If you have visited Disneyland during the holiday months, then you know how many delicious seasonal treats they have to offer. But the star of the holidays in the parks is the most perfect treat to ever exist. The Mickey gingerbread man cookie.
This cookie is not only adorable but absolute gingerbread perfection. Perfectly baked so it was still soft and having just the right amount of spice, this seasonal treat is every gingerbread lovers dream. They were so popular that they sell out almost daily and when I was trying to get one, I had to visit Jolly Holiday 3 different times to finally get my hands on one but it was definitely worth the wait!
Now if you don’t get to visit the parks very often or don’t have a holiday trip planned, you may miss this delicious goodie. But I have recreated these delicious cookies so you can make them right I your own kitchen! So let’s get to it!
WHAT YOU’LL NEED
This recipe is actually really simple, it just takes some specific ingredients to get it just right. Here’s what you’ll need for the dough:
• Unsalted butter, browned
• Dark brown sugar
• Molasses
• Vegetable oil
• Apple cider vinegar
• An egg
• Vanilla
• Flour
• Ground cinnamon
• Ground ginger
• Ground cloves
• Ground nutmeg
• Salt
• Baking soda
You will also need to make some frosting to decorate your cookies with. For this super simple icing, you’ll need:
• Powdered sugar
• Meringue Powder
• Water
• Clear vanilla flavoring
• Food coloring
TO MAKE THE COOKIES
To start, brown your butter by melting the butter over medium heat until it starts to foam and darken slightly in color. Once you see it starting to darken, take it off to avoid burning it. Allow the butter to cool until mostly solidified again before moving to the next step.
Once your butter is cooled, in a stand mixer or large mixing bowl, add the softened butter and brown sugar and beat on medium-high speed using the whisk attachment until combined.
Next, add in the molasses, oil, apple cider vinegar, egg, and vanilla. Beat the mixture on medium speed until completely combined.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, salt, and baking soda. (Start with 4 cups of flour in your dry ingredients mix. Reserve the last 1/2 cup for later) Slowly add the dry mixture to the wet ingredients while mixing on low speed using the dough hook attachment.
You can see from the picture above that my dough looked a little too wet after I added all the dry ingredients so I added the last 1/2 cup of flour and mixed it until it was completely incorporated. You want the dough to be soft but not sticky. It should look like the picture below.
Once your dough has reached the right consistency, roll out dough onto a piece of parchment paper to 1/4 inch thickness. Do NOT use extra flour when rolling our your cookies, this dough does not require eat. If you want Mickey shaped gingerbread, the cookie cutter I use is from JB Cookie Cutters. It’s the 4” Mickey Gingerbread cookie cutter. They have tons of other amazing cookie cutter designs so be sure to check them out! The dough should come out of the cookie cutter without needing to flour your cutter.
Remove excess dough around your cookies before carefully transferring the cookies to a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. NOTE: You can roll and cut your cookies on the cookie sheet to avoid transferring them. You want space between each cookie to account for spreading in the oven, so do not place more than 9 cookies on your cookie sheet.
Now it’s time to bake. If you want them to turn out like Disneyland’s, bake them at 350° for 7 minutes. Then allow them to cool on the cookie sheet for 1 minute before transferring them to a cooling rack to finish cooling. The cookies will feel soft when you pull them out so be very careful as you transfer them to cool. As they cool they will firm up more but will still stay soft inside.
TO DECORATE THE COOKIES
While the cookies are cooling, it’s time to make the frosting. 2 cups of powdered sugar with 2 Tbsp of meringue powder and 1/4 cup water. Mix until smooth and add 2-3 drops of clear vanilla extract for flavor. If it seems too runny add more powdered sugar and/or meringue powder or if it’s too stiff add a tiny bit of water. You want it to be thick enough so it holds it’s shape when piped. Next, separate the frosting so you can make some red, pink, green, black, and leave the rest white. If you don’t have black food coloring for the face, you could also melt some milk chocolate for that part.
I pipe the outline and details on the legs and ears first and add the smaller details like the buttons, bowtie, and face afterwards. Make sure you allow a few minutes after piping each area/color so the royal icing can set so it doesn’t smear as you are working with the cookies.
And there you have it! Amazingly soft, perfectly spiced Mickey gingerbread man cookies just like Disneyland’s! These cookies will be on repeat at our house this holiday season and I hope you love them as much as we do! You can find the printable recipe below!
You can find this Mickey gingerbread cookie plate and milk
PRINTABLE MICKEY GINGERBREAD MAN COOKIE RECIPE
Copycat Mickey Gingerbread Man Cookies
Equipment
- Cookie cutter
- Rolling Pin
- Piping bags or ziploc bags
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, browned and cooled
- 3/4 cup dark brown sugar
- 3/4 cup molasses, not blackstrap
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 egg
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 4 – 4 1/2 cups flour, start with 4 cups- add remaining 1/2 cup if dough is too wet
- 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tbsp ground ginger
- 2 tsp ground cloves
- 1 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
To make the royal icing:
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 2 tbsp meringue powder
- 1/4 cup water
- 2-3 drops clear vanilla
- Food coloring green, red, and black
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°
- In a pan, brown butter over medium heat and allow to cool until mostly solidified.
- In a stand mixer using the whisk attachment, add the butter and sugar and beat together until well combined and fluffy.
- Add the molasses, oil, vinegar, egg, and vanilla. Mix on medium speed until completely combined.
- In another bowl, combine 4 cups of flour, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, salt, and baking soda. Using a dough hook on a low speed, gradually add the dry ingredients until everything is well combined. Use a spatula to scrape the sides if needed. If the dough feels too wet once it’s completely combined, add the remaining 1/2 cup of flour and mix until fully incorporated. The dough should be soft but not sticky.
- Roll the dough out on parchment paper to 1/4 inch thickness and cut out your cookies. NOTE: Do not flour the counter, rolling pin, or cookie cutter, the dough will not be sticky and doesn't need the extra flour. Remove excess dough and place parchment paper with the cookies onto a cookie sheet and place in the freezer for 7 minutes.
- Remove cookies from the freezer and bake for 7 minutes. Remove from oven and allow cookies to sit on the cookie sheet for 1 minute before carefully moving them to a cooling rack. Allow cookies to cool completely before decorating. (If you like harder gingerbread cookies, bake for an additional 2 minutes.)
To make the royal icing:
- In a bowl, combined powdered sugar, meringue powder, and water and mix until smooth. Add 2-3 drops of clear vanilla flavoring and mix until incorporated. Separate frosting into 5 bowls, leaving the largest one white, and making the others light pink, green, red, and black.
To decorate the cookies:
- Outline the cookie with white frosting and add details to the arms, legs, and ears. Using the black food coloring, pipe on the eyes, nose, and smile. Add the pink frosting for the cheeks, the red frosting for the bow tie, and the green frosting for the buttons. NOTE: Allow each color of food coloring to harden before adding the next color to avoid smearing. Enjoy!
Notes
I hope you enjoy this recipe! Want more Disney recipes you can make at home? You can find them all here!
