A simple gingerbread cookie ornament recipe to decorate for the holidays or use to make gingerbread houses. These DIY gingerbread ornaments are made with less than ten simple ingredients and will hold up in dry or humid environments.
We have a few Christmas traditions that are standard in our family. One of them is making gingerbread man ornament cookies every December.
Way back, we would make gingerbread houses and decorate them as a family. Now that my boys are older, they’re less interested in making them and I prefer to skip all the work they require.
This ornament gingerbread cookie dough works great to make the perfect gingerbread house or to take the simpler route (like me these days) and prepare cookie ornaments for the tree instead.
If you’re looking for more gingerbread cookies or desserts to eat, I think you will love these gingerbread truffles and gingerbread stamp cookies.
Why You Will Love This Gingerbread Ornament Recipe
- Create a natural, rustic look for your holiday tree! For years, the only ornaments we would use on our trees were gingerbread ornaments and dried orange slices.
- A gingerbread ornament craft project to do with the kids. I also love that my boys have cut the ornaments and would hang them on the tree as soon as they were old enough. Now, they are able to roll, cut, bake and hang all on their own. I just love it so much.
- Holds up to humidity! If you didn't know, we lived in the South for quite a few years (God bless Texas). Not every recipe for gingerbread will hold up in areas with a lot of humidity but this one will, like a dream.
- Great gingerbread cookies to eat too! Just cook them slightly less!
Ingredients You Need
This easy gingerbread ornament recipe uses simple, easy-to-find ingredients you can find in most grocery stores. Here are the highlights, the full list and quantities are in the recipe card.
- All-purpose flour: Use your favorite brand.
- Spices: Ginger, cinnamon, and cloves give the classic warming spices to gingerbread for ornaments.
- Shortening: I am not normally a Crisco fan in fact, I never bake with it. I will however not use anything else in my cookies. There is NO SUB.
- Sugar: Sweetens the cookies along with the molasses.
- Molasses: Essential for homemade gingerbread, since this is where you will get the rich, dark color of the cookies.
- Eggs: The eggs are essential for giving the cookies structure.
How to Make Gingerbread for Ornaments
The process for making this gingerbread ornament recipe is easy! Here are the main steps.
Step 1: Make the Dough
- Melt the shortening in a pan over medium heat until almost melted. Remove from the heat and let it continue to melt.
- Combine the flour, salt, and spices and mix together.
- Add the sugar and molasses to the melted shortening and mix well. Allow the mixture to fully cool.
- Once it has cooled, add the sugar mixture and eggs to the mixer. Mix until the dough is fully combined.
- Remove the dough from the bowl and form it into a large disk or two smaller disks. Wrap them in plastic wrap and place in the fridge to chill for two hours.
Step 2: Roll and Bake
- Before you start rolling out the dough, prepare your baking sheet with a piece of parchment paper and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Lightly flour your work surface and roll out the dough to the desired thickness, but I generally aim for about one-eighth to one-sixteenth of an inch.
- To make gingerbread houses. Transfer the rolled dough onto baking parchment before cutting.
- To make ornaments. Cut them out into desired shapes and poke the hole for the hanger to slide through before baking.
- Bake the cookies until browned around the edges about 10-15 minutes. The timing may vary depending on the thickness you cut the cookie dough.
- Remove the cookies from the oven. Let them cool for a few minutes on the pan, then transfer them to a cooling rack.
- Allow house pieces to cool completely before starting construction.
How to Decorate and Use Gingerbread Ornaments
It's up to you whether or not you decorate your cookies! They look great on the tree just as they are but here are some ideas in case you want to make them a bit jazzier.
- Use an embossed rolling pin to roll out the dough. This is the most simple way to add some decorations since you must roll the dough anyway!
- Use icing to decorate. This royal icing recipe by Wilton is my favorite. It works great for the cookie and to put together a gingerbread house.
- Keep them plain! I love this for a super rustic look.
- Add a ribbon! I usually just use an ornament hanger but tying them with a red or red and white ribbon makes a lovely look.
Expert Tips
- Chill your dough. It takes at least a couple of hours. I like to make mine the day before and let it chill overnight.
- Bake cookies on parchment paper. This will make it so much easier to remove after they are baked.
- Make sure you poke or cut holes in the ornament cookies BEFORE cooking. It should be large enough to insert a small ribbon or string, or an ornament hanger.
- For humid environments, I recommend baking your cookies a bit longer so they are crispier.
- Allow baked cookies to cool completely before assembling your gingerbread house or decorating your ornament gingerbread cookies.
FAQs
Yes, you can! The dough is great to make up to a week in advance. Keep it stored in
Yes, you can make the dough ahead of time and freeze it if desired. Wrap it well and store it for up to one month. Be sure to allow it to thaw fully before rolling it out. Also, the cookies can be frozen after baking.
More Holiday Recipes
Follow me on Instagram!
For more inspiration
Gingerbread Ornament Recipe (Or Gingerbread House)
Ingredients
- 5 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons ginger
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon cloves
- 1 cup shortening
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 ¼ cup molasses
- 2 eggs, beaten
Instructions
Make the Cookie Dough
- Heat shortening over medium heat until almost melted. Remove from heat and let it continue to melt.
- In large bowl, combine the dry ingredients minus the sugar. I prefer to do this in my stand mixer, if you want a good arm workout, do this by hand. Set aside.
- Add sugar and molasses to shortening, mix well. Once it has cooled, add this and eggs to mixer. Mix well. Remove dough from bowl and form into a large disk, or 2 smaller disks. Wrap them in saran wrap and place in fridge.
- Chill at least 2 hours.
Roll and Bake
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Lightly flour work surface and roll out dough to desired thickness. I like it about ⅛-1/16 of an inch.
- If you are constructing gingerbread houses, make sure and put rolled dough onto baking parchment before cutting.
- For ornaments, make sure and poke the hole for the hanger to slide through before baking.
- Bake on parchment lined baking sheet until browned around the edges. This tricky to see, but you will be able to tell. My ornaments are generally baked about 10-15 minutes. This will depend on the thickness you cut your ornaments and house pieces at. I like them a little more crispy, especially when we lived in the South where it was so humid.
- Remove from oven. Let them cool for a few minutes on the pan, then place on a cooling rack. Allow house pieces to cool completely before starting construction.
- This dough can be made a week in advance. It freezes well too.
- Now, sit back and enjoy. You deserve it!
Notes
- Chill your dough. It takes at least a couple hours but I like to make mine the day before and let it chill overnight.
- Bake cookies on parchment paper. This will make it so much easier to remove after they are baked.
- Make sure you poke or cut holes in the ornament cookies BEFORE cooking. It should be large enough to insert a small ribbon or string, or an ornament hanger.
- For humid environments, I recommend baking your cookies a bit longer so they are crispier.
- Allow baked cookies to cool completely before assembling your gingerbread house or decorating your ornament gingerbread cookies.