Gingerbread Fall Leaves

Gingerbread Fall Leaves are the perfect cookies for fall! Chewy  iced gingerbread gets dappled in fall colors using a fun, simple decorating technique for the easiest and most beautiful fall leaf cookies ever!

If you love the flavor of gingerbread and the convenience of bar cookies, next time try Lebkuchen Bars, a deliciously spiced and chewy German treat.

Why you’ll love this recipe

These soft and chewy gingerbread cutout cookies are decorated with the glorious colors of autumn. They take a bit of planning because they require time for the icing and then the food coloring to dry, but the actual baking and decorating is very easy.

These delicious fall cookies start with a gingerbread roll out cookie recipe that tastes great and stays fresh for ages. The cookies don’t rise which keeps the edges defined on the baked cookie shapes.

Faux royal icing, also called corn syrup icing, is a trouble free way to get a smooth iced surface with minimal decorating skills. Then comes the fun part of the decorating.

Remember sponge painting when you or your children were in preschool? The awesome colored designs on these cookies are created by sponge painting with food coloring right onto the iced cookies.

I read about this food coloring “painting” technique on Klickitatstreet.com, where it was used to embellish flower cookies. I wanted to try to mimic Mother Nature’s fall palate on these fall themed cookies.

I used natural food coloring made with vegetable colorants. When used to tint cookie dough, natural colors bake up soft and muted. When they are dabbed onto an iced cookie, they give the vibrant fall hues I was looking for.

Decorated gingerbread cookies are perfect fall cookies. They are a great way to add seasonal color and the flavors of fall to a care package or a holiday cookie tray. These sweet treats are also a great baking/decorating project to enjoy with your resident preschool sponge painting expert.

Recipe ingredients

• unsalted butter 
• dark brown sugar 
• molasses
• large eggs
• cinnamon
• ginger
• salt
• all-purpose flour
• confectioners’ sugar
• milk 
• light corn syrup
•  vanilla extract

Instructions

This is an overview of the instructions. The full instructions are in the recipe card below.

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and molasses and mix until incorporated. Stir in spices and salt. Gradually add flour.
2. Roll ⅓ of the dough out to ¼” thickness on a lightly floured surface. Hint: Because these cookies spread minimally, cutting them out directly on the parchment paper they will be baked on, eliminates the need to transfer the cut out dough. Roll the dough out on a sheet of parchment paper the size of your cookie sheet. Cut out the cookies about 1” apart. Remove the excess dough from around the cut-out cookies. Slide the parchment onto your cookie sheet. Repeat with the remaining dough.
3. Bake for 6-7 minutes. (Cookies will firm slightly as they cool.) Cool on baking sheet for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
4. Cover the top of each cookie with white icing.

5. You will need 1 paint dauber for each color. Cut a paper towel sheet into 4 pieces. Scrunch a piece of plastic wrap into a ball and place at the center of a paper towel square. Twist the paper towel around the plastic wrap and secure with a twisty tie.
6. Dispense about 5 drops of each color food coloring onto a plate. Leave room between colors.
7. Moisten a dauber slightly in the water. Dip the dauber in a food color, blot off excess color, then pat onto the cookie. Use a different dauber for each color.
8. Cookies should be dry before they are stored. Drying time varies.

Storage

When wrapped and stored at room temperature in an airtight container, these long lasting cookies stay fresh for at least 2 weeks.

More molasses recipes

Molasses, chocolate, and spice make Chocolate Chip Molasses Cookies chewy cookies full of fall flavors that are hard to resist.

Gingerbread Pirate Cookies are the cutest crew of pirates you will ever see. This tasty cookie will delight children along with the book that inspired them.

Gingerbread Loaf Cake is an easy quick bread that is soft and deliciously spiced with cinnamon and ginger. A delicious way to usher in the holiday season!

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Gingerbread Fall Leaves Cookies

These chewy iced gingerbread cookies are gorgeous decorated fall cookies! The coloring is simple and a great baking project for kids.

5 from 1 vote

Print Rate

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 2 hours

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Drying Time: 1 day

Total Time: 1 day 2 hours 20 minutes

Servings: 36

Calories: 208kcal

Author: Wendy Sondov

Adapted From: lilaloa.com

Ingredients

Cookies

• 1 cup unsalted butter room temperature
• 1 ½ cups dark brown sugar packed
• ⅓ cup molasses
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons ginger
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 4 ½ cups all-purpose flour

Icing

• 4 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 3 tablespoons milk add more to thin icing to desired consistency
• 3 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Decorating

• food coloring gel or liquid
• paper towel squares 1 for each color being used
• plastic wrap 1- 6” strip for each color being used
• twisty ties 1 for each color being used
• small bowl of water

Instructions

Cookies

• Preheat oven to 350˚F.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and molasses and mix until incorporated. Stir in spices and salt.
• Gradually add flour, 1 cup at a time, until the dough is roll-out consistency. When baking immediately, I needed 4 ½ – 5 cups. For dough that will be refrigerated overnight before baking use only 4 cups.
• Roll ⅓ of the dough out to ¼” thickness on a lightly floured surface. Hint: Because these cookies spread minimally, cutting them out directly on the parchment paper they will be baked on, eliminates the need to transfer the cut out dough. For best results, roll the dough out on a sheet of parchment paper the size of your cookie sheets. Cut out the cookies about 1” apart. Remove the excess dough from around the cut-out cookies. Slide the parchment onto a cookie sheet. Repeat with the remaining dough.
• Bake cookies for 6-7 minutes. (Cookies will firm slightly as they cool.) Cool on baking sheet for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Icing

• By hand or with an electric mixer, combine sugar and milk until smooth.
• Add corn syrup and vanilla. Continue beating together until smooth and glossy. Add additional milk in tablespoon increments until desired consistency. (Icing consistency should be thin enough to spread easily but thick enough not to drip off the cookies. It should resemble a thin paste but not glue.)
• APPLYING THE ICING: (choose 1 of the following suggested methods)
• SPATULA METHOD: Use icing that is a spreadable consistency. Spoon icing into a piping bag or ziplock bag with a small part of a bottom corner cut off. Pipe some icing onto a cookie and use a knife or offset spatula to spread the icing evenly over the surface of the cookie. Allow the icing to dry overnight.
• OUTLINE/ FLOOD METHOD: Two consistencies of icing will be used. First, spoon about 1 cup of icing (thin paste consistency) into a piping bag or ziplock bag with a small part of a bottom corner cut off. Outline the top of each cookie. Thin all remaining icing to the consistency of glue and spoon into a piping bag or ziplock bag. Set aside and allow the icing outline to dry for about 1 hour. When the outline has set slightly, pipe the remaining icing onto each cookie filling in the outlines. Allow the icing to dry overnight.

Decorating

• You will need 1 paint dauber for each color. Cut a paper towel sheet into 4 pieces. Scrunch a piece of plastic wrap into a ball and place at the center of a paper towel square. Twist the paper towel around the plastic wrap and secure with a twisty tie.
• Dispense about 5 drops of each color food coloring onto a plate. Leave room between colors.
• Moisten a dauber slightly in the water. Dip the dauber in a food color, blot off excess color, then pat onto the cookie. Use a different dauber for each color.
• Cookies should be dry before they are stored. Drying time varies. My India Tree natural food colors required overnight drying.
• Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks.

Notes

• This delicious treat is the perfect fall cookie to bake for a back-to-school bake sale, Halloween party, or harvest party and a great cookie to complete a Thanksgiving feast with a creative fall twist.
• To turn these into pumpkin spice cookies, use pumpkin pie spice to replace the other spices in the recipe.

Packing tips

Double wrap pairs of cookies (with bottoms together) in plastic wrap, then place in an airtight container or zip lock bag.

Nutrition

Calories: 208kcal | Carbohydrates: 38g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 23mg | Sodium: 26mg | Potassium: 83mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 26g | Vitamin A: 173IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 23mg | Iron: 1mg

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First published October 1, 2014. Last updated October 9, 2021. Updated for additional information and better reader experience.

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