These are the best chocolate gingerbread cookies and are perfect for icing with Christmas frosting and decorating. This homemade recipe is chewy, crisp, spiced, and mellow. The delicious wonder of these cut-out cookies is that the cocoa adds chocolate to the gingerbread batter so that they have a mellow spice flavor and are not too strong.
I enjoy gingerbread but it is often too harsh for me and the kids and this hit the spot. They are also so dang cute, just look at them whether plain or decorated with icing, chocolate gingerbread is the best Christmas or holiday cookie. I wanted to combine all the holiday flavors with the hopes it would be a combination of chocolate, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and molasses into the best homemade gingerbread. They turned out perfect and are so tasty.
Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies
These chocolate gingerbread cookies will be on our Christmas cookie list or exchange every year now, they are that good. To decorate, you must use my EASY COOKIE ICING for frosting. It hardens and comes out shiny with a beautiful gloss, the best way to decorate any cut-out cookie shape.
Ingredients for Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies
These cookies need all the traditional gingerbread ingredients like cinnamon, molasses, and cloves but they also have cocoa for that rich chocolate flavor that goes so well with the old-fashioned spice flavors. The key to all cookie baking is to make sure your butter and eggs are at room temperature. So plan ahead and get those on your kitchen counter ahead of time so they are ready when you want to start mixing the cookie batter.
Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies ingredients
How to Make Chocolate Gingerbread
In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, brown sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. Next, add the small butter pieces. Using a hand mixer, mix at low speed until the mixture is combined and the butter is combined in and looks like large grains of sand. In a small bowl, whisk the egg and molasses together.
Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies dry and wet ingredients in bowls
Finish Mixing Together the Chocolate Gingerbread Dough
Add the egg mixture a little bit at a time to the dry ingredients and mix on low to medium speed. Mix until the dough comes together. This will not be a super moist/soft dough. It will appear a bit dry as seen below but that is ok.
Divide the dough in half on 2 large sheets of plastic wrap. You will likely scrape and dump it onto the plastic wrap. With your hands, bring the dough together into a rectangular shape. The warmth of your hands as you bring it together will help it stick and form the shape. Wrap the plastic wrap around it to form each into a rectangle that is about 1″ thick.
Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies dough in the bowl and on plastic wrap
Chilling the Cookie Dough is Very Important
To ensure the cookies hold their shape and do not spread while baking, chilling the dough and keeping the gingerbread cold is very important. With any cookie dough, you are cutting with a cookie cutter, this is an important step such as with sugar cookies also.
To chill - place each wrapped dough section into the refrigerator for a least an hour or 15 minutes in the freezer. You want it firm but with just enough give that it will still roll out. Take one portion at a time from the refrigerator to roll the dough. Place between two sheets of parchment paper and using a rolling pin into a ⅓ inch thick layer.
To Cut - Using your cookie cutters, cut out desired shapes, and gently move the cookies to a nonstick baking sheet or a baking sheet prepared with cooking spray. They should be easy to move as they will still be chilled but if they are hard, use a spatula to move them. Gather scraps as you cut out your cookies and rechill. Add scraps from each batch all back together for a 3rd smaller batch of cookies. Remember to chill!
To Make a Chocolate Gingerbread House - if you want to use this recipe to make a gingerbread house, templates are great for that. Check out this link for 20 Free Gingerbread House Templates. There are both simple and elaborate designs. So fun!
IMPORTANT – Place the baking sheet with cookies on them into the refrigerator for another hour or 15 minutes in the freezer to chill again. This is an important step because chilling the dough ensures it doesn’t spread while baking and the shapes come out perfect with straight edges.
PREHEAT OVEN - make sure you do this on time so it is ready as you take the cookies out of the refrigerator or freezer. These will bake at 350°
Repeat - Repeat the chill, roll, cut, and rechill steps through all the batches of cookies.
Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies rolled and cut into men
Bake the Homemade Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies
Make sure you have preheated the oven to 350°, before taking any cookies out of the refrigerator or freezer. You do not want them at room temperature before going straight into the oven.
Bake cookies for 9-10 minutes for a chewy cookie. Bake 10-12 for a crisper cookie. Let cool on the baking sheet for 1 minute before moving to a wire rack to cool.
Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies on wire rack cooling
Frosting and Decorating Cookies with Homemade Icing Recipe
DO NOT FORGET to make this recipe for my homemade EASY COOKIE ICING so you can decorate your holiday cookies. This makes the best white frosting and then you can divide and separate the icing into smaller bowls and add gel food coloring to get all your favorite colors. It is similar to royal icing except that instead of using egg whites, it uses corn syrup.
Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies decorated with Easy Cookie Icing recipe
How to Store Gingerbread Cookies
These cookies store well for up to 5 days in an air-tight container. It is better to store unfrosted gingerbread cookies but if they are frosted with the recipe I shared above, they can still be stored easily. Keep them in a cool dry location like the pantry or cupboard.
Freezing Gingerbread Cookies
You can freeze gingerbread cookies easily. They freeze well and are great for bulk baking. You can bake dozens of these ahead of time and freeze them to enjoy later during the holidays. This is a Christmas cookie classic so bake a bunch up and defrost later. Once defrosted, frost and decorate.
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Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies
Equipment
- Rolling Pin
- Cookie Cutters
- Parchment Paper
- Baking Sheets
Ingredients
- 3 & ¼ C all-purpose flour
- ½ C cocoa powder
- ¾ C brown sugar
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 TB cinnamon
- 3 tsp ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground clove
- 12 TB salted butter room temperature and cut into 24 small pieces
- 1 egg room temperature
- ¾ C molasses
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, brown sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves.
- Next, add the small butter pieces. Using a hand mixer, mix at low speed until the mixture is combined and the butter is combined in and looks like large grains of sand.
- In a small bowl, whisk the egg and molasses together. Add ⅓ of the egg mixture to the dry ingredients and mix on low to medium speed. While running the mixer, slowly add the remaining egg mixture. Mix until the dough comes together. This will not be a super moist/soft dough. It will appear a bit dry but that is ok and how you want it to so it is easy to cut and the shapes will stay together as they bake. Make sure it is all evenly combined and then the rest will be done with your hands as you divide and roll the dough later.
- Divide the dough in half on 2 large sheets of plastic wrap. You will likely scrape and dump it onto the plastic wrap. With your hands, bring the dough together into a rectangular shape. The warmth of your hands as you bring it together will help it stick and form the shape. Wrap the plastic wrap around it to form each into a rectangle that is about 1″ thick.
- Place each dough into the refrigerator for a least an hour or 15 minutes in the freezer. You want it firm but with just enough give that it will still roll out.
- Take one portion at a time from the refrigerator to roll the dough. Place between two sheets of parchment paper and using a rolling pin into a ⅓ inch thick layer.
- Using your cookie cutters, cut out desired shapes, and gently move the cookies to a nonstick baking sheet or a baking sheet prepared with cooking spray. They should be easy to move as they will still be chilled but if they are hard, use a spatula to move them. Gather scraps as you cut out your cookies and rechill. Add scraps from each batch all back together for a 3rd smaller batch of cookies. Remember to chill!
- IMPORTANT – Place baking sheet with cookies on them into the refrigerator for another hour or 15 minutes in the freezer to chill again. This is an important step because chilling the dough ensures it doesn’t spread while baking and the shapes come out perfect with straight edges. Repeat the chill, roll, cut, and rechill steps through all the batches of cookies.
- Preheat oven to 350°.Bake cookies for 9-10 minutes for a chewy cookie. Bake 10-12 for a crisper cookie.
- Let cool on the baking sheet for 1 minute before moving to a wire rack to cool.
- Once cool, decorate with Easy Cookie Icing, see link above for this recipe. This is the best icing for cookies since it is delicious, pretty, glossy, and it hardens perfectly.
- This recipe is for on average 30 cookies. It will depend on what size cookies and cookie cutters you use. Smaller cookies may yield up to 4 dozen and large gingerbread men will be about 2 dozen.
Notes
| Nutrition Facts | |
|---|---|
| Servings: 30 | |
| Amount per serving | |
| Calories | 134 |
| % Daily Value* | |
| Total Fat 5.1g | 7% |
| Saturated Fat 3.1g | 16% |
| Cholesterol 18mg | 6% |
| Sodium 72mg | 3% |
| Total Carbohydrate 21.2g | 8% |
| Dietary Fiber 1g | 3% |
| Total Sugars 8.2g | |
| Protein 1.9g | |
| Vitamin D 4mcg | 18% |
| Calcium 28mg | 2% |
| Iron 1mg | 7% |
| Potassium 182mg | 4% |
| *The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calorie a day is used for general nutrition advice. | |
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Denise Lenahan says
Those do look very yummy! 😍 And super fun to try, great job! 👍🏼. Thank you for sharing! 😊
Angela says
Thanks so much Denise.
Roselyn Franke says
Thanks for sharing this recipe - it sounds really good with the added cocoa and not difficult to make.
Angela says
The cocoa with the gingerbread spices is a tasty recipe.
Sabrina DeWalt says
Sounds yummy and they are oh so cute.
Angela says
Thank you so much.
Lisa S says
Love cookies! Our daughter is the baker and we will be sharing this with her.
Angela says
I hope you and your daughter enjoy these cookies.
Heather Jandrue says
Oh my, do these look delicious! I can practically smell them. I am looking for some new cookies to add to my Christmas rotation. These may be the ones!
Angela says
You will not be disappointed if you make these part of your Christmas cookie rotation but they probably will not rotate out - my kids already are asking for more this season and want them every year.
Alexis Farmer says
Yummmmm! I’m down for gingerbread anything.
Angela says
Then you will be down with this amazing gingerbread recipe. So dang good!
Barbara says
WOW! This looks like a great recipe! Thanks!
April Key C. Rode says
These recipes and the guidance in making it sounds so easy to make and delicious to eat. I'll try if what my kids say about this.
Angela says
I hope you and the kids have fun baking, decorating, and eating these amazing chocolate gingerbread cookies.
Elaina says
Yum! I don't know if I've ever tried ginger cookies with chocolate. We're looking for new holiday cookie recipe, so we'll be adding this to the list this year.
Angela says
I hope you enjoy this new take on gingerbread.
Ashley Pacheco says
These look so cute! I haven't attempted gingerbread cookies yet, I'm a little nervous!
Angela says
I hope you give it a try and brave this recipe. The gingerbread is so good and a lot easier than you think to bake homemade.
Suzie Olsen says
Never knew chocolate gingerbread existed-- will have to try it out! Thanks!
Kathleen Aherne says
Angela, may you and your loved ones have a blessed Christmas time. Many thanks for your creative, delicious posts shared on the Blogger's Pit Stop during 2020. We start back on the 8th of January and look forward to what you have to share in 2021. (I love gingerbread so much.)
Kathleen
Angela says
THanks so much, Kathleen. Please have a lovely holiday and may the 2021 year start with health and happiness.
Nisha says
They look so good! looks like fun to make as well am sure my kids would love this!
Miz Helen says
Congratulations! Your awesome post is featured on Full Plate Thursday,515 this week., and we pinned it to our Features Board. Wishing you and your family a very Merry Christmas and thanks so much for sharing your talent with us!
Miz Helen
Angela says
Thanks so much and Merry Christmas.
Jackee says
I used this dough to make cookies for a bake sale. They were a hit and I ran out before the event was over. They take a bit of time to make but worth it.
Cindy Ammons says
Once I have cooked and cooled these cookies, how long do you think they would freeze in the freezer (without icing of course) before it changes the texture and taste of the cookies? Thank you so much
Angela says
I personally don't like to freeze cookies longer than 30 days. They will still be safe to eat after 3 months but texture, taste, & color will not be ideal.