Pillsbury Puts A Gingerbread Man On Its Shape Sugar Cookies (But They Don’t Taste Like Gingerbread), And Its Limited-Edition Hot Cocoa Cookie Dough Makes 12 Big Cookies
Pillsbury has two holiday cookie doughs in its refrigerated lineup: Ready to Bake! Gingerbread Man Shape Sugar Cookie Dough, which makes 20 pre-cut cookies with a gingerbread man on each, and a limited-edition Ready to Bake! Hot Cocoa Cookie Dough that makes 12 big cookies. Allrecipes reported both on Sunday, October 25, calling them new and saying the Gingerbread Man shape has already been spotted on shelves.
The Gingerbread Man
The name says it: this is a sugar cookie, not gingerbread. Pillsbury’s product page lists a 9.1-ounce box of 20 pre-cut dough rounds, each printed with a gingerbread man, and the ingredient list has no ginger, molasses or spice. Allrecipes describes him as smiling, with three little buttons, and says plainly that the cookies don’t taste like gingerbread.
The back of the box carries a gingerbread ornament cutout activity, according to Pillsbury, and the company suggests decorating the baked cookies with frosting. Pillsbury also says the dough is safe to eat raw and tells buyers to look for the “Safe to Eat Raw” seal on the package.
He joins a crowded shelf. Pillsbury’s holiday shapes page also lists Christmas Tree, Reindeer, Snowman, Elf, Santa and Grinch sugar cookie doughs, plus a Thanksgiving Turkey. Bakers who want actual gingerbread flavor will find a separate Pillsbury Gingerbread Cookie Dough on the same page.
The Hot Cocoa Cookie Dough
Pillsbury’s page lists the Hot Cocoa Cookie Dough as a 14-ounce limited edition made with real cocoa. Its ingredient list includes chocolate chips and what Pillsbury calls Classic White Morsels, and the company says it has no high fructose corn syrup and no colors from artificial sources. It’s labeled safe to eat raw, too.
There are no marshmallows in it. Allrecipes says the white morsels are there to give the cookies the look of hot cocoa topped with marshmallows.
Allrecipes calls it all new, but Pillsbury has sold a limited-edition Hot Cocoa Cookie Dough before. The Impulsive Buy spotted one at Kroger in October 2016, and Refinery29 reported it back in October 2017 as a 12-cookie package made with chocolate chips and mini marshmallows. Pillsbury’s current page doesn’t say how this year’s dough compares.
It’s the second refrigerated hot cocoa cookie dough from a national brand this season. Nestlé told Parade its Toll House Polar Express Cookie Dough, made with hot cocoa and marshmallow morsels, is in stores now, as we reported on October 24.
For a from-scratch version, our Double Chocolate Hot Cocoa Cookies stir melted dark chocolate into a cocoa and cinnamon dough, fold in milk chocolate chips and get real mini marshmallows pressed on top straight out of the oven. It’s our own recipe, not a copycat of Pillsbury’s.
Where to find them
Allrecipes says Pillsbury announced both doughs on its Instagram account. Pillsbury’s product pages don’t list a price or a store; each links to a product locator instead.
Pillsbury’s own Instagram shows the Gingerbread Man cookie, too. An October 22 post that marks “the passage of time in cookies” lines up its shape cookies by season, and the Gingerbread Man is among the Christmas shapes.
Pillsbury’s shape cookies by season, on Instagram (October 22, 2026)
To bake sugar cookies from scratch instead, our Soft and Chewy Sugar Cookies are a rolled-ball sugar cookie rather than a cutout, and our Sheet Pan Sugar Cookie Bars are frosted and topped with sprinkles for a crowd.
Featured image: our Double Chocolate Hot Cocoa Cookies, not Pillsbury’s dough.