How to Make DELICIOUS Copycat Disneyland Gingerbread Mickey Cookies!

It’s Christmas Eve! For my family, that means it’s time to break out the Gingerbread Mickey cookies! A good gingerbread cookie is the quintessential holiday treat, and it goes hand in hand with Disney! In a normal year, you’ll find Mickey Gingerbread cookies in the treat stores in the parks, massive gingerbread displays in the hotels, plus there’s a gingerbread house with a new theme every year in the Haunted Mansion Holiday! I’ve got a copycat recipe of Disneyland’s soft and chewy Gingerbread Mickey, so you can have a bite of the holiday wrapped in fond memories of Disneyland— and I can’t wait to share it with you! Plus there’s a bonus item too…

Gingerbread at Disneyland

There are plenty of ways to enjoy a Disneyland Gingerbread Mickey. My family’s favorite method is to indulge in one at the end of the Happiest Holidays tour—sitting in a chair in front of holiday-decorated Small World, savoring a gingerbread cookie paired with a mug of hot chocolate. It’s simply the best way to watch A Christmas Fantasy Parade make its way through the park! 

Another family tradition we have is to decorate a gingerbread house at Ralph Brennan’s Jazz Kitchen. Guests gather in the restaurant’s upper-level room where their pastry chef has pre-made all the gingerbread house components, including royal icing and decorations! To add a unique handmade touch, guests are also encouraged to bring their own decorations from home to make their house stand out! Chef hats, drinks and a visit from Santa is also included in the package, which makes for some great holiday photos!

And you can’t forget about the Grand Californian Hotel & Spa’s giant gingerbread display! In the opulently decorated hotel lobby, just within eyesight of the massive Christmas tree, there’s a fully-edible gingerbread house to look at. The gingerbread house takes several days to assemble by a small army of pastry chefs. After a long day in the parks, it’s always nice to grab a hot chocolate and a gingerbread cookie (regular sized!) from the pop-up cafe in the lobby and find all the hidden Mickeys to relax for a bit. 

Hopefully next year, we’ll be able to return to Disneyland to relive all of our favorite holiday memories. In the meantime, I’m going to show you how to make these little guys!

Copycat Disneyland Gingerbread Mickey Cookie Recipe

While this year has meant having to alter plans and hold off on some traditions, we’re not giving up on Disneyland’s Gingerbread Mickeys! They bring back some wonderful memories of the Happiest Place on Earth, plus they’re just plain delicious!

For these cookies, I like to use a Mickey cookie cutter from a box of gingerbread mix from Disneyland I purchased a few years ago, but a similar cookie cutter can easily be found online with a quick search. I’m currently using a 4-inch cookie cutter— I like the ones from HERE— and I’m eyeing the 5.5-inch size for my next batch of cookies. A larger cookie means it’s a bit easier to decorate and the facial features aren’t as squished. I’ll be making these cookies this week to share with my family and friends as a part of my annual cookie platter. Without further ado, let’s make some cookies!

Disneyland Gingerbread Cookie

Makes about two dozen 4-inch cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons or 3/4 cup) salted butter 

• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar

• 1/2 cup molasses

• 2 tablespoons canola oil

• 1 large egg

• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

• 3 cups all-purpose flour

• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

• 1 tablespoon ground ginger

• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 1 bag Ghirardelli White Vanilla Melts

• 1 bag Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate Melts

• 24 Mini Green M&M’s

• Red Food Coloring

Instructions:

• To brown butter, place butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Swirl and melt completely. Butter will boil. Continue to swirl and cook until butter turns golden brown and brown bits start forming on the bottom of the pan. Once the butter has a nutty scent and is deep golden brown, remove from heat and transfer to a heat proof bowl. Make sure you spoon out all little black bits from the saucepan. Let brown butter cool at least 15 minutes preceding to the next step.

• When the butter has cooled for 15 minutes, place in a stand mixer and add dark brown sugar. Beat until well combined. Add molasses, oil, egg and vanilla, beating until well combined. Slowly add flour, cinnamon, ginger, salt and baking soda. Mix until dough forms.

• Place half of the dough in between two large pieces of parchment paper. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough out into a round, 1/4 inch-thick sheet. Use Mickey cookie cutter to cut shapes, pressing through the parchment paper layer and cookie dough. Remove the top piece of parchment paper and transfer the entire bottom piece of parchment and dough onto a baking sheet. Chill in the freezer while the oven preheats, about 10 minutes. Repeat with the other half of the dough.

• Preheat oven to 350º F. When the oven has preheated, remove baking sheet from freezer and remove excess dough around cookie cut-outs, leaving just the Mickey gingerbread men. If desired, you can use a spatula to move the cut-outs to a different baking sheet, just be careful while transferring. Bake for 5-6 minutes and remove from oven. Carefully pull parchment paper (with cookies still attached) off the baking sheet onto a cooling rack. Let cookies cool completely before decorating because these cookies are super soft!

Decorating:

• When cookies are cool, melt white chocolate in a microwave safe bowl. Let hot melted chocolate sit in the bowl for a minute or two, then spoon into a corner of a Ziplock bag. Twist the top down and snip a very small corner of the bag so you can now use it as a “pen.” You’ll want to practice your skills on a paper plate or piece of parchment paper before decorating your cookies. Outline the body with the white chocolate, then add little squiggles at the arms, legs and ears.

• Create red melted chocolate (adding a few drops of food coloring to some melted white chocolate) and do the same Ziplock Baggie method to create a little bowtie. It’s basically two triangles pointed towards each other that are filled in. Practice once or twice before going for it.

• Add a touch of red food coloring to the white melted chocolate to make pink and use the Ziplock bag method to add little pink dots that will be at the corner of the smile.

• Melt dark chocolate melts in the same manner as the white chocolate and spoon into the corner of a separate Ziplock bag. Twist the top and snip a small corner of the bag to use as your “pen.” Add the eyes, nose and smile with the chocolate.

• Add a dot of white chocolate to the back of Mini Green M&M’s and add buttons on the front of the cookies. Let the chocolate set up and serve room temperature or chilled.

And with that, you’ve got picture-perfect Mickey Gingerbread cookies! 

Bonus Treat!! Disneyland Peppermint Marshmallow Wand

I mentioned earlier about a bonus treat… And that treat is a Peppermint Marshmallow Wand! They’re super easy to make, and they’re beautiful to look at:

Just thread some jumb-sized marshmallows onto a confection stick, coat with some dark chocolate (you probably have some leftovers from the Gingerbread cookies!), and sprinkle with crushed candy canes! There you have it!

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Let’s Hear From You

Are you a Disneyland gingerbread fan? What’s your favorite holiday treat at the Disneyland Resort? 

Thank you for stopping by MiceChat at this special time of year. Merry Christmas!