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!
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. Painting is the perfect way 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Cover the top of each cookie with white icing.
- 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.
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!
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.
Pumpkin White Chocolate Chip Cookies are deliciously soft and chewy cookies with the flavors of pumpkin pie spice and creamy white chocolate chips.
Honey Jumbles are a soft, chewy, spiced honey cookie popular in Australia. Molasses takes the place of treacle in this Americanized recipe.
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Gingerbread Fall Leaves Cookies
Ingredients
Cookies
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.
Nutrition
First published October 1, 2014. Last updated October 9, 2021. Updated for additional information and better reader experience.
Marlene
Wendy, thanks for sharing this decorating technique! I’ve never seen it before, and I just happen to be decorating Halloween sugar cookies this morning. I have maple leaves and pumpkins and will try this on some of them. I”ll be using royal icing and regular gel colors, as I need the icing to dry quickly to mail the cookies to the grandkids.
Wendy Sondov
Have fun with decorating Marlene! Lucky grandkids!! Be sure the royal icing is dry before sponge painting with the gel colors. I found that the gel colors dried very quickly. After making these leaves, I loved the look so much that I made Thanksgiving turkeys too! https://themondaybox.com/3-d-turkey-cookies/ Let me know what you think and how your cookies turned out. 🙂
Helen at the Lazy Gastronome
Yikes - I'm so far behind! But I wanted to make sure I thanked you for sharing at our What's for Dinner party! Hope you bring more deliciousness this Sunday! Have a great weekend.
Liberty
They're gorgeous! If my molasses is still good... well, I wonder how these cookies would taste un-iced? ....Thanks for sharing at Best of the Weekend Link Party!
Amy - The Speedy Spatula
Beautiful! These would be gorgeous for a fall themed party!
Barbara Chapman
Oh, your Gingerbread Fall Leaves are so beautiful and delicious-looking! Too good to eat {almost!}. 😉 I'm just coming over from the Hearth and Soul link party at April J. Harris and saw your cookies. Thank you for a wonderful recipe ~ I pinned to my Yummy! board for you and our readers. <3
Have a great rest of your week,
Barb 🙂
Jan
Those almost look too good to eat! Yummy! We would love for you to share at Let’s Party! https://themarkandjanshow.com/2018/10/09/lets-party-37 Looking forward to seeing you there! #LetsParty #TheMarkandJanShow
The Monday Box
Thank you, Jan! Thanks for the invite to your link party. I would be happy to share! Have a great week.
Jenny
These cookies look beautiful & delicious! Thanks for sharing at Merry Monday!
The Monday Box
Thank you, Jenny. They are fun to make and share.
April J Harris
I love these gorgeous, seasonal cookies, Wendy! They are so pretty - and they are gingerbread too,a real favourite of mine! Sharing around. Thank you for being a part of the Hearth and Soul lInk Party.
Miz Helen
I love your fall leaves, they are just beautiful! Thanks so much for sharing with us at Full Plate Thursday,we are so happy to have you join us. Have a wonderful week and come back to see us real soon!
Miz Helen
Emily
Your sponge painting technique is beautiful! These sound so delicious, too - I love a good gingerbread cookie! Thanks for linking up with Merry Monday!
The Monday Box
Thanks, Emily! The sponge painting is so easy, a preschooler could do it, but I love how it resembles the colors on fall leaves! Thanks for hosting Merry Monday!
Emily | OatandSesame.com
I love these! They are so pretty!
The Monday Box
Thank you, Emily! The pretty colors are so easy to create!
Erin Vincent
These gingerbread leaves are gorgeous!!!
The Monday Box
Thank you, Erin! The natural food dyes (rather than regular food coloring) create the real fall leaf colors!
Dawn
These are just STUNNING!! Look almost too pretty to eat BUT I think that icing deserves a good lick or two! Love how you dabbed the colors on to mimic fall leaves. I do the same with paper crafting but never thought to do it on a cookie, can't wait to give it a try! I've chosen your beautiful fall cookies as my feature this week for the Friday Favorites Linky Party - have a wonderful weekend!
The Monday Box
Thanks so much, Dawn for your kind words and for the feature! These cookies are my attempt at edible art. Dabbing with color is the extent of my painting ability! 🙂