Sourdough Gingerbread Cookies (or Houses & Trees)

Here’s a simple and spicy recipe for sourdough gingerbread cookies that will also work for houses, trees, and other shapes. Stop buying prefab gingerbread cookies and houses that are inedible and unhealthy! Make your own so that you can actually enjoy eating your gingerbread!
(FYI, this is not a soft, molasses ginger bread; this is traditional gingerbread for Christmas cookie creations.)

We make gingerbread cookies and houses every year; in fact, we usually host a party where everyone decorates them all together. 

Each year for the past few years, we’ve slowly been making our houses a little more healthy. This year, we’ve switched to sourdough gingerbread for cookies, houses, trees, and other shapes.

This recipe is long fermented for optimal health and flavor, and is perfectly structural AND delicious!

Sourdough Gingerbread for Cookies, Houses, & Trees

I actually modified this sourdough gingerbread recipe from our Healthy Gingerbread Recipe that we shared on the blog a few years ago. This original recipe calls for mostly whole wheat flour, which keeps the gingerbread firm for strong gingerbread men, as well as durable house and tree assembly.

It also has almond flour and a bit of rye for strong flavor. Then, of course, there are A LOT of ginger (one of my favorite herbs) and spices! I believe gingerbread should wake up your mouth. (You can scale back the herbs if you would like less spice.)

Because I was going to be working with sourdough, I made a few modification to our original recipe. We’ve also started making our gingerbread men and house candies to prepare for decorating. It takes a few weeks of preparations before we have enough!

Other Gingerbread Resources

Healthy Gingerbread House (2 Ways)

How to Make Gingerbread Christmas Tree

Low Carb Marzipan

Sourdough Gingerbread Cookie Recipe

Long ferment this sourdough gingerbread cookie recipe for men, houses, trees, and other decorative cookie creations. With traditional spices, molasses, and a mix of flours, this gingerbread bakes up perfectly for making houses.

Because it’s healthier, you can actually eat your delicious gingerbread house without making yourself sick with all the carbs and unfermented grains!

 

Sourdough Gingerbread Recipe Notes

Here’s a heads up that the dough is tacky but will roll out really well. You can dust your counter with your favorite flour, but go easy.

Gingerbread cookies are often baked only until done so that they’re still soft. For making gingerbread houses and 3-D shapes, the gingerbread needs to be baked until:

• it’s no longer glossy on top
• there may even be small bubbles forming (from the fermentation process)
• it is lighter in color
• the finished cookie cools down to be firm

These are all great indications that your gingerbread is ready to remove from the oven. 

Be sure that you allow the gingerbread to cool COMPLETELY before constructing a gingerbread structures with it. The cooling process firms the gingerbread and helps it become strong enough for building.

More Sourdough Gingerbread Cookie Notes

If you don’t have time to bake the gingerbread the same day, you can slow ferment the gingerbread cookie dough in the fridge.

• Likewise, if you’re worried about the eggs being fermented at room temperature, you can place you dough into the fridge overnight.

You can add another cup of sugar to this recipe if you’d like a little more sweetness. My family prefers a spicy, firm gingerbread.

You can experiment with your preferred thickness with these sourdough gingerbread cookies. For softer cookies, you can add 1/8″ more thickness.

• For structure, like houses and trees, keep it at 1/4″ for strength.

The yield off finished items for this recipe is highly variable in relation to what you’re cutting out – cookies, men, trees, houses, etc. The recipe overall will produce about 11 cups of dough.

You’ll know the sourdough gingerbread cookies and cutouts are done baking when the glossy shine is gone and the color has lightened. You may also see very small bubbles baking under the surface of the cookies.

Cool the cookies completely before frosting or turning into houses or trees. Use your favorite recipe for frosting.

Low Carb Cream Cheese Icing

We eat our sourdough gingerbread cookies plain or with a simple, low-carb frosting piped onto the cookies.

Low Carb Cream Cheese Topping:

1. Over a double boiler, melt 1 package of cream cheese. Stir to smooth.
2. Add 1-2 Tbsp. of erythritol and still until melted.
3. Remove from heat and cool for a few minutes.
4. Add to a prepared piping bag and decorate your sourdough gingerbread cookies.

This topping will stiffen quite a bit as it cools. We like this topping so much better than something like royal icing (gag) or typically cookie frosting (too sweet).

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Sweetest Season Cookie Exchange

This recipe is part of  The Sweetest Season, an annual virtual cookie swap co-hosted by Erin of The Speckled Plate and Susannah of Feast + West. Every year, food bloggers get together to share new holiday cookie recipes to make and give.

This year we are raising money for Cookies 4 Kids’ Cancer, which is a recognized 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to funding research for new, innovative and less-toxic treatments for childhood cancer.

Since 2008, Cookies for Kids’ Cancer has granted nearly $18 million to pediatric cancer research in the form of 100+ research grants to leading pediatric cancer centers across the country. From these grants have stemmed 35+ treatments available to kids battling cancer today.

–>>Help us raise money for this important cause by donating through the Cookie Exchange Fundraising Page! <<–

Another exciting thing is that Cookies for Kids’ Cancer is in a  matching window with their friends at OXO, meaning OXO will be matching every dollar raised through the end of 2024, up to $100,000. Whatever money we raise will automatically double on our fundraising page!