Chocolatey, perfectly spiced, and not too sweet, these easy chocolate gingerbread cookies are the quintessential holiday cookies. They happen to be my favorites because it’s the perfect cookie exchange recipe—effortless, quick, and make-ahead!
I must have made a thousand gingerbread cookies during Christmas for my business in the last 6 years. I kid you not. Yet, every year, I look forward to munching on them. Am I bored with these easy Christmas cookies yet? No, not at all!
This year, though, I experimented and made one batch of chocolate gingerbread cookies with cocoa powder. Boy, was I in for a wonderful surprise, or what? Chocolate with hints of ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves—it's truly a match made in heaven!
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Why We Love This Recipe
Irresistible blend of rich cocoa and warm spices
Hands down, the finest last-minute Christmas cookie recipe.
The familiar and exciting flavor makes it ideal for cookie exchanges.
Be as creative as you want with the shapes and impress your kids and guests.
A recipe that offers a delightful and festive twist to traditional favorites.
How To Make Chocolate Gingerbread Man Cookies
Step 1: Prepare flax egg by mixing flaxseed powder with water in a small bowl. Set aside for 5–10 minutes.
Step 2: Combine the dry ingredients in a medium bowl: buckwheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt (if using unsalted butter), cocoa powder, cinnamon powder, clove powder, ginger powder, and nutmeg powder.
Step 3: In a large bowl, whisk softened butter with honey, brown sugar, and flax egg until creamy.
Step 4: Make the chocolate gingerbread cookies with cocoa powder dough by stirring the dry ingredients into the wet with a spatula.
Step 5: While your oven preheats to 180°C, line a baking tray with baking paper or Silpat and cut the chocolate gingerbread man cookies.
Step 6: Lightly dust your work surface with flour. Roll out the dough to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut out the desired shapes and transfer them to the prepared baking tray.
Step 7: Bake for 10–12 minutes. For crispier cookies, add an extra minute.
Step 8: Allow cookies to cool on the tray, as they will harden as they cool.
Step 9: Enjoy the cookies warm.
Optional Step: Let them cool completely, and then decorate the gingerbread and chocolate cookies to your heart’s content.
Pro Tips
- The gluten-free dough comes together fairly quickly and doesn't need much resting time.
- In case the dough of these soft Christmas cookies is too soft and sticky, refrigerate for 15–20 minutes.
- This is a great make-ahead recipe for chocolate gingerbread cookies. Stick the dough in the refrigerator until you're ready to roll it out. Do let the dough sit on the counter until it loses some of its chill before you proceed with baking.
- You can cut chocolate cookies into any shape you like. I love my little gingerbread men, Christmas trees, and snowflakes, and I simply adore decorating them.
How To Decorate The Gingerbread Man Cookies
Buttery, light, and wonderfully rich in flavors, you’ll love these gingerbread man chocolate cookies as-is. But ‘tis the season, so I didn’t want to skip the chance to be festive and decided to decorate them. It's so therapeutic for me.
- You can use a simple mixture of icing sugar and water for decorating. Just remember that the icing should be smooth and thick. Use a piping bag or a small offset spatula to spread the icing on the cookies.
- Royal icing also works beautifully here. For years, I've followed the Bake At 350 blog for tips on making royal icing and cookie decoration. If you don't want to be bothered with any of that, a simple drizzle of dark or white chocolate will do very well.
- Or, as I said earlier, keep them plain. They taste like a million bucks and look adorable any which way!
Recipe Variations
Vegan-friendly holiday cookie recipe: Use coconut butter or any non-dairy butter (if it's available to you) instead of regular butter.
Honey gives the gingerbread cookies with chocolate a lovely floral sweetness. You could use molasses, which is what is traditionally used in these cookies. Or maybe maple syrup. I went with what I had on hand.
Eggs: Flax eggs worked perfectly fine here. Just like it did for my mocha gingerbread biscotti. You can use milk to bind the dough, as I did with my chocolate ginger cookies.
More Easy Christmas Cookies
Half the joy of cooking is sharing it with others. That’s why I’m always eager to hear from you. So go right ahead and drop a comment or reach out on Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, or Facebook. I hope you love these chocolate gingerbread man cookies as much as we do!
📖 Recipe
Chocolate Gingerbread Man Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 cup Buckwheat flour
- 3/4 tsp Baking powder
- 1/4 tsp Baking soda
- 1 tsp Clove powder
- 1 tsp cinnamon powder
- 1 tsp Ginger powder
- 1/4 tsp Nutmeg powder
- 1/8 tsp Salt
- 2 tbsp Cocoa powder
- 4.5 oz Butter, softened I used salted butter so omitted adding salt to the batter.
- 2/3 cup Brown sugar
- 2.3 oz Honey 1/4 cup
- 1 Flax egg 1 tbsp flaxseed powder + 3 tbsp water
Instructions
- In a small bowl, mix the flaxseed powder with water. Keep aside for 5 -10 minutes.
- In a medium bowl, mix together the buckwheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt ( if using unsalted butter), cocoa powder, cinnamon powder, clove powder, ginger powder, and nutmeg powder.
- In a large bowl, whisk the softened butter with honey, brown sugar and flax egg until creamy.
- Stir in the dry ingredients with a spatula. Combine well till a soft dough is formed.
- If the dough is very soft and sticky, please refrigerate for 15-20 minutes.
- When you're ready to make the cookies, preheat your oven to 180C. Line your baking tray with baking paper or silpat.
- Lightly dust your work surface with flour and roll out the dough to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut out into desired shapes and transfer to the baking tray.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes. If you want them very crisp, give them another minute in the oven They will harden as they cool.
- Eat warm or let the cookies cool completely if you wish to decorate them. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Easyfoodsmith says
I am always sold out to recipes that say not too sweet. These cookies are so pretty and festive Tasha. Love them!
Natasha Minocha says
Thanks so much Taruna! I can't eat too much sweet myself, and I like to be able to taste the flavours..so I'm always gravitating towards low sugar treats:)