add an amazing aroma and flavor to your cookies. I use spices like cinnamon, ginger, and cloves to bring out the flavor in many recipes.

What happens if you don't chill gingerbread dough? ›

Forgetting to chill the dough.

It's tempting to want to roll out the dough as soon as it comes together, but let it have a little time to rest. 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.

How do you moisten gingerbread cookie dough? ›

Dry – “Dry” or “Crumbly” dough is a product of over-mixing or using too much of any ingredient during the mixing process. This can be reversed by adding one to two tablespoons of liquid (water, milk or softened butter) to your mix.

What is the best selling Christmas cookie? ›

What are the most popular Christmas cookies? Our survey found frosted sugar cookies and chocolate chip cookies to be the most popular Christmas cookies in the country. They were the fan favorites in 39 states.

What is the most Googled Christmas cookie? ›

Italian Christmas Cookies grow as top cookie

Zoom in: Italian Christmas Cookies were the top cookie in 13 states, more than double the six states from 2022, Google Trends curator Katie Seaton told Axios. Seaton said the Italian cookies dominated the East Coast both this year and last year.

What is the original Christmas cookie? ›

Modern Christmas cookies can trace their history to recipes from Medieval Europe biscuits, when many modern ingredients such as cinnamon, ginger, black pepper, almonds and dried fruit were introduced into the west.

What's the least popular Christmas cookie? ›

On the naughty list of cookies, Americans gave the lowest win records to anise cookies, which only won 29% of its matchups.

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