Gingersnap Cookies features chewy centers, crisp edges, and a delicious blend of holiday spices.
Gingersnap Cookies
Gingersnap Cookies are the perfect holiday treat — they’re sweet, soft, chewy, and impeccably spiced! These cookies combine ground cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg which create an unforgettable spiced cookie.
The molasses gives these cookies a deep, rich flavor and a nice chewy texture. And rolling the cookie dough balls in sugar before baking adds a nice crackly top that beautifully complements the soft fudgy interior of the cookie.
If you haven’t settled on what cookies to make for Santa, I think these Gingersnaps will rank as his all-time favorite!
Let’s talk molasses
The molasses in these cookies add a unique complementary flavor to the spices. It also helps keep the cookies soft and chewy in the center. And, finally, the molasses adds sweetness to these gingersnap cookies.
There are a lot of different molasses choices to pick from at the store that range from lighter molasses to blackstrap. Blackstrap molasses is very intense and a bit off-putting in baked goods. Instead, try dark molasses (also sometimes labeled as “robust” or “full-flavored”). I have tested these cookies with Brer Rabbit® and Grandma’s® and would recommend either — we didn’t find a noticeable difference between the two.
Dark brown sugar
Both light and dark brown sugar contain molasses, but dark brown sugar has more. Because of the increased amount of molasses, dark brown sugar has a darker and deeper color with a stronger flavor. While the two can be interchanged in this recipe, IMHO, these cookies are best with dark brown sugar.
Quick Tip
You’ll find dark brown sugar right by light brown sugar and powdered sugar in the grocery store. The two look similar, yet dark brown sugar is darker overall in color. In a pinch, you can even make your own dark brown sugar.
Gingersnap Cookie Sugar Coating
To get the crisp sugar that encases these cookies, I roll the unbaked dough in a mix of coarse sugar crystals and granulated sugar before baking. Coarse sugar has large grains and adds a subtle crunchy exterior to the cookies.
Alternative options: You can also roll the cookies in turbinado sugar or roll them in sparkling sugar. And you know what? Even if you roll the cookies in plain white sugar, they’ll still be delicious; they just won’t have much of a sugar crunch coating.
Gingersnap Cookie Variation Ideas
- Add white chocolate chips to the dough. The white chocolate is such a nice complement to the spices and molasses.
- Modify the spices. If you aren’t sure about the spices in these cookies, start with less and play around with the amount of spices until you’re happy with the dough. However, keep in mind the dough will have a more intense taste than the baked cookies. As these cookies bake, they get a bit milder.
- Frost them. If you love frosted cookies, skip rolling these gingersnap cookies in sugar before baking them and frost them instead. The mascarpone cream cheese frosting on these salted caramel cookies would be amazing!
- Drizzle with chocolate. If you don’t want chocolate chips in the dough, try drizzling chocolate cover the cookies instead! Melt 1/2 cup chocolate chips with 1 teaspoon oil or shortening in the microwave. Transfer the melted chocolate to a bag, cut off the tip, and drizzle over the cooled cookies.
Gingersnap Cookies FAQs
The more moisture in cookies, the chewier they will be. Ingredients, baking time, and baking temperature all come into play as we work to retain moisture in the dough. The molasses and dark brown sugar both play a huge role in making these gingersnap cookies chewy.
The size or mass of the cookies also contributes to their chewiness. Big cookie dough balls make softer and chewier cookies than smaller ones. When rolling the cookies, roll them taller rather than wider. If you have a food scale, you can ensure completely equal cookie ball sizes. This not only ensures even baking, but it also ensures you’re getting the right size of cookie dough balls.
And the number one way to get chewy cookies? Don’t bake them too long! Remove the Gingersnap Cookies as soon as the top center is pale (not gooey looking). The center of the cookies will remain soft and as they firm up, becoming fudge-like and chewy.
There are a few culprits:
- High altitude
- Not chilling the dough. Since there is melted butter in the batter, it needs a chance to firm up again.
- The butter didn’t cool back to room temperature. If the butter was too hot when you added in other ingredients, the cookies will likely end up a bit flat and greasy because hot butter melts the sugars.
- Too much liquid. If too much liquid is added to these cookies or if the ingredients aren’t properly measured, they will likely go flat.
- Not enough flour. If you under-measure the flour, these cookies will likely go flat. I always recommend spooning and leveling the flour measurement. If you press a measuring cup into a bag of flour, you will pack in way too much flour; use a spoon to scoop it into a measuring cup and then level the top with the back of a table knife. Flour measurements need to be precise. Too much or too little flour can ruin your cookies!
While Gingersnaps do have some ingredients with health benefits (ginger has anti-inflammatory properties and molasses contains several important nutrients and antioxidants), they are still a treat, best consumed in moderation.
More holiday treats
- No-Bake Peppermint Cheesecake with an Oreo cookie crust
- Christmas Snack Mix coated in white chocolate
- Animal Circus Cookies with cream cheese frosting
- Sugar Cookie Snack Mix with Christmas sugar cookie M&M’s
- Peppermint Bark Pretzels only three ingredients
Chewy Gingersnap Cookies
Equipment
- Sheet pan lined
Ingredients
- 16 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 cup dark brown sugar or light brown sugar
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup molasses
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 3-1/2 cups flour see note 1
- 1/2 cup sugar coating optional, see note 2
Instructions
- Stir 1/4 cup granulated sugar and 1/4 cup coarse sugar crystals together in a small bowl. Alternatively, just add 1/2 cup white granulated sugar to a bowl. Set aside.
- Melt butter in a microwave-safe bowl. Let butter stand at room temperature for 5 minutes to cool back down. If the butter is hot, it will melt the sugars and cause greasy cookies. Use a spatula to scrape every bit of butter into a large bowl. Add in both sugars and stir with a wooden spoon until smooth and incorporated. Add in both eggs and vanilla extract. Stir until just combined and smooth. Add in the molasses and stir until combined.
- Add in the baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg on top of the wet ingredients; mix to combine. Add the flour (see note 1) on top. Mix until just combined taking care not to overmix the dough. Cover the dough tightly and chill for 30 minutes.
- Roll tall cylindrical balls of dough. Each ball should be a full 2 tablespoons of dough (40 grams if you have a food scale). Roll the balls of dough generously in the sugar mixture. Cover and refrigerate the balls of dough for an additional 45 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 325℉. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Place 6–8 dough balls on far apart on sheet pan and bake for 9–14 minutes. Watch carefully, be sure not to overbake. I remove mine at 10–11 minutes, slightly under-baked Gingersnap Cookies are the best! Remove from the oven and if needed, press the edges of the cookie inwards with the back of a metal spatula. Let cookies stand on the cookie sheet for 4–5 minutes before removing them to a cooling rack.
Video
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Wonderful recipe! I made these yesterday, and were easy and tasty. They do get a bit hard after cooling, but have a great “snap.” ☻ I did not have molasses, unfortunately, but just used brown sugar instead.
I also halved the recipe, used granulated sugar instead of course crystals, and increased the serving of ginger (1 and 1/2 teaspoons instead of 1 for a halved recipe). Turned out great! Will definitely make again.
The molasses addition will make sure that they don’t get hard after cooling — it keeps them really soft 🙂 Glad you enjoyed these! Thanks for sharing your changes!