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Frosted Gingerbread Cookies are thick, soft, chewy and full of warm gingerbread flavor. Topped with a cream cheese buttercream frosting and festive Christmas sprinkles for the perfect holiday cookie.

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frosted gingerbread cookies

Every time the holiday season comes around, I immediately start craving all things gingerbread. We are huge gingerbread fans and even have a gingerbread decorated kitchen theme that my kids adore. These Frosted Gingerbread Cookies fit right into our cravings and each bite tastes like the magical holidays.

These soft, chewy and perfectly frosted gingerbread cookies have rich flavors of molasses, cinnamon, gingerbread, nutmeg, and cloves that pairs well with the luscious cream cheese frosting. They are perfect for Christmas cookie season and are so much easier to make than the classic Gingerbread Men Cookies.

Other gingerbread recipes to try are these Iced Gingerbread Oatmeal Cookies, Gingerbread Cheesecake Cookie Cups, and Gingerbread Cookie Bars.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

They are: So soft, buttery, chewy and packed with a cozy gingerbread flavor.

Festive cookies: Kids and adults will both love them. They are perfect for the next holiday party, cookie exchanges, dessert platters, holiday cookie exchange, and treat bags for gifts. This is the perfect Christmas cookie to leave out for Santa with a glass of milk on Christmas Eve ;).

Rich gingerbread spices: These resemble a traditional gingerbread cookie but in a lofthouse cookie form.

Easy recipe: Made with simple ingredients, takes minutes to prep and you don’t need any fancy kitchen equipment or dough chilling.

Portable: These cookies are perfect for any holiday occasion and can be easily transferred.

The best frosted gingerbread cookies with sprinkles.

key ingredients

All-purpose flour: Spoon and level the flour when measuring it. Be sure not to scoop it out of the bag using the measuring cup. This way, you won’t accidentally measure out too much.
Baking soda and baking powder: Used as a leavening agent.
Butter: I used salted butter so you don’t have to add salt but you can also use unsalted butter, just add 1/4 teaspoon of salt in the recipe. It’s best if the butter is at room temperature and slightly softened.
Molasses: Adds moisture and sweet and warm flavors of gingerbread.
Brown sugar: We use light or dark brown sugar and granulated sugar to add the perfect amount of sweetness and chewy texture. Brown sugar will make extra chewy gingerbread cookies which is what we want for this recipe.
Egg: You’ll need one large egg at room temperature.
Spices: We use ground cinnamon, ground ginger, nutmeg, and cloves to give spiced gingerbread flavors.
Cream cheese frosting: Powdered sugar, butter, cinnamon, cream cheese, vanilla extract and milk.

how to make frosted gingerbread cookies

Beat butter and sugars: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line baking sheets with parchment paper. In a large bowl with an electric mixer or in the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy for a few minutes. Be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Add in egg, molasses, and vanilla extract and beat again until smooth.

Mix dry ingredients: In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and spices.

Add the dry mixture to wet ingredients: Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture and mix until dough has formed. Be sure not to over-mix.

How to make Frosted Gingerbread Cookies.

Scoop cookies and bake: Use a small cookie scoop equivalent to 1 1/2 tablespoons of cookie dough to form cookie dough balls. Bake cookies for 9-11 minutes or until the edges are a light golden brown. Let cool on the baking sheets for a few minutes, then transfer to a cool rack.

Frost cookies: In the meantime, in a medium bowl beat together the cream cheese, powdered sugar, butter, cinnamon, and vanilla extract. Add milk to thin and beat again until smooth. Frost the tops of the cooled cookies and add Christmas sprinkles (optional). Enjoy!

Frosted Gingerbread Cookies with sprinkles.

recipe tips & variations

Frosting: Instead of using a cream cheese frosting, swap it for a butter cream frosting, chocolate frosting, vanilla frosting, vanilla icing, or coffee frosting .
Make into Gingerbread Cheesecake Bars: Press dough into a 13×19 prepare cookie dough batter according to the directions. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until top is very lightly browned and set. Cool fully before adding frosting then cut into bars.
For best results, let the cookies cool completely before adding the frosting otherwise it can melt.
Room temperature ingredients: It’s always important that all of your ingredients are at room temperature. This will help the cookie mixture combine together more smoothly.
Add crunch: Add a handful of your favorite chopped nuts to the top. Chopped walnuts, pecans, and hazelnuts work well with this recipe.
Topping: Swap the frosting for melted white chocolate, dust the tops with powdered sugar, or simply leave them plain.
Sprinkles: Add Christmas sprinkles to the gingerbread cookie dough to make these extra fun colorful.

leftovers & storage

Store leftovers in an airtight container on the counter in a cool area or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

Freezing Cookie Dough: This cookie dough freezes well so this is a great recipe to make ahead. To freeze unbaked dough, wrap dough ball in plastic wrap and then place the large ball of dough in a freezer bag. Or you can place the dough in an air-tight container to freeze. Thaw completely before scooping into cookie dough balls.

To Freeze Cookie Dough Balls: Freeze cookie dough balls by placing the balls of dough on a cookie sheet and flash freeze for 30 minutes or until hardened. Transfer the cookie dough balls to a large ziplock bag or airtight freezer-safe container and store in the freezer for up to 6 months.

the sweetest season

This recipe is part of The Sweetest Season, an annual virtual cookie swap co-hosted by Erin of The Speckled Palate and Susannah of Feast + West. Every year, food bloggers get together to share new holiday cookie recipes to make and give.

This year we are raising money for Cookies 4 Kids’ Cancer, which is a recognized 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to funding research for new, innovative and less-toxic treatments for childhood cancer.

Since 2008, Cookies for Kids’ Cancer has granted nearly $18 million to pediatric cancer research in the form of 100+ research grants to leading pediatric cancer centers across the country. From these grants have stemmed 35+ treatments available to kids battling cancer today.

If you can, please help us raise money for this important cause! You can donate through our fundraising page.

Another exciting thing is that Cookies for Kids’ Cancer is in a matching window with their friends at OXO, meaning OXO will be matching every dollar raised through the end of 2024, up to $100,000. Whatever money we raise will automatically double on our fundraising page!