Delicious gingerbread cookies cut into snowflakes and decorated with vanilla icing. These cookies are festive and perfect for Christmas or any winter celebration!
Add these Gingerbread Snowflake Cookies to your holiday cookie tray for a festive touch!
There's just something so delicious about gingerbread cookies. All those warm spices like ginger, cinnamon and allspice give just the perfect amount of spice and all that classic gingerbread flavor.
I've made these into gingerbread giant snowflakes, but you can use any type of cookie cutter you prefer. Small round cookie cutters work well too and you can still pipe on a snowflake design.
Of course, if you'd like to do the traditional gingerbread people, that works too!
These Gingerbread Snowflakes are the second in my cookie series I'm calling The Ten Days of Christmas Cookies.
Key ingredients
- Butter - I use salted butter. Make certain your butter is at room temperature so it can easily be mixed in with the sugar.
- Molasses - Gives gingerbread the dark color and great flavor.
- Spices - Gingerbread cookies are heavily spiced with ground ginger, ground cinnamon and allspice.
Step by step directions
- Combine butter and sugar and mix until light and fluffy
- Mix in vanilla and egg
- Add molasses
- In a separate bowl, combine flour, spices, baking soda and salt
- Add to mixing bowl and mix well
- Cover mixture and refrigerate for at least one hour
- Divide dough in half and roll out to about ¼" thick
- Cut out with cookie cutters - I used a large 3 ¾ " snowflake and a small 2" round cookie cutter
- Place on baking sheet and bake in a preheated 375°F oven for 8-10 minutes
- When cookies are fully cool, add glaze
Recipe tips
- Chilling the dough is necessary to make the dough workable. Otherwise it will be too sticky.
- Reroll the scraps after cutting out cookies
- Cut cookies into any size or shape you desire. I used a large snowflake cutter (3 ¾") and a small round cutter (2")
- I use parchment paper, but you can also just use a plain, ungreased cookie sheet
- I reuse the parchment paper several times when making a batch of cookies. If the paper becomes too brittle or turns brown around the edges, replace with a new piece.
- Add icing after cookies have fully cooled
- Icing can be piped onto cookies or cookies can be dipped, face side down into icing
- Allow icing to fully set-up or harden before storing cookies
- Store cookies at room temperature for 3-5 days in an airtight container
Frequently asked questions
These gingerbread snowflakes freeze well. They can be frozen with or without the glaze. If freezing with the glaze, just make certain the glaze has set-up or hardened first.
Freeze cookies in a freezer safe container for up to 3 months.
- Cranberry Swirl Cookies
- Raspberry Bow Tie Cookies
- Pecan Snowball Cookies
- Sugar Cookies with Crushed Peppermint
If you make this recipe, I’d love to hear about it! Leave a comment below and snap a picture and tag me on Instagram @beyondthechickencoop
Check out all my delicious cookie recipes!
Gingerbread Snowflake Cookies
Equipment
Ingredients
Cookies
Vanilla Glaze
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 3-4 tablespoons milk or cream
- 1 tablespoon corn syrup
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
Cookie
- Cream butter and sugar together in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy1 cup butter, 1 cup sugar
- Stir in vanilla and egg1 teaspoon vanilla, 1 egg
- Add molasses and mix until well combined¾ cup molasses
- In a separate bowl, combine flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda, allspice and salt4 cups flour, 3 teaspoons ground ginger, 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda, ½ teaspoon allspice, ½ teaspoon salt
- Add flour mixture to mixing bowl and mix well
- Remove dough from mixing bowl and place on plastic wrap. Form into a large disc. Wrap well and refrigerate for at least one hour.
- Preheat oven to 375°F
- Divide dough in half and roll out on a lightly floured surface until about ¼" thick. Use a snowflake cookie cutter (or other shaped cookie cutter) and cut out cookies.
- Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper (or an ungreased baking sheet)
- Bake in a preheated 375°F oven for 8-10 minutes
- Remove cookies from baking sheet and allow cookies to fully cool on a baking rack.
Glaze
- Mix powdered sugar, milk, corn syrup and vanilla together in a bowl. Stir until smooth. The glaze should flow when poured off a spoon, but should also hold its shape when drizzled into a straight line. Add a bit more milk or powdered sugar if needed for desired consistency.3 cups powdered sugar, 3-4 tablespoons milk or cream, 1 tablespoon corn syrup, ½ teaspoon vanilla
- Place glaze in a piping bag with a small tip and pipe on snowflake decorations.
Notes
- Chilling the dough is necessary to make the dough workable. Otherwise it will be too sticky.
- Reroll the scraps after cutting out cookies
- Cut cookies into any size or shape you desire. I used a large snowflake cutter (3 ¾") and a small round cutter (2")
- I use parchment paper, but you can also just use a plain, ungreased cookie sheet
- I reuse the parchment paper several times when making a batch of cookies. If the paper becomes too brittle or turns brown around the edges, replace with a new piece.
- Add icing after cookies have fully cooled
- Icing can be piped onto cookies or cookies can be dipped, face side down into icing
- Allow icing to fully set-up or harden before storing cookies
- Store cookies at room temperature for 3-5 days in an airtight container
Nutritional Disclaimer:
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and should only be construed as an estimate rather than a guarantee. To obtain the most precise nutritional information in a provided recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the exact ingredients you are using when preparing the recipe using your preferred nutrition calculator.
David @ Spiced says
Woah - your piping skills are on point here, Kathy! I do love a good gingerbread cookie, and I like the snowflake version here. I feel like gingerbread cookies are one of those cookies that can be eaten for dessert or alongside a cup of coffee in the morning. These look like they came from a bakery!
Kathy says
Thanks! They were fun to make and truth be told, I did have one (or two) in the morning with my coffee! 🙂