Name: Soft gingerbread cookies
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 16 min
Total time: 41 min
Cuisine: German
Ingredients: 1 stick butter (113 g), at room temperature; 1/2 cup dark brown sugar (106 g); 1/4 cup molasses (82 g); 2 teaspoons gingerbread spice (Lebkuchengewürz); 3/4 teaspoon baking powder; 1/2 teaspoon baking soda; 1/2 teaspoon salt; 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest; 1 Tablespoon spiced rum or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract; 1 large egg; 1/4 cup sour cream (60 g); 2 cups all-purpose flour (260 g); 1 cup powdered sugar (120 g); 1 and 1/2 teaspoons meringue powder; 1 Tablespoon water; 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

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These soft gingerbread cookies are so darn tasty with flavors of lemon, gingerbread spice, and a little rum all in a quick to make cakey cookie and some fun royal icing.

My kids love decorating gingerbread. We host a huge Christmas cookie party every year, and the gingerbread decorating station is always the one that the kids take over. No doubt some people have ended up with cyclops gingerbread men in their cookie boxes as a result. As much as I love the crisp gingerbread cutout recipe I use, I wanted to have a simpler, everyday gingerbread cookie you could have with a glass of milk or tea.

And that’s just what these soft gingerbread cookies are: a simple homey kind of cookie you’d hope to see on the counter after school.

That you can make the dough in about 5 minutes and get them into the oven in another 10 tops is even better. Shoot, I iced these hot in my test batches and nothing suffered. If you’re not ready to be in full on Christmas cookies mode or you want an easy cookie to add into your repertoire with gentle spice flavor, this cookie has you covered!

Soft Gingerbread Cookies

Why you’ll love these gingerbread cookies

Soft!: I love crisp gingerbread as much as the next person, but the soft cakey like texture is a welcome change. These are a lovely after dinner cookie or a coffee time treat. Like my soft pumpkin cookies and caramel apple cookies, these are the best kind of homey cookie you want to see piled on a plate.
Gentle gingerbread flavor: My mild gingerbread spice blend, you’ll get all the wintery gingerbread flavor you’re looking for without too many aggressive flavors that need to mellow. A lot of spice cookies benefit from aging in a tin for a few days–these are not that. Feel free to enjoy them right away.
Easy decorating project: This recipe makes just over 2 dozen cookies, so you don’t need an afternoon to decorate them. You can easily mix, bake, and decorate well within an hour.

Ingredients for Soft Gingerbread Cookies

Butter
Brown sugar
Molasses
Gingerbread spice (Lebkuchengewürz)
Lemon zest
Egg
Spiced rum or vanilla extract (the rum ties all the spice flavors together)

All-purpose flour
Baking powder
Baking soda
Salt
Sour cream

Royal icing

Powdered sugar
Lemon juice
Meringue powder
Water

Soft gingerbread cookies

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Author: Elizabeth Farr
Total Time: 41 minutes (includes cooling and decorating time)
Yield: 24 cookies 1x

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Description

Easy to make gentle spiced soft gingerbread cookies topped with royal icing. There’s no need for difficult icing techniques here: just have fun piping on snowflakes, hearts, Christmas trees and whatever else suits your fancy.

Ingredients

Scale

Gingerbread cookies

1 stick butter (113 g), at room temperature
1/2 cup dark brown sugar (106 g)
1/4 cup molasses (82 g)
2 teaspoons gingerbread spice (Lebkuchengewürz)
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
1 Tablespoon spiced rum or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/4 cup sour cream (60 g)
2 cups all-purpose flour (260 g)

Royal icing

1 cup powdered sugar (120 g)
1 and 1/2 teaspoons meringue powder
1 Tablespoon water
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

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Instructions

Make the cookies

Preheat the oven to 325 F (165 F). Line two sheet trays with parchment paper.
Mix the butter, sugar, molasses, gingerbread spice, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and lemon zest in either a stand mixer or with a hand mixer until well-blended.
Scrape down the sides of the bowl, and then add in the rum, egg, and sour cream. Mix until the mixture is smooth.
Add in the flour and mix until the flour just disappears. Scrape down the bowl to mix in any butter or molasses that might be hanging out in the bottom of the bowl. You will have a very sticky batter.
Scoop out balls of dough with a cookie scoop, 12 to a sheet tray. Lightly dampen your hands and gently flatten the balls just to smooth the tops.
Bake the cookies for 16 minutes, rotating the sheets top to bottom and turning them 180 degrees around halfway through baking. The cookies are done when they are dry on top, and the middle of the cookies does not collapse when you touch them.

Finish the cookies

While the cookies are baking, beat all the royal icing ingredients together until the icing holds its shape and is thick and bright white. Scrape the icing into a piping bag fitted with a small plain tip.
Let the cookies cool for about 10 minutes. After that, you can decorate them with the royal icing, piping on snowflakes, hearts, or whatever ideas you can think of. Let the cookies sit out until the icing hardens. After that, you can place the cookies in an airtight container and keep them at room temperature for up to 3 days. You can also freeze cookies for up to 2 months.