Food Cooking Techniques Baking 12 Gingerbread Recipes From Cookies to Cake Celebrate seasonal baking spices with desserts and a festive drink. By Food & Wine Editors Food & Wine Editors This is collaborative content from Food & Wine's team of experts, including staff, recipe developers, chefs, and contributors. Many of our galleries curate recipes or guides from a variety of sources which we credit throughout the content and at each link. Food & Wine's Editorial Guidelines Published on November 30, 2023 Close Photo: © Tina Rupp There's sweet, mildly spicy magic in combining ginger, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, and molasses in winter gingerbread recipes, whether you're making holiday cookies, loaves of bread, seasonal plated desserts, or a festive drink. Indulge your love for gingerbread flavors with any of these variations, from cookies to decorate to a decorative trifle, plus the perfect bread for a holiday brunch and a merry Margarita. 01 of 12 Gingerbread Cookies © Frances Janisch 1996 Food & Wine Best New Chef Maria Helm Sinskey makes her spicy dough with butter instead of shortening and corn syrup so that it tastes fresher than most gingerbreads. Get the Recipe 02 of 12 Gingerbread Cookies with Royal Icing © Lucy Schaeffer Chef Michael Mina says his recipe is ideal for decorating the gingerbread cookies with kids. Get the Recipe 03 of 12 Chocolate-Gingerbread Cookies © Ditte Isager These marvelous Christmas cookies from Baked's Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito combine chocolate with spicy gingerbread. The supple dough is very easy to work with, and the scraps can be rerolled and cut out. Get the Recipe 04 of 12 Gingerbread Roll with Cinnamon Cream © Tina Rupp A riff on a bûche de Noël, this inventive recipe from longtime pastry chef Jennifer Giblin combines tender ginger cake with a tangy cream-cheese filling. Get the Recipe 05 of 12 Pain d'Épices © Oddur Thorisson This hearty, deeply spiced gingerbread loaf from French cook and writer Mimi Thorisson has a wonderful honey-buckwheat flavor. Get the Recipe 06 of 12 Spiced Gingerbread Cookies © Christina Holmes Pastry chef and author Julianne Jones’s wonderfully zingy gingerbread cookies have a tender and cakey texture, yet they’re sturdy enough to decorate. Get the Recipe 07 of 12 Gingerbread and White Chocolate Mousse Trifle © Chris Court Writer and pastry chef Monica Glass's trifle is three desserts in one: mousse, gingerbread, and caramel. Each part is delicious on its own, too. Get the Recipe 08 of 12 Cranberry Gingerbread © John Kernick With plenty of tart and tangy fresh cranberries, former senior F&W food editor Kay Chun's loaf is perfect sliced, spread with sweet butter and served alongside a cup of hot tea. Get the Recipe 09 of 12 Gingerbread with Quark Cheesecake © Tina Rupp Pastry chef Nancy Olsen's clever recipe combines two cakes in one. The cheesecake half is light and creamy, with a pleasant tang from quark (a soft, unripened cheese that's similar to sour cream), while the gingerbread half is fragrant, moist, and delicately spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. Get the Recipe 10 of 12 Gingerbread with Pears © David De Vleeschauwer Former Food & Wine test kitchen editor Diana Sturgis folds dices of a Bartlett pear into the batter before baking a loaf of gingerbread. Get the Recipe 11 of 12 Molasses-Gingerbread Cake with Mascarpone Cream © Con Poulos This gorgeously moist cake from baking instructor Katie Rosenhouse is flavored with molasses for a mellow sweetness. It's excellent served with wine-poached pears or a topping of whipped mascarpone and sugary, slightly bitter confited orange peel. Get the Recipe 12 of 12 Gingerbread Margarita Photo by Jennifer Causey / Food Styling by Emily Nabors Hall / Prop Styling by Audrey Davis Pour Baldamar bar manager David Marzorati Jr.'s winterized Margarita with a warm, cozy, cake-spice panache at holiday parties. Get the Recipe Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit