Soft Gingerbread Cookies with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

Last dessert recipe of 2020 had to be a really good one, and this one IS THAT! This has to be one of my top recipes this year. This just tastes like Christmas in cookie form. I should also note I love all things gingerbread, so if you do too, you have to make these! The cookie is extremely soft yet dense and topping it with the cinnamon spiced cream cheese frosting just really brings everything to another level! I hope you love them if you make them!

Cookie Ingredients:

-2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, spoon & leveled

-2 tsp cinnamon

-2 tsp ground ginger

-1/2 tsp ground cloves

-3/4 tsp sea salt

-1 tsp baking powder

-1/2 tsp baking soda

-1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

-1/4 cup brown sugar (light or dark)

-1 egg, room temperature

-1 tsp vanilla extract

-3/4 cup molasses (I used the Grandma’s brand)

-3/4 cup whole milk

-1 tsp vinegar (I used apple cider vinegar, can also use white vinegar)

*Can also just use 3/4 cup buttermilk instead of milk/ vinegar mixture*

Frosting:

-2 cups powdered sugar

-1/4 cup (4 tbsp) butter, room temperature

-4oz cream cheese, room temperature

-1 tsp vanilla extract

-1 tsp cinnamon

-1/8 tsp sea salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F degrees. If you’re using the milk and vinegar mixture, go ahead and mix the milk and vinegar in a small bowl and set aside. In a large mixing bowl, using a hand mixer or a stand mixer, cream together butter and sugar together until well combined. Add in the egg and vanilla extract. Mix well. Then add in all the dry ingredients: flour, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, baking soda, baking powder, & sea salt. Mix until mostly combined. The dough will be a bit crumbly.

Next, add in half the milk mixture and about half of the molasses. Mix until incorporated. Add in the rest of the milk and the rest of the molasses. The dough will be super soft and sticky. You can refrigerate the dough if you’d like, but you can also just go ahead and bake from here. Drop the cookies onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. I personally use a large cookie scoop or a spoon. They spread quite a bit while baking so make sure to space them out well.

My dough made about 16 cookies, because I made them large but you could make 16-20! Bake for 10-12 minutes depending on size. Mine took about 10-11 minutes and they were baked at room temperature. If you end up refrigerating the dough for awhile you may need to increase the time by 2-3 minutes. Just keep an eye on them!

While the cookies are baking, make the frosting. In a medium bowl, add all frosting ingredients and mix with a hand mixer until thick consistency. Set aside.

Let cookies cool completely before icing! Otherwise the icing will melt and won’t work. Once cooled, pipe icing onto the cookies and then spread with a knife. OR you can put icing between two cookies to make whoopie pies (pictured below)! I did both versions. Or you can just spread icing on the top of each one and add sprinkles, a dash of cinnamon, or whatever you’d like.

Store cookies in the fridge for 3-5 days! Enjoy!