You’ll love making holiday memories with this gingerbread cookie recipe!  Crisp, crunchy, and sturdy, they’re perfect for decorating.  The easiest dough you’ll ever roll out, with a flavor that just screams holiday!

Gingerbread cookies are so fun to decorate during the holidays! This recipe was easy and tasted great.

Thank you to Aldi Stores for sponsoring this post, and helping me to make happy holiday memories with my family!  All opinions expressed herein are straight from my heart.

Over the Thanksgiving holiday, I participated in a pin party hosted by Better Homes and Gardens.  I was scouring the web for anything and everything to get the holiday spirit flowing, and I saw so many gorgeous images of gingerbread houses.  It just inspired me!

Have you ever made a house though?  It’s a lot.  I mean, I’m the kind of person that likes a lot, but whole gingerbread houses are a lot a lot.  Even for me.  And the front facade is really the best part anyway, so I just decided to do that.  I used a 4-inch square cutter and just went nuts with the royal icing and Christmas candy decorations.

Gingerbread cookies are so fun to decorate during the holidays! This recipe was easy and tasted great.

I picked up all the trimmings at my favorite place in all the land, Aldi.  Once again you got me, Aldi.  Everything you see here, plus eggs, bacon, milk, bagels (of the big and mini variety), and a loaf of bread rang up at just a little over 20 bucks.  I will never stop being astonished by just how much I can get for so little at that store.

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When I was at the headquarters a couple of weeks ago, I learned all about just how they do it (read more about that here).  No credit card fees help (they just take cash or debit there), and so do no bags.  Bring your own reusable bags, or take advantage of the empty boxes they put out for customers.

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Also, they have fewer employees.  Just a couple in the store at any given time, and it’s on you to put your shopping cart back when you’re done with it.  You see this chain thingy?  I stick my quarter in there and it unlocks it.  The quarter stays right there with me while I shop, and when I put the cart back and hook the chain back up, it pops the quarter back out for me.  I will gladly put my own cart back if it cuts my grocery bill like that!  And you notice how all the boxes are stacked there? It’s pretty genius.  The packaging is designed to do double duty as shelving.  No need to place products on a shelf one by one.  Just stack up the crates and rip off the front of the box.  That’s what I call efficient!

Gingerbread cookies are so fun to decorate during the holidays! This recipe was easy and tasted great.

Once I got home with all my Aldi loot, I couldn’t wait to get to decorating.  But first I had to settle upon a good gingerbread cookie recipe- and I think this one nails it.  It took me a couple tries.  The first time around, the kiddos were right there with me, lovin’ every minute of it, until the part where the molasses goes in.  Uh oh.  Game over.  They just couldn’t get into that slightly bitter funk.  So I reworked the recipe with less molasses and a touch of floral honey for balance.  This time around they were all in!

I always add a bit of cornstarch to my roll-out cut-out (whatever you want to call them) cookies, because it just does something so magical to the dough.  Honest to goodness, I was scared to death to make cookies like this until I discovered that secret ingredient.  The thought of sprinkling flour all over my counters and everything else was about the last thing I’d ever want to do, but when I discovered this trick I just couldn’t stop baking cut-outs.  No flour sprinkling necessary!  Just plop a ball of dough between two sheets of parchment and roll away.  The shapes hold beautifully, the edges stay nice and clean, and you can re-roll the scraps without them getting tough.  Check out this post for a vanilla version, and this one for chocolate.

Gingerbread cookies are so fun to decorate during the holidays! This recipe was easy and tasted great.

These gingerbread cookies are so much fun to make!  My boys and I had a blast working on them together, and Aldi made it all so much more manageable.  They’ve got tons of great cookies, candies, and gift items for the holidays, so be sure to check your local store and let your creativity run wild!

Gingerbread cookies are so fun to decorate during the holidays! This recipe was easy and tasted great.

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3.17 stars (6 ratings)

Gingerbread Cookies

Servings: 22 3-inch, 1/4-inch thick cookies
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 50 minutes
The only gingerbread cookie recipe you'll ever need! Crisp, crunchy, and sturdy, they're perfect for decorating. The easiest dough you'll ever roll out, with a flavor that just screams holiday!

Ingredients

Instructions
 

  • Cream the butter and brown sugar together until smooth.
  • Mix in the molasses and honey until incorporated.
  • Add the flour, cornstarch, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, salt, and baking soda, and mix on low speed until moistened.  Add the milk and stir until the dough forms a ball.
  • Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
  • Roll the dough, between sheets of parchment paper, to a thickness of 1/4-inch.  Cut shapes and transfer to parchment-lined baking sheets.
  • Bake for approximately 20 minutes, or until set around the edges and just barely soft in the middle.*

Notes

*Yield and bake times may vary according to thickness and size of cookie cutter used.
** For a chewier cookie, increase oven temperature to 350 degrees F, and decrease bake time to 10 minutes.
***To make cookie ornaments, use a drinking straw to pierce a hole in the top of each cookie before baking. ©Baking a Moment
Calories: 87kcal, Carbohydrates: 14g, Protein: 1g, Fat: 3g, Saturated Fat: 2g, Cholesterol: 8mg, Sodium: 39mg, Sugar: 5g
Cuisine: American
Course: Dessert, Snack
Tried this recipe?Mention @bakingamoment on Instagram or tag #bakingamoment.