Bake delightful treats that will evoke the warm and cozy spirit of the holidays. These cute Gingerbread Cookie Cups are topped with a swirl of white frosting, Christmas sprinkles or cinnamon, and a tiny gingerbread man cookie.
Don't you just love the aroma of molasses and ginger wafting through the air at Christmastime? I sure do. It's the perfect Christmas recipe.
I was so excited to bake some gingerbread cookies for our holiday party this year but instead of making the classic cut-out cookies, I chose to make these bite-sized cookie cups. Once decorated, these gingerbread cookie cups are equally as cute and are so easy to make.
Each cookie is topped with a swirl of white frosting and a tiny gingerbread man cookie. I sprinkled some of the frosting swirls with cinnamon and some with red, white, and green nonpareils. You can get creative and use your favorite sprinkles or toppings.
I can't wait to serve these sweet treats to our Christmas party guests. I hope you enjoy making them to serve at your party, to give as gifts, or to share at a cookie exchange.
Let's get baking!
Ingredients
- Betty Crocker Gingerbread Cookie Mix - I wanted to keep this recipe quick and easy and I found that the cookies made from this mix tasted great with the perfect amount of spice and molasses flavor. Plus, they held their shape well. They were soft and chewy which is what I was looking for.
- butter, egg, and water - These are the ingredients called for on the gingerbread cookie mix package.
- frosting - I used a tub of whipped Duncan Hines frosting to keep this recipe super easy. You can make homemade frosting if you prefer. See my Panda Cake for my homemade frosting recipe.
- cinnamon or Christmas nonpareils - Use these to sprinkle on the top.
Supplies
- mixing bowl
- silicone spatula
- 1 mini muffin tin with 24 non-stick cavities
- optional, 1 tablespoon cookie scoop
- tiny gingerbread cookie cutter that's about 1-inch to 1 ¼-inch long
- 1 parchment paper-lined baking sheet
Instructions
Cut the stick of softened butter into slices and place them in a mixing bowl.
Cream the butter until smooth using a silicone spatula or a mixer.
Add the gingerbread cookie mix, an egg, and a tablespoon of water to the mixing bowl.
Mix until well combined. I mixed the dough with the spatula and then mixed it into a ball using my hands.
Scoop out a tablespoon of cookie dough into 24 greased mini muffin cups. Reserve the remaining dough.
Roll the scoops of dough into balls and then flatten them into an even layer in the muffin cups.
Bake in a preheated 350-degree Fahrenheit oven for about 14 minutes until the edges firm up. The centers will be slightly sunken.
Cool in the pan for 15 minutes and then remove and place the cookies on a metal cooling rack. Allow the cookies to cool completely.
Roll out the remaining dough on a lightly flour-dusted counter or silicone mat. Cut out tiny 1-inch gingerbread cookies using a cookie cutter.
Set the cut-out gingerbread man cookies on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet.
Bake the cookies, rotating the pan midway through the baking cycle, for 6-8 minutes.
Then let the cookies cool completely.
If desired, add frosting faces to your mini cookies. Fit a pastry bag with a #2 round tip and fill it with white frosting. Pipe on two eyes, a smile, and 2 buttons.
Fit a pastry bag with a large open star tip (Wilton 1M) and fill it with frosting. Pipe a swirl of frosting onto a gingerbread cookie cup.
Immediately, while the frosting is soft and hasn't crusted over, sprinkle some cinnamon on top.
Then, add a tiny gingerbread cookie to the swirl of frosting.
Repeat, decorating some or all of your cookie cups.
Variations
If you prefer, you can sprinkle Christmas nonpareils or any holiday sprinkles onto the frosting.
These cookies look super cute topped with the decorated gingerbread man cookies.
Substitutions
You can use your favorite gingerbread cookie recipe instead of using the Betty Crocker Cookie Mix. You may need to adjust the baking time. I made some homemade gingerbread cookie cups using a Buddy V recipe and the cookie cups were baked in 12 minutes. These cookies puffed up and were very light brown more like peanut butter cookies.
Then, I made some cookie cups using an America's Test Kitchen recipe and they took about 17 minutes to bake through. They puffed up a lot but then sunk once baked.
Related Recipes
Recipe
Bake gingerbread cookies in mini muffin tins and then decorate them with a swirl of frosting sprinkled with cinnamon or Christmas nonpareils and a tiny gingerbread man cookie.
- ½ cup (1 stick or 8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 pouch (17.5 ounces) Betty Crocker Gingerbread Cookie Mix
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1 tub (16 ounces) whipped white frosting
- ½ - 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ - 1 tablespoon Christmas nonpareils or sprinkles
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Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
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Beat the butter in a mixing bowl until creamy using a hand mixer or silicone spatula.
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Add the gingerbread cookie mix, egg, and water.
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Beat until well combined. I mixed the dough with a silicone spatula to combine the ingredients, and then I mixed the dough into a ball using my hands. You can use a mixer instead.
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Spray the inside of the 24 mini muffin cups with baking spray.
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Scoop about 1 tablespoon of cookie dough into the 24 mini muffin cavities. Reserve the remaining dough to make the tiny gingerbread men.
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Roll the cookie scoops into balls and then press each ball into an even layer in the mini muffin cups. They should fill the cups about ⅔ full.
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Bake the cookies for 12-14 minutes, rotating after 8 minutes, until set around the edges. If the cookies look wet in the middle, bake for an additional minute or so.
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Remove the pan from the oven and allow the cookies to cool for 15 minutes. Then, turn them out onto a cooling rack and allow them to cool completely.
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Meanwhile, dust your work surface lightly with flour.
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Roll out the remaining cookie dough and cut out the dough using the tiny 1-inch gingerbread man cookie cutter, rerolling the dough as needed.
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Place the little gingerbread men on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet.
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Bake these tiny cookies for about 8 minutes, rotating the pan after 5 minutes until the edges are set.
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Remove the pan from the oven and allow the cookies to cool completely.
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Fill a pastry bag with a large open star tip (Wilton 1M tip).
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Fit a pastry bag with a #2 small round tip and spoon in some of the white frosting. Pipe eyes, smiles, and buttons onto some of the tiny gingerbread man cookies.
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Spoon the remaining fluffy white frosting into the pastry bag.
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Pipe a swirl of frosting on top of a gingerbread cookie cup and immediately sprinkle on some cinnamon or Christmas nonpareils. Then add one or two tiny gingerbread cookies.
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Serve and enjoy!
Store your gingerbread cookie cups in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. You can freeze the unfrosted cookies for up to 3 months.
You may have more than 24 mini gingerbread cookies. You can add two cookies to some of the cookie cups or just enjoy a snack.
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