In an electric mixer, beat together butter, brown sugar and egg until well combined and lightened in color. Scrape down the sides.
Add honey and mix on medium speed until well combined.
Add dry ingredients then mix on low speed until completely incorporated.
Scrape the dough out onto plastic wrap. Cover with plastic and refrigerate overnight or for up to 5 days. Or freeze for 3 months.
Return the dough to cool room temperature before using.
Preheat oven to 375ºF/190ºC. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
Divide the dough in half.
Place one half of the dough on a lightly floured surface.
Dust with a little flour over the dough and on the rolling pin. Alternatively roll out between two sheets of non-stick parchment paper that has been dusted with flour.
Roll dough to a ¼ inch (or just under 1/2 cm) thick then cut out with your desired cutter - of course, gingerbread men are my fav!
Press any scrapes of dough onto the remaining half and repeat rolling and cutting.
Continue pressing scrapes of dough together, rolling and cutting until all the dough is used up.
Transfer cookies to the prepared baking sheet, spaced a little bit apart.
Bake for 8-11 minutes - 8 minutes for softer cookies or longer for more crispy cookies.
Remove cookies and allow to cool until they are firm enough to transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Decorate as you like. Read my tips below and more thorough instructions in the post.
Notes
Tips for Success
Make the dough for this gingerbread cookies recipe without molasses ahead of time. This will give the spices time to develop and deepen plus firm up the dough so that it's easier to roll out.
I prefer an electric mixer to make this gingerbread cookie recipe. However, you can also use just a wooden spoon and a bowl.
The longer you bake the cookies the more crispy they will be. For soft cookies, bake for 8-9 minutes. For crispy cookies, bake for 10-11 minutes but watch carefully that they don't burn. Ovens vary so times may be different.
To decorate -
purchase cookie icing or writing icing in ready to use tubes or pouches from supermarkets.
if you can't find icing pouches - make a simple icing of 1 cup icing sugar, ½ teaspoon vanilla extract, 1-3 tablespoons water. Spoon this icing into small squeeze bottles to the decorating easier.
alternatively use a #3 or #4 piping tube and disposable bag and royal icing which is made with powdered sugar and egg white (the recipe is in my Snowflake Cookies recipe.
You'll find more information on substitutions, variations and storage in the post above.