Grandma's Gingerbread Spritz (2024)

A classic Gingerbread Spritz cookie recipe like Grandma used to make- spicy and sweet with just a bit of heat.

I have such fond memories of baking with my grandmother at Christmastime. Although I haven’t quite mastered everything that she taught me, she inspires just about everything I do in the kitchen. These classic Gingerbread Spritz cookies bring me right back to my childhood.

She didn’t bake them often (I think she hated cleaning her cookie press), but I was always allowed to dump on as many sprinkles as I wanted when she did. We only had a limited amount of cinnamon candies to use, and those were my favorite to place on top of the gingerbread spritz cookies before they went into the oven.

Gingerbread Spritz Cookies

You will need a cookie press. I had an old Pampered Chef cookie press that I would swear every time I tried to use it; I never had any luck with those plastic discs. Recently I switched to the OXO Cookie Press with metal discs, and I fell in love with spritz cookies again. I also had to grab the OXO Christmas Disc set to go along with it. This recipe is not sponsored, although those are Amazon Affiliate links.

Key Gingerbread Spritz Ingredients

Coincidentally there was a recipe included in a booklet that is similar to my grandmother’s! There were a few minor differences, one of them being that our family always adds white pepper to our gingerbread cookies. It goes along nicely with the classic gingerbread spices of nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, and ginger.

You’ll need molasses, butter, brown sugar, flour, salt, vanilla, and an egg.

You won’t need a leavening agent such as baking powder, baking soda, or cream of tartar. You can pile these cookies pretty closely together on the baking sheet because they do not rise or spread very much.

To chill or not to chill?

We prefer chilling the gingerbread spritz dough for at least 30 minutes before pressing into cookie shapes because of the molasses in this recipe. Spoon the dough out in two log shapes onto plastic wrap. Wrap tightly and chill.

Unwrap and place a chilled dough log into your cookie press when ready to bake. Leave the rest of the dough in the refrigerator until ready to use. Note: if your cookie press has plastic discs, you may not want to chill the dough.

You will experience the most success when pressing spritz cookies onto a very cold, ungreased baking sheet (also, do not use parchment paper or a silicone mat). For this reason, we suggest using sturdy cookie sheets, not flimsy ones.

How to decorate Gingerbread Spritz Cookies

These flavorful cookies can be left plain and simple. If using sprinkles or candies, then place them before baking.

You can frost or dip them with a simple icing glaze when cooled completely. Try our popular Three Ingredient Chocolate Glaze.

Spritz cookies can also be dusted with powdered sugar after cooled and when ready to serve. Lots of options!

Can I freeze Gingerbread Spritz Cookies?

You can freeze fully baked and cooled gingerbread spritz cookies and store them for up to three months.

We prefer stacking the cookies in cupcake liners and freezing in an airtight container with a piece of parchment paper or plastic wrap on top to lock out any moisture.

Bring to room temperature before freezing. Do not re-freeze once thawed.

Check out this helpful post from OXO about how to use a cookie press.