Frosted Gingerbread Cookies
These Frosted Gingerbread Cookies are the ultimate holiday treat. Crunchy cookies full of classic gingerbread flavor are topped with cream cheese frosting in swirled holiday flavors to make the season holly, jolly, and delicious.
We’re all about seasonal cookies, especially when that season is the holidays! Throughout this festive time of year, we make all kinds of cookies, from simple sugar cookies to decorated beauties like these. We love making these gingerbread cookies because they have all the flavor of the holidays, and the frosting really kicks up the holiday spirit.
Table of contents
❤️ Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Basic Ingredients: These cookies use basic baking ingredients, so it’s easy to find everything you need.
- Easy: The cookies and frosting are easy to make, and even the striped frosting is much simpler than you might think.
- Classic Holiday Flavor: These cookies are buttery and full of gingerbread flavor.
🛒Ingredients
This recipe uses simple ingredients found in your kitchen or at your local grocery store. We’ve listed them all here, but you can find their exact amounts in the recipe card at the end of the post.
Cookies
- Butter – softened
- Sugar
- Vanilla extract
- Egg
- Flour
- Baking powder
- Crushed Gingerbman cookies (Pepperidge Farm)
Frosting
- Butter – softened
- Powdered sugar
- Red food coloring gel
- Green food coloring gel
- Brown food coloring gel
- Gingerbread men cookies
- Mini gingerbread men sprinkles
🔪 How to Make These Frosted Gingerbread Cookies
Making these cookies is much easier than you might think. The cookie and frosting recipes are straightforward, and although the strips of color might have you thinking frosting the cookies is hard, it’s actually very simple.
Cookies
Step 1: Prep
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Then, line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Step 2: Mix the Wet Ingredients
Blend the butter, sugar, vanilla, and egg in a stand mixer with the whisk attachment until light and fluffy. Then, add the crushed Gingermen cookies and blend lightly.
Step 3: Mix the Dry Ingredients
Mix the flour and baking powder in a separate bowl.
Step 4: Make the Dough
Switch the stand mixer to the paddle attachment and add the dry ingredients a little at a time, mixing on low and scraping the bowl as necessary until the cookie dough is blended and a smooth ball starts to form.
Step 5: Roll
Roll the cookie dough into 1-inch balls and place them on the lined baking sheets.
Step 6: Bake
Bake the cookies for about 15 minutes or until they start to turn a light golden brown around the edges. Halfway through baking, dip the flat bottom of a glass in sugar and use it to press down the cookies very gently. This flattens them a bit and gives them a crinkled look.
Step 7: Cool
Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.
Frosting
Step 1: Make the Frosting
Mix the softened butter and cream cheese in a stand mixer until light and fluffy. Then, add the powdered sugar a little at a time, blending after each addition until the frosting is smooth and fluffy.
Step 2: Color the Frosting
Divide the frosting evenly into four bowls. Add red coloring to one, green to another, and brown to the third bowl. Leave the fourth bowl plain.
Step 3: Make the Frosting Ribbon
Place a 12-inch piece of plastic wrap on a hard surface and place the frosting in ribbons lengthwise down the center. Then, roll the plastic wrap around the frosting and twist the ends. Snip the tip off of one end and place it in a pastry bag with a large round tip.
Step 4: Frost the Cookies
Using a swirling motion, pipe the frosting onto the cookies, ending by bringing the tip up at the top. Then, decorate the cookies with mini gingerbread men sprinkles and place a Gingerman cookie on top or on the side before serving.
Step 5: Let the Frosting Set
Let the frosting set for about 30 minutes and enjoy!
📝Variations
- Frosting: For an even sweeter treat, use buttercream frosting in place of cream cheese frosting.
- Gingerbread Man Cookies: Gingerman Cookies are the Pepperidge Farm brand, but you can use any gingerbread Man cookies for this recipe.
- Plain Frosting: If you prefer to keep things super simple, use plain frosting or pick one color.
If you love frosted cookies, then try these chocolate gingerbread whoopie pies.
🥄 Equipment
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Stand mixer
- Baking sheets
- Parchment paper
- Glass
- Wire cooling rack
- Pastry bag with tip
- Plastic wrap
🥫 Storage
Refrigerate these frosted gingerbread cookies for up to 4 days in an air-tight container.
What to Serve with Frosted Gingerbread Cookies
Serve these cookies with a glass of milk or a cup of coffee or tea. Gingerbread coffee is a great pairing. And for even more holiday goodness, try these cookies with a mug of hot cocoa made with snowman hot cocoa bombs.
💭 Tips
- Be sure your butter is fully softened for the best gingerbread cookie texture.
- Fully soften your butter and cream cheese to avoid a grainy frosting.
- Your cookies must be fully cooled before frosting them. Otherwise, the warmth from the cookies will thin the frosting.
⁉️ FAQ
Many people think of a quick bread when they think of gingerbread, but it’s really a flavor profile created by blending ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon and is often sweetened with molasses or honey.
These cookies are made to be crunchy with a bit of chew. If your cookies have this texture, you did everything right!
Buttercream and cream cheese frosting are usually grainy because the butter and cream cheese weren’t fully softened. If these are too firm, they won’t incorporate fully into the frosting, leaving little flecks of raw cream cheese or butter that create a grainy texture.
🍽 More Recipes
Do you enjoy gingerbread? Then try these delicious recipes.
🧾Recipe Card
Want to make this recipe? Print the recipe card below, or pin this recipe, so you can find it later.
Frosted Gingerbread Cookies
Equipment
- Measuring Cups and Spoons
- Stand mixer
- Baking sheets
- parchment paper
- glass
- Wire cooling rack
- Pastry bag with tip
- plastic wrap
Ingredients
- 2 Sticks Butter softend
- 1 cup Sugar
- 1 Tablespoon Vanilla
- 1 Egg
- 3 cups Flour
- 1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
- ¾ cups crushed Gingerman Cookies Pepperidge Farm Brand Makes the Gingerman Cookies
FOR THE FROSTING:
- 1 stick Butter softened
- 8 ounces Cream Cheese softened
- 32 ounces bag Powdered Sugar
- Red Food Coloring Gel
- Green Food Coloring Gel
- Brown Food Coloring Gel
- 1 package of Gingerbread Men Cookies – to top
- Mini Gingerbread Men Sprinkles
Instructions
- In the mixing bowl of a stand mixer, using the Whisk attachment, add the Butter, Sugar, Vanilla, Egg, and blend until light and fluffy.
- Add the Crushed Gingerman Cookie crumbs, and Blend lightly.
- Switch to the Paddle Attachment.
- In a separate bowl, add the Flour, and Baking Powder, and stir well to blend.
- Add the Flour a little at a time and mix on low to blend, until all the Flour is added.
- Continue to blend the Cookie dough until it’s completely blended and a smooth ball starts to form.
- Scrape down the mixing bowl as needed.
- Line two cookie sheets with Parchment paper, and roll the cookie dough into small balls, about 1 inch balls, and place the balls on the Parchment paper.
- Bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes, or just until the cookies start to turn a light golden brown around the edges. About half way through baking the cookies, check the oven, and the cookies may have started to crack a little.
- Take a flat bottom glass, dip it in Sugar before lightly applying to each cookie – smash the cookies very gently, and slightly, making them a little flatter, and spread out a little more.
- This will give the cookies the crinkle look.
- When the cookies are done, remove from the oven to a wire rack to cool completely.
- While cookies are cooling, make the Frosting.
- In the mixing bowl of a stand mixer, add the softened Butter, and Cream Cheese, and mix until light and fluffy.
- Add the Powdered sugar a little at a time, blending after each addition, until the Frosting is smooth and fluffy.
- Divide the Frosting evenly into 4 bowls.
- Add the Red Food Coloring Gel to one bowl, Green to one bowl, and Brown to one bowl, and leave one bowl White.
- Stir the Food coloring into the Frosting until well mixed.
- Using Plastic wrap (Glad wrap) tear off a piece about 12 inches wide, and place the Frosting length-wise in the middle of the plastic wrap; it will look like 4 long ribbons of Frosting.
- Then, roll the plastic wrap around the Frosting, making sure to keep it long, or length-wise like a long ribbon.
- Twist the Plastic Wrap at the ends.
- Snip the end off of the Plastic wrap, on one end only, and place it in a Pastry bag with the large round Tip.
- Pipe the Frosting onto the cookies, using a swirling motion, then bringing the frosting to a point at the top.
- When all the cookies have been frosted, sprinkle the mini Gingerbread men on the cookies, and place a Gingerman Cookie in the top or on the side of the cookies to serve.
- Allow the Frosting to set or firm up a bit, about 30 minutes.
- Serve, and Enjoy!
Disclaimer
Any nutritional data I provide is an approximation and actual dietary information can vary based on ingredients and proportion sizes.
