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I am a gingerbread lover through and through. And these Sourdough Gingerbread Cookies are on my must-make baking list every year – along with my sourdough artisan gingerbread that we can’t get enough of!
So soft and chewy—not at all hard—these gingerbread cookies fill your home with the sweet smells of the holiday season. I make a big batch of them and my sourdough sugar cookies and we spend an afternoon frosting, glazing and decorating the perfect Sourdough Christmas Cookies!
You can also find this recipe in my sourdough cookbook, Our Sourdough Table.
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Why You’ll Love These Cookies
- Holiday Flavor: These gingerbread cookies are perfectly spiced with ground cinnamon, ginger, and cloves, giving the same warm, festive flavors as my favorite sourdough discard gingerbread loaf.
- Soft and Chewy: So soft and chewy—it makes it hard to stop at just one! If you prefer them crispy, simply bake them longer. While I love the crispy edges in recipes like my gingerbread sourdough focaccia, I love keeping these cookies tender and chewy.
- Quick and Festive: Quick to whip up and made with excess sourdough discard, this is a family favorite. Pair them with my chocolate sourdough crinkle cookies for an easy holiday cookie plate.
Important Ingredients
- Sourdough Discard – To avoid a stronger sourdough flavor, use sourdough discard that is fresh or no more than a day or two old. I always use 100% hydration sourdough discard. If your discard is very runny, you may need a little extra flour in this recipe.
- Molasses – Regular light molasses, like the Grandma’s brand, makes these cookies chewy and flavorful.
- Brown Sugar – Either light or brown sugar works well in this recipe, but dark brown sugar gives a deeper flavor.
- Spices – A combination of cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and salt gives these gingerbread cookies their festive flavor.
- Icing – A simple icing made from powdered sugar, milk, corn syrup, and vanilla extract is perfect to decorate these cookies.
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities
Substitutions
- Butter: If you use salted butter instead of unsalted, you may want to decrease the salt a little in the dough.
- Sourdough Discard: If you don’t have sourdough discard on hand, active sourdough starter can be substituted instead.
- Molasses: If you want a deeper/darker and more bitter molasses flavor, you can use blackstrap molasses. I would not leave the molasses out completely because that is where the majority of the flavor comes from in these cookies.
How to Make Gingerbread Cookies
Mix and Chill the Dough
Step 1: Mix Wet Ingredients. Use a hand or stand mixer to mix the butter, sugars, molasses and sourdough discard until light and fluffy. Add the egg and mix again.
Step 2: Mix Dry Ingredients. In a small bowl fluff together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and salt until combined.
Step 3: Combine Wet and Dry Ingredients. Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix together until combined.
Step 4. Chill the Dough: Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for about an hour.
Note: You can leave the cookie dough in the refrigerator for 48-72 hours for planning ahead or long-fermenting.
Roll and Cut Out Cookies
Step 5: Roll Out Dough. Flour a countertop and roll out the dough about 1/4 of an inch thick. Add extra flour as needed if the dough is sticky.
Step 6: Cut Out Cookies. Cut shapes out of the cookie dough as close together as possible. Re-roll dough scraps and cut out. Place dough on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
Bake and Decorate
Step 7: Bake Cookies. Bake at 350°F convection for 8-9 minutes (or 375°F regular for 10-12 minutes). For a crispier cookie, bake an extra minute or two. Cool completely.
Step 8: Decorate. Whisk together powdered sugar, milk, corn syrup and vanilla extract until combined. Transfer to a piping bag and pipe on top of the cooled gingerbread cookies. Decorate with festive candies if desired.
How to Store Leftovers
If you have extra cookies, let them cool completely. Then store cooled cookies in an airtight container in the freezer. Pull them out of the freezer a few hours before you want to enjoy them so they can thaw at room temperature. Enjoy!
Amy’s Recipe Tip
If you don’t mind your cookies spreading just a bit, skip the chill in the refrigerator. I do this with my simple drop sourdough sugar cookie recipe and it works well when you’re short on time.
Frequently Asked Questions
I love adding sourdough discard to many recipes. In shortbread, it enhances the flavor. In my brown sugar maple cookies, I use it for the moisture and benefits of fermented flour. And in my peanut butter cookies, I just want to use up some of my discard and not let it go to waste. For these gingerbread cookies, I prefer using a fresh or young discard so I don’t get any sour flavor.
Yes. Scoop the cookie dough into balls. Place the dough balls in the refrigerator after mixing and let sit in the refrigerator overnight for up to a couple of days. The longer the dough ferments, the more sour flavor the cookies can have, but they will also have more of the benefits from sourdough fermentation.
Yes! This cookie dough stays good in the refrigerator for a couple of days. It also freezes very well. When you want to work with the dough, let the dough thaw in the refrigerator overnight if it is frozen and give it a few minutes to relax on the counter before rolling.
You can, but you will want to bake the cookie dough longer so that it is cripsy and not at all chewy or soft. To make a gingerbread house you want the gingerbread to be crispy so it can hold up to all the icing and toppings.
I haven’t tried this with freshly milled flour yet. If you do try using freshly milled or whole wheat flour, I recommend soft white wheat flour in place of the all-purpose flour in the recipe.
More Sourdough Cookie Recipes
If you tried these Sourdough Gingerbread Cookies or any other recipe on my website leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. Happy Baking!
Sourdough Gingerbread Cookies
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Equipment
- hand mixer or stand mixer
Ingredients
Sourdough Gingerbread Cookie Dough
- 170 grams unsalted butter, softened, about 3/4 cup
- 160 grams brown sugar, scant 2/3 cup, packed
- 160 grams molasses, about 1/2 cup, see recipe note
- 100 grams sourdough discard, scant ½ cup
- 1 large egg, about 50 grams
- 400 grams all-purpose flour, about 3 cups
- 5 grams baking soda, about 1 teaspoon
- 8 grams ground cinnamon, about 1 Tablespoon
- 8 grams ground ginger, about 1 Tablespoon
- 1 gram ground cloves, about 1/3 teaspoon
- 3 grams salt, about 1/2 teaspoon
Gingerbread Cookie Icing
- 170 grams powdered sugar, about 1 ½ cups
- 30 grams whole milk, about 2 Tablespoons
- 20 grams corn syrup, about 1 Tablespoon
- 2 grams vanilla extract, about 1/2 teaspoon
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer or using a hand mixer, mix the butter until light and fluffy. Add the brown sugar and cream together. Add molasses and sourdough discard. Mix for a few minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed until fluffy, light in color and smooth. Add the egg and mix again.
- To a medium-sized bowl, add the dry ingredients: all-purpose flour, baking soda, ground cinnamon, ground ginger, ground cloves and salt. Fluff together with a fork.
- Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix until completely combined and you have one cohesive chunk of dough that sticks together. If you pick up a piece of dough, it should roll into a ball in your fingers with little to no residue left behind. If it's too sticky, add a little more flour. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and stick in the refrigerator to chill for about half an hour. Dough can stay in the refrigerator for 48-72 hours to long-ferment or to be made ahead.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F convection bake or 375°F regular. Line one or two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Lightly flour a countertop or pastry mat with 1-2 teaspoons flour. Turn the dough out onto the counter and add a little flour to the top of the dough, roughly 1-2 teaspoons. Roll the dough to about ¼ of an inch thick, flouring only if the dough becomes overly sticky.
- Use a cookie cutter to cut shapes out of the dough. I like using traditional gingerbread men but any cookie cutter works. Cut the shapes as close together as possible to minimize re-rolling the dough. Place the cut cookie dough on a parchment-lined cookie sheet with a little space in between each cookie.
- Bake at 350°F convection for 8-9 minutes. If you don't have convection, bake at 375°F regular for 10-12 minutes. For a crispier cookie, bake an extra minute or two. Let cookies cool for a few minutes before removing from the pan. Continue this process, re-rolling scraps together until all your cookie dough is used up – don’t add more flour unless overly sticky. Let cookies cool completely before icing and decorating.
- While the cookies cool, mix up this simple icing by whisking together powdered sugar, milk, corn syrup and vanilla extract. Whisk until combined. Transfer to a piping bag and pipe on top of the cooled gingerbread cookies. The icing will take a little time to set up – smooth and shiny with a soft shell. For a thicker icing, add a little more powdered sugar. If you want a thinner icing, add a splash more milk. Decorate cookies with icing and any favorite festive candy.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
made these for Xmas day dessert, rolled out , cut , and cooked super quickly…and they were the perfect puffy cookie/cake texture. i long fermented and they arnt an overpowering gingerbread either. perfect. amy knows how to bake.
I’m glad they were the perfect cookie for Christmas! Enjoy!
I made these earlier this week and they are fantastic! Time got busy and the dough stayed in the refrigerator for 2.5 days. I love the soft center and crispy edges. This will become one of my annual cookies to make. 😋
Thanks for the review! I’m glad this recipe is a new favorite!
I will now only use this recipe for gingerbread every year! I’ve been looking for the perfect recipe to have as a Christmas staple – this is THE one.
Thanks for the review! Merry Christmas!
Could I refrigerate the dough in a ball for a long ferment then take it out of fridge to warm up a bit before rolling and cutting?
Yes, that should work!
These were absolutely delicious. The best gingerbread I’ve had. You’d also never guess there’s discard, there’s no sourdough flavor (which I was nervous about) but I’m sure it still enhances the flavors somehow. My only comment is that the recipe serving calls for 24 cookies but somehow I ended up with 60+ LOL.
I’m glad they were great! The number of cookies you get will definitely be determined by the size of your cookie cutter. Happy baking!
Can I skip it substitute the corn syrup in the icing? I have a corn allergy.
Yes, the corn syrup helps give the glaze look, but you can leave it out – it just won’t be as thick.
Made these as a cookie decorating canvas for the kids and not so much to enjoy as a tasty treat as is. I don’t love gingerbread cookies because they tend to be very crisp, but these were well received by all who enjoyed them. I would use the recipe again without hesitation.
Glad you guys loved them! Thanks for sharing 🙂
These came out perfect! So flavorful and nice and soft. Thank you!
So glad you loved these! Thanks for sharing 🙂
We love these sourdough gingerbread cookies during the holidays. So soft and chewy!
Hello Amy. Would it be possible to swap the flower for gluten free flower ? Ps love your recipes Thank-you Glenn (Northern UK).
I think that could work in this recipe depending on the gluten free flour blend you use. If you have a brand you successfully swap, I think it could work well in this recipe, though I haven’t tried it with gluten free flour myself.