Best Soft & Chewy Gingerbread Cookies

Make the Cookie Dough: Beat butter in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer on high speed until creamed. Add the brown sugar and mix until well creamed together, about 1 minute. Add the molasses and mix until combined. Add the dry ingredients, and mix until a dough forms. Add 1-2 tsp of milk if your dough is a bit crumbly (see photos above).

Roll and Chill: Divide the dough into two halves, and roll each one out to 3/8" thickness between sheets of parchment paper. (Use a ruler to check this, or just eyeball halfway between 1/4 and 1/2 inch. This is the perfect thickness for these cookies - trust! Even 1/2" is perfect - but don't go lower than 3/8") Place the rolled dough, still sandwiched in parchment paper, on a baking sheet and cover loosely with a clean kitchen towel. Chill for 1-2 hours in the fridge or shorter in the freezer, until completely chilled and firm.

Cut out Cookies: Preheat your oven to 350° F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Cut shapes out of the chilled dough and place cookies a couple of inches apart on your prepared baking sheet. If the cookies are no longer firm and cold to the touch from working with the dough, pop the pan back in the fridge or freezer for 5 to 15 minutes to re-chill so that the cookies hold their shape when baked (it's fine to bake them from frozen).While the cookies are baking, combine your dough scraps, roll back out, and cut out more cookies. Repeat this until all remaining dough is gone! You will need to chill the dough for a bit again once you roll the scraps back out so that it's firm enough to cut the shapes easily. (Roll it back out between the parchment each time to keep things easy.)

Bake: Bake cookies for 8-9 minutes. The cookies should appear just set, and will look a tad puffy. The centers may look a tad underdone. Don't be tempted to over bake them! They will set up to the perfect soft baked cookies. Let them cool on baking sheet for about 10 minutes before and transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling. Tip: Bake a single test cookie first if you’re worried you’ll underbake them - you’ll see that 8 minutes yields the perfect cookie! HOWEVER - the cookies may take a few additional minutes if your oven is running cold (check with an oven thermometer), or if you use a light-colored cookie sheet vs. a dark colored one. If you have other pans of cookies in the oven at the same time, this will also result in the cookies taking a little longer to bake.

Decorate: Decorate by dipping the cooled cookies in this glaze (swap the maple syrup for milk, if desired), dusting them with powdered sugar, or piping them with royal icing.

Make Royal Icing: Combine all ingredients in a large bowl, starting with 4 tablespoons of water, and mix on high speed with an electric mixer for about 1 and 1/2 minutes. When the icing is the right consistency, you should be able to drizzle some of it into the bowl, and watch it sit on the surface of the mixture for 5-10 seconds before melting back in. If it's too thick, add 1 tablespoon of water at a time. If it's too thin, beat it for another 30 seconds to a minute, or add a bit more powdered sugar, a little at a time, beating between each addition. Add the royal icing to a piping bag fitted with a wilton #1 tip (this is what I use to create the details on the cookies pictured). Pipe desired designs. Snowflakes are easy - you basically draw lines to connect the points, then make little Vs on each line. You can even use gel food coloring to tint the royal icing. While the icing is still wet, sprinkle on a little white sanding sugar for a pretty sparkle (optional, but that is what I use).

Serve + Store: Enjoy cookies once decorated! Be sure to let the icing set completely before storing. Store cooled, set cookies in an airtight container at room temp for 4-6 days, or in the fridge for 6-8 (let cookies come to room temperature for a bit if they've been chilled before serving).

Cookie Dough and Cookie Make-Ahead Tips: The dough can be made, rolled out, and covered well and stored in the fridge for 1-2 days before baking. The cookies can be baked, cooled, and stored in an airtight container at room temp for 1-2 days before decorating. Royal Icing Make-Ahead Tips: The royal icing can be made and stored in the fridge in an airtight container for 1-2 days before using, or leftovers can be stored in this same way and used for other decorating within 1-2 days. Simply re-mix for about 10-20 seconds with a mixer to loosen things back up after being in the fridge. The same guidelines from above can be used to adjust the icing's consistency.