Not only do these Soft Gingerbread Cookies with Cinnamon-Honey Buttercream Frosting taste like all of the best parts of fall, they are beautiful enough to serve as a gift to friends! Recipe for both gluten free and non-gluten free, mark these for your Christmas or Thanksgiving cookie platters…they will be asked for over and over again.

I love the flavor of gingerbread. There is something about the combination of all of those spices that warms my soul and takes me back to childhood. I was thinking about making some last year right around this time when I came across a post on Pinterest that had a picture of these cookies in sheet-pan form. They were thick and looked pillowy soft (not hard!) and just outright delicious. I knew I needed to get to work in the kitchen…

Describe These Please

The result was incredible! The mixture of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger makes the base taste warm and spicy. Molasses gives these a beautiful, deep hue. The texture is exactly as stated above; pillowy soft with a tiny chew. They literally melt into your mouth when you take a bite! I knew though, that something was missing, so I whipped up some cinnamon-honey buttercream frosting. It is the perfect partner. It was like the first time someone combined chocolate and peanut butter. These flavors go together so well, they’re make ya go Bow Chicka Wow Wow.

Decor

I don’t always like the way cut out cookies get soft edges as they rise in the oven, so I decided to cut these cookies AFTER baking. The results gave me beautiful, crisp edges on every single one of my trees. You are also welcome to just keep them in sheet pan form and cut them into bars…they will still look great and taste delicious! I will warn you that there IS extra baked dough after cutting the shapes out, and if you’re really looking to use that, I’ve also added an additional recipe for Gingerbread Cake Balls…yum! And truly, you can decorate these ANY way you’d like! Smooth frosting, piped, sprinkles (I love the Holiday Themed ones like these Christmas Sprinkles or these Thanksgiving ones.), cinnamon sprinkle, multiple shapes to cut out. The list goes on and on!

Tips and Tricks for Making Soft Gingerbread Cookies with Cinnamon-Honey Buttercream Frosting

• Buttercream needs the butter to be very soft. If you haven’t had time or thought about leaving the butter out, you can always heat it in the microwave for about 10-12 seconds. You do NOT want it to melt though! Just soften. You can also microwave water in a bowl for about 2 minutes. Empty the water and then stick the bowl (upside down) over the butter and leave it. The heat will soften the butter much faster.

• When I make buttercream, there is also powdered sugar residue, so I frequently put my bowl in my sink while I mix it. When I’m finished, I can just wash my sink out and it saves me a big mess!
• Don’t skip the vanilla and salt in the frosting – it REALLY brings out the flavor!

• If you want to make the non-gluten free version, just replace the 1:1 mixture with regular white flour.

• Keep a close eye on the bars. Since they are made from a dark dough, you won’t see it browning, so stick a fork in it and see if it comes out clean when the time is up. It will go from being cooked, to too dark or burnt quickly.

If You Like These, You Might Also Like

• Fresh Cranberry Orange Scones – Gluten Free
• Better Than Crumbl Pumpkin Cookies
• The Most Spook-tacular Halloween Peanut Butter Cookies

Soft Gingerbread Cookies with Cinnamon-Honey Buttercream Frosting – GF

5 from 1 vote

Course: Baking, Cookies, Gluten Free (GF), Potluck, Seasonal, ThanksgivingDifficulty: Easy

Servings

24

servings

Prep time

25

minutes

Cooking time

12

minutes

Not only does this Gingerbread Sheet Bar with Cinnamon-Honey Buttercream Frosting taste like all of the best parts of fall served on a platter, it will delight guests coming into your home with it’s dreamy aroma.

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Ingredients

• Gingerbread Cookie Base

• 3/4 Cups 3/4 Salted Butter (1+1/2 sticks, softened)

• 3/4 Cup 3/4 Dark Brown Sugar

• 3/4 Cup 3/4 White Sugar

• 2 tsp 2 Vanilla

• 2 Large 2 Eggs

• 1/3 Cup 1/3 Molasses

• 3 Cups 3 1:1 Gluten Free Flour (or white flour for non-GF)

• 2 tsp 2 Baking Soda

• 3 Tbsp 3 Corn Starch

• 1/2 tsp 1/2 Himalayan Pink Sea Salt

• 1+1/2 tsp 1+1/2 Cinnamon

• 1/2 tsp 1/2 Ground Cloves

• 1/2 tsp 1/2 Allspice

• 1/2 tsp 1/2 Ground Nutmeg

• 1 tsp 1 Ground Ginger

• Cinnamon-Honey Buttercream Frosting

• 1/2 Cup 1/2 Butter, salted

• 1 Tbsp 1 Honey

• 1 tsp 1 Cinnamon

• 1/2 tsp 1/2 Himalayan Pink Sea Salt

• 1 tsp 1 Vanilla

• 4 Cups 4 Powdered Sugar

• 1/4 Cup 1/4 Milk

• Cinnamon (Optional; extra to sprinkle for design)

Directions

• Preheat Oven to 350°. Spray a cookie sheet with baking spray and lay parchment paper on top. Spray top of parchment again and place to the side.
• In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla and mix well. Then add molasses and mix again.
• Sprinkle all dry ingredients evenly over the top of the wet ingredients. Use a fork and gently mix them up as well as possible. Use mixer and completely mix wet and dry ingredients.
• Dump the dough onto the cookie sheet, and spread it out to form. This is easier with wet hands – when the dough starts sticking to your hands, then wet them again. I had to do it about 4 times. Poke holes into the dough with a fork.

  • 

• Place in preheated oven and bake for 12-14 minutes. A fork should come out clean. Take out and let cool completely. Once cooled, either make frosting (below) and frost in cookie sheet, or use a cookie cutter to cutout designs. You can use the extra dough and make these gingerbread cake balls.
• Cinnamon-Honey Buttercream Frosting
• In a large bowl, add butter, honey, vanilla, salt and cinnamon. Cream all ingredients. Add powdered sugar 1 cup at a time and beat until thoroughly combined. After mixing the 4th cup, it may looks like little grains of sand. Add milk about 1 Tbsp at a time until frosting reaches desired consistency. I used 1/4 cup. Frost cookies, let sit to harden and enjoy! Store these in an airtight container (you can separate them by parchment paper) and if longer than 1 day, store them in the refrigerator.

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