Name: Gingerbread Family Cookies
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 13 min
Total time: 33 min
Ingredients: 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour; 3/4 tsp. baking soda; 1 Tbsp. ground ginger; 1 tsp. ground cinnamon; 1/2 tsp. ground cloves; 1/4 tsp. salt; 1/2 cup 1 stick unsalted butter, softened; 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar; 1 large egg; 1/2 cup original molasses

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Make a gingerbread family for Christmas to share with family and friends. These cookies are crisp and crunchy gingerbread, cut into gingerbread men, women, and babies. Decorate them with icing or frosting for a sweet holiday treat.

One thing I never had growing up was gingerbread men. In fact, I didn’t really have any kind of ginger cookies until I started baking on my own. When I tell this to people, they can’t believe it so I made it a point to try out some classic gingerbread man cookie recipes.

After trying a few recipes I didn’t like, I found a recipe in Family Circle Magazine that was fairly simple to make and I found some adorable gingerbread family cookie cutters* – why only make men if you can make a whole family? I think they are so cute.

You can use any cookie cutter shape that you like, but for Christmas, it’s really fun to make a cookie family and decorate them with icing. They’re almost too cute to eat.

The cookies have the best gingerbread texture and – crunchy, spicy, with a little more kick than molasses cookies or gingersnaps.

Ingredients

All-purpose flour
Baking soda
Ground ginger
Ground cinnamon
Ground cloves
Salt
Softened unsalted butter
Dark brown sugar
Egg
Molasses

How to Make the Cookies

Whisk the flour, baking soda, spices, and salt together in a bowl. In a separate bowl, beat the butter and sugar together until smooth. Beat in the egg and molasses and then stir the dry ingredients in.

Divide the dough in half, wrap each in plastic wrap, and chill them for two hours. Chilling the dough is an important step. The butter needs to firm up so the cookies don’t spread too much when they bake. Chilling it also allows the flavors to develop in the dough.

Once chilled, roll one half of the dough to a thickness of 1/8”. Use the cookie cutters to cut out the shapes and place them on ungreased baking sheets. Reroll the scrapes and keep cutting until you’ve used up the dough. Repeat this process with the other half of the chilled dough.

Bake the cookies for 13 minutes at 350°F and then transfer them to baking racks to cool completely.

Decorations

I was so excited to decorate my gingerbread family the first time, I had Boyfriend sketch some options for me before I actually decorated them. I wanted them to have little faces and outfits and I think they turned out so cute.

You can ice them as simple or as detailed as you like. You can pipe frosting on to create lines and faces as I did, or you can just frost them and top them with sprinkles to keep them simple.

The only problem I had with my gingerbread family was eating them! I thought they were so cute I had a hard time taking a bite, but they’re so good I couldn’t help myself. My family loved them, too.

I think these are perfect for Christmas. Making a platter of little gingerbread men, women, and babies would be a cute cookie platter to share with family and friends.

More Festive Christmas Cookies

Be sure to check out my favorite Christmas Cookies recipes for ideas or try some of these cute cookies:

*Some of the links contained in this post are affiliate links. Much like referral codes, this means I earn a small commission if you purchase a product I referred (at no extra charge to you).