These Soft Gingerbread Cookies cookies are the most amazingly soft, sweet, and lightly spiced cookies. It's the perfect gingerbread man cookie for shaping and decorating, and the dough is make-ahead friendly so you can spread out the holiday cookie baking!
Add the butter and sugar to a large bowl (or the bowl of your stand mixer) and beat until the mixture is light and fluffy, about three minutes, using a hand mixer or the paddle attachment on your stand mixer. Scrape down the sides as few times as needed.
Add the egg, molasses, and vinegar. Beat to combine well. The mixture will look a bit curdled.
Add the flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves to the bowl and mix to combine well. The dough should come together when you press it in your hands and shouldn't be crumbly. If anything it'll still be a little tacky to the touch. That's ok.
Divide the dough into two even pieces, wrap each piece of dough in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 30 to 90 minutes. Don't skip this step, it helps the cookies to keep their shape.
When the dough is done chilling, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Working in sections, roll the dough to 1/2 inch thick on a floured surface; cut into desired shapes.
Place shapes on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a baking mat. Gather and reroll "scraps" of dough as needed, using all of the dough.
Bake at 350 degrees for 9-11 minutes. Let the cookies cool on the pan for 5 minutes, and then move to a cooling rack.
If your dough is too tacky you can add additional flour as needed, it will be a little sticky (and firms up when you refrigerate it) but it shouldn't be overly wet. You may need to add up to a 1/2 cup more flour as needed so the dough is workable. I'm cooking from an arid kitchen.
You can substitute the white vinegar with apple cider vinegar without any issues.
Use light, dark, or "fancy" molasses in this recipe. Do not use blackstrap or cooking molasses as your cookies will be bitter if you use the latter two. Here's a post on how to make gingerbread without molasses.
If you refrigerate your cookies longer than the recommend time, let them rest at room temperature for about 15 minutes before rolling them out so help the dough not be too stiff.