An easy gingerbread cookies recipe that makes a delicious holiday cookie.

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This post is all about how to make gingerbread cookies.

These gingerbread cookies have a delicious taste that is hard to resist. This is a simple holiday cookie recipe that makes a delicious, chewy gingerbread cookie with just the right amount of spice.

This is an easy gingerbread cookie recipe that makes cookies that are perfect for homemade gifts and great cookies for holiday cookie exchanges.

Gingerbread cookies make a great homemade gift for the holidays. Here are some tips on how to make cookies for holiday gifts. Cookie bags or cookie boxes make it easy to individually wrap cookies, if you want to give out cookies one at a time.

You can also serve gingerbread cookies as a tasty and easy dessert for holiday meals. Simply arrange the gingerbread cookies on a platter for a fun or elegant presentation.

How to Make Easy Gingerbread Cookies Using Cake Mix

Making gingerbread cookies with cake mix is an easy way to get great results, sometimes with fewer steps and fewer ingredients. Cake mix cookies are a great way to make cookies when you need an easy cookie recipe or you need to make a lot of cookies at one time.

Here’s how to make gingerbread cookies using spice cake mix. An ingredients list with amounts is included in the printable recipe below.

First, make the wet ingredients mix. Add butter, vegetable shortening, molasses, and eggs to a large mixing bowl. Whisk to combine the ingredients ingredients until they are light and creamy in texture. This helps to aerate the cookies.

Next, make the dry ingredients mix. Add sifted spice cake mix and flour to a separate mixing bowl (sifting the cake mix and flour helps to break up any lumps, for a smoother cookie dough). Add pumpkin pie spice, ginger, and salt to the bowl. Whisk to combine the ingredients.

Add the spice cake mix to wet ingredients bowl and gently fold it in, using a spatula, until the ingredients just come together.

Cover the mixing bowl with the gingerbread cookie dough, and refrigerate it for about 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, remove the bowl from the refrigerator to make cookies.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Next, cover a clean flat surface with parchment paper. This will be your working surface to shape the cookies.

Shape the gingerbread cookie dough into a round disc shape, and then place it on the parchment paper. Place a second sheet of parchment paper over the cookie dough round.

Roll the cookie dough out onto the parchment paper until the dough is about ¼ to ⅙ inch thick. Then remove the top sheet of parchment paper, and use cookie cutters to cut the cookies into shapes.

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Or, to keep things simple, you could also make soft, round gingerbread cookies. Simply scoop the cookie dough out using a cookie scoop and shape it into rounds. Use about 1 to 1 ½ rounded tablespoons of dough per cookie.

Place the gingerbread cookie shapes or gingerbread cookie dough rounds onto a cookie sheet to bake, leaving 2 inches of space on all sides between each cookie.

Bake the gingerbread cookies for 9 to 11 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cookies comes out clean. For best results, check the cookies at 9 minutes for doneness. Once out of the oven, the gingerbread cookies will continue to bake on the cookie sheet for a short period of time.

Place the gingerbread cookies on cookie rack to cool. A cookie spatula makes it easy to remove the cookies. Cool the cookies completely before decorating them with icing.

Use store bought cookie icing to decorate cookies, or make your own homemade cookie icing and apply it using a cake decorating set.

Gingerbread cookies make great gifts to package and give out for the holidays.

What You’ll Need to Make Gingerbread Cookies

Here are some ingredients and tools that you can use to make cake mix gingerbread cookies.

Spice Cake Mix

In many cases, you can use a basic spice cake mix to make this recipe. The recipe calls for one 15.25 oz box of cake mix, which equals about 3 ½ cups of dry cake mix.

Flour Sifter

A flour sifter is a great tool to have for sifting flour and cake mix before using it to make recipes. Sifting helps to remove large lumps from the flour or cake mix for a smoother result.

Holiday Cookie Cutters

One of the best things about making gingerbread cookies is using holiday cookie cutters to cut them into cute shapes. Use cookie cutters to shape cookies before baking.

Icing

Cookie icing is a convenient way to decorate cookies using icing that is already made and placed in a convenient squeeze bag for you to use. Simply open the package and start decorating.

Cake Decorating Set

If you prepare to make your own icing, then a cake decorator’s kit with piping bags is great to have on hand. Use the kit to decorate cakes, cookies, and other baked goods.

Spatula / Spoonula

Use a spatula or spoonula to gently fold a dry ingredients mix into a wet ingredients mix when making cookies or other baked goods.

Cookie Sheet

Use a cookie sheet to bake gingerbread cake mix cookies and other types of cookies.

Parchment Paper

Parchment paper helps to keep food from sticking to pans. Not only can parchment paper make it easier to remove cookies and other baked goods from pans, it can help make clean up easier, too.

Cookie Spatula

A cookie spatula is just the right size for lifting cookies from the cookie sheet to place them on the cooling rack. Cookie spatulas are also just the right size for lifting brownies from the pan.

Cooling Rack

A cooling rack helps cookies and other baked goods to cool more evenly.

Tips on Making Gingerbread Cookies

Here are some tips on making gingerbread cookies using cake mix.

Cream together the wet ingredients (butter, vegetable shortening, molasses, and eggs) in a large mixing bowl before adding the dry cake mix. This helps to aerate the cookies. Make sure the butter is at room temperature before adding it to the recipe.
Use a flour sifter to sift the cake mix and flour before adding them to the wet ingredients mix. Sifting the cake mix helps to remove any large lumps of cake mix, resulting in a smoother cookie.
Make sure your spices are fresh for the best flavor. Many spices last for at least a few months when stored in a dark pantry or cabinet. But fresher spices tend to be more aromatic and have better flavor.
Check cookies for doneness at 9 minutes. For a softer cookie, bake the cookie for 9 minutes. For a harder cookie, bake the cookie for 1 or 2 minutes longer. The cookies will continue to cook for a few minutes once you remove them from the oven.
Use cookie icing to decorate the cookies. For gingerbread people, use a gingerbread person cutout and decorate the face with eyes, nose, and mouth. Add clothing details like buttons, sleeves, and a scarf.

Easy Gingerbread Cookies Recipe

Here is an easy gingerbread cookie recipe using spice cake mix.

Easy Gingerbread Cookies Recipe | Cake Mix Gingerbread Cookies

Here is an easy recipe for making cake mix gingerbread cookies.

Course Dessert, Snack

Cuisine American

Keyword Christmas cookie recipes, cookie recipes, holiday recipes

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 15

Resting Time 30

Total Time 1

Servings 16 cookies

Author Sweet Bacon & Pecans

Ingredients

¼ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature (4 Tbsp)
¼ cup vegetable shortening
2 to 3 Tbsp molasses
2 large eggs
1 box spice cake mix sifted
1 cup all purpose flour sifted
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp salt
Cookie icing, royal icing, and candy decorations (optional)

Instructions

Add butter, vegetable shortening, molasses, and eggs to a large mixing bowl. Whisk to combine the ingredients until they are light and creamy in texture.
Add the spice cake mix, flour, pumpkin pie spice, ground ginger, and salt to a second mixing bowl. Whisk to combine the ingredients.
Add the dry spice cake mixture to wet ingredients bowl in batches. Gently fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, until the gingerbread cookie dough just comes together.
Cover the mixing bowl with the gingerbread cookie dough, and refrigerate it for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, remove the bowl from the refrigerator to make the gingerbread cookies.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line each cookie sheet with parchment paper.
Next, cover a clean flat surface with parchment paper. Shape the dough into a round disc and place it on the parchment paper. Place a second sheet of parchment paper over the cookie dough round.
Gently flatten the dough using a rolling pin. Roll the cookie dough out onto the parchment paper until the dough is about ¼ to ⅙ inch thick. Use cookie cutters to cut the cookies into shapes. The number of cookies yielded will depend on how thickly the dough is rolled out and the shapes of the cookies.
For round cookies instead, simply scoop the cookie dough out using a cookie scoop and shape it into rounds. If using about 1 to 1 ½ Tbsps. of cookie dough to make each cookie, then the recipe should yield about 20 to 24 round cookies.
Place cookie dough cutout shapes or rounds onto the cookie sheet, leaving 2 inches of space on all sides between the cookies.
Bake the gingerbread cookies for 9 to 11 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cookies comes out clean. For best results, check cookies at 9 minutes for doneness.

Notes

The number of cookies that this recipe will make varies. If using a cookie scoop to make cookie dough balls using about 1 to 1 ½ Tbsp of dough for each cookie, then the recipe should make about 20 to 24 cookies.

If using cookie cutters to make cut out gingerbread cookies, then the number of cookies that the recipe makes will vary, depending on the size and shape of the cookie cutters and how you arrange them, among other factors.

Once the wet and dry ingredients are combined, refrigerating the cookie dough for about 30 minutes can make it easier to roll out the dough.

How to Package Gingerbread Cookies for a Holiday Gift

Homemade gingerbread cookies make a great holiday gift. To make a gift of holiday cookies, you’ll need a few items, like bakery paper, a cookie tin or cookie box, or a gift bag for gifting cookies and other baked goods.