Soft & Chewy Gingerbread Cookies with Whipped Marshmallow Buttercream Frosting!
I’m not sure which I enjoyed more, eating these frosted gingerbread cookies, taking the photos, or making them! Can you believe it’s December already? This year, I’m going all out. It’s my first year celebrating Christmas as a mom, and I have to make up for not celebrating last year. I’m going in full decorating mode, visiting Christmasy activities, and doing all the baking. My son thinks baking is the funniest thing. I like to play music, let him chomp on the measuring cup, and dance around for him while he sits in his bouncing chair In the kitchen. He also loves watching the electric mixer! I have found that including him in the process makes it easier for me to get things done. 
Last week, I made these deliciously soft, chewy, frosted gingerbread cookies, and so many of you messaged me asking for the recipe. I’m glad I can finally share them with you; these cookies will be in our family for years to come. We are so obsessed!
When it comes to gingerbread, I like mine to be filled with spice. I want a powerful punch of ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. That screams “Christmas” to me. If you like a subtle cookie, you can always halve the spices in this recipe! I think the frosting suits the spices perfectly. I know most gingerbread cookies are notorious for being on the harder side, but these are soft, chewy, and (sorry, I have to do it…) moist.
VIDEO
I’ve been baking Christmas desserts using this Kitchenaid mixer for the past fifteen years! She’s been around since the blog was born. She’s made many Christmas cookies, brownies, cakes, truffles, and so on! I love pulling her out of my pantry, turning on the Christmas music, and baking away!
How to Make Soft Gingerbread Cookies
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. This takes about 2 minutes on a medium speed if the butter is at room temperature.
Sift the all-purpose flour, baking soda, sea salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves in a large mixing bowl. 
Mix the vanilla and molasses, and don’t forget to scrape the edges.
Slowly mix in the egg.
Fold in the all-purpose flour, and mix on a low speed for about 15-20 seconds. Do not over-mix the flour. 
Scoop 2-tablespoon-sized dough balls onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Keep them about two inches apart from one another. 
Bake the cookies for about 10-11 minutes. The edges will be golden, and the middle will be super soft. Let them cook on the baking tray once you remove them from the oven. 
If you’re a regular reader, then you already know cream cheese frosting isn’t my favorite or my first choice. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll eat it, but I prefer buttercream. I make carrot cakes, pumpkin bars, and other cream cheese frosting-style desserts with buttercream.
How to Make the Best Frosting for Gingerbread Cookies
Adding marshmallow fluff is one of my favorite ingredients for making buttercream frosting thicker. Whenever I make a frosting for cookies, marshmallow fluff is always incorporated. It creates a glossy coat on top of the cookies, making them stackable while locking in the moisture so you can still get the “frosting” style on top.
Mix the butter, marshmallow fluff, and vanilla together on high speed for the frosting. Slowly fold in the powdered sugar. Gradually mix in the milk.
Once the cookies are completely cooled, you can start frosting them! You can make them fancy by using a piping bag, or spread the frosting with a knife and top with sprinkles! I keep so many sprinkles in my pantry, and it’s fun to dress them up.
It’s love at first bite with these frosted gingerbread cookies. I prefer them chilled and stored in the refrigerator, but you can also store them in a container outside of the fridge. They are SO GOOD with coffee or a peppermint mocha hot chocolate. I bought the Andes peppermint crunch chips to top a few of these cookies with, and if you’re a peppermint at Christmas type of person, you need to try that combo. I plan to make another batch of these and top them with peppermint chips.
Soft & Chewy Gingerbread Cookies with Whipped Marshmallow Buttercream Frosting!
Ingredients
Gingerbread Cookies
- 3/4 Cup Unsalted Butter (Room Temp)
- 1 Cup Sugar
- 1/4 Cup Molasses
- 1 Tsp Vanilla
- 1 Large Egg (Room Temp)
- 2 1/2 Cups All-Purpose Flour (1:1 gluten-free flour)
- 2 1/2 Tsps Baking Soda
- 1/2 Tsp Sea Salt
- 1 1/2 Tbsps Ground Cinnamon
- 2 1/2 Tsp Ginger
- 1/4 Tsp Nutmeg
- 1/4 Tsp Cloves
Whipped Marshmallow Buttercream Frosting
- 1/2 Cup Unsalted Butter (Room Temp)
- 2 Tsps Vanilla
- 8 Oz Marshmallow Fluff
- 2 1/2 Cups Powdered Sugar
- 3-4 Tbsps Milk
Instructions
Gingerbread Cookies
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Cream the butter and sugar together on high speed for about two minutes.
- Mix in the molasses and vanilla for 20 seconds at high speed. Scrape the edges.
- On a low speed, mix in the egg. Scrape the edges.
- In a mixing bowl, sift the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves until combined.
- Fold the flour into the wet ingredients and mix on low speed for about 15-20 seconds. Scrape down the edges, and blend for an additional 10 seconds. Don't over-mix the flour.
- Place two tablespoon-sized dough balls onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper two inches apart. Bake for 10-11 minutes. The edges will be golden.Allow the cookies to continue cooking on the baking tray; remove them once completely cooled.
Whipped Marshmallow Buttercream Frosting
- Mix the butter, vanilla, and marshmallow fluff on high speed until completely creamy and combined.
- On a low speed, fold in the powdered sugar and milk. Once the powdered sugar is mixed in, turn the speed to high for about 60 seconds.
- Frost the gingerbread cookies (once cooled!) and top with festive sprinkles. Store in the refrigerator or on the countertop. Enjoy!
First, let me apologize for the number of photos in this post. I couldn’t choose which ones I liked the most, so I included them all!
I love keeping bins of sprinkles in my house.
I find them at Target, Michaels, Hobby Lobby, Homegoods, Amazon, and Walmart!
Today, my girlfriends are coming over for a cookie-decorating lunch party, and I love having so many sprinkles to choose from! I’ll take some photos of the setup just in case you need inspiration or a Christmas get-together with your friends. I’m super excited to see my friends and catch up! It’s so hard getting together as a group when everyone’s lives are on different paths, but the holidays always bring us together. 
I hope you all enjoyed this post! I will try to get some more blogs out this season with fun recipes. If you try this recipe, come back and rate it! I think you’re going to LOVE it.
Questions for you!
- Do you like your gingerbread cookies to be extra spicy or subtle?
- What is your favorite Christmas movie?
- Are you a peppermint fan?
I feel like I need two (or ten!) of these cookies right now! These look delicious and I’ll definitely save this recipe, Taralynn!
Make Life Marvelous
Thank you, Ashley!!!
These were the best gingerbread cookies I’ve eaten in years. I plan to make these for my family coming in from Germany this holiday season. Could I use cream cheese instead of the marshmallow fluff as I cannot find it in stores.
That makes me so happy to hear! You absolutely can! I would use 4 oz of cream cheese and add in extra powdered sugar if you need it. 🙂
Can I freeze these once frosted?!
Yes! We have a bunch in the freezer now and plan to take them out at Christmas time.
These are AMAZING cookies- we will be adding these to the rotation. They are soft, sweet, and perfect gingerbread flavor!!! I was worried when the dough was finishing up mixing because it is a stiff dough but they baked up perfectly. I noticed my jar of marshmallow fluff was 7oz and not 8 like the recipe said but i followed the directions exactly and it made the perfect frosting consistency and was the right amount for the cookies!!! I can’t tell you how happy I am with this recipe. Thank you so much.
OMG! This just made my day 😊 Thanks for coming back to review! so excited these cookies have been added to your rotation! xo xo xo