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Soft Ginger Cookies Recipe
December 16, 2018
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These soft-baked Ginger Cookies, or Gingerdoodles, are the quintessential Christmas cookie! Chewy, buttery and full of warm spices that everyone will love.
Well friends, here is my beloved Ginger Cookies Recipe aka Gingerdoodles. I made a much spicier, gingery-er version last year but only a few people like their chewy gingersnaps with a big fat punch in the face…or throat. So I made a simmered down version of that cookie that my husband so lovingly calls Gingerdoodles.
Ginger Cookies Recipe
Okay, let’s jump right into the ingredients list because once you start to smell those delicious spices, you’re going to want these cookies like NOW. So here’s what you’ll need:
- Butter – for softness and flavor.
- Sugar – this not only goes inside of the cookie but on the outside.
- Brown Sugar – feel free to use dark brown sugar here if you looooove that molasses taste.
- Egg – for a chewy texture.
- Vanilla – for flavor of course. This helps balance out all of those strong spices.
- Molasses – a staple in any gingerbread-esque recipe.
- Cinnamon – this smell really puts me in the holiday spirit.
- Cloves – for that pungent, warm taste.
- Nutmeg – nutty and slightly sweet.
- Ground Ginger – it wouldn’t be a ginger cookie recipe without ginger!
- Salt – to help balance out and bring out the flavor.
- All-Purpose Flour – for structure.
- Baking Soda – to help the cookies rise while baking.
I have to confess that molasses is not something I typically have on hand. I usually just make gingerbread cookies and cake with it and then save it in my cupboard for next year. But, they are a classic recipe and I promise this one won’t disappoint. But, in case you don’t have any molasses or ginger is not your thing, try my Christmas Sugar Cookies, Actually Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies or check out this big list of 50 Christmas Cookies. Surely there is something there you will swoon over.
How to Make Ginger Cookies
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Cream butter and sugars together until light and fluffy. Stir in egg, vanilla, and molasses. Whip 1-2 minutes or until it turns a light brown color. Stir in remaining ingredients and mix until dry ingredients are just combined.
- Roll a heaping tablespoon of dough into a ball and coat in granulated sugar. (This is a great step to involve your kids in the kitchen). Place on silicone baking mat, lightly greased cookie sheet or parchment paper-lined cookie sheet.
- Bake 7-9 minutes or until outside looks cooked but inside is still soft and gooey. Cool 5 minutes on cookie sheet before transferring to a cooling rack.
- Serve warm or at room temperature. Store in an airtight container until ready to serve.
Leftovers
This section is for IF you have any leftover Ginger Cookies. They taste so good, they’ll go fast.
Store in an airtight container (Ziploc) at room temperature for up to a week. You can extend their shelf life by keeping them in the fridge for an extra week or the freezer for up to 3 months!
Make-Ahead
Ginger Cookies are a great make-ahead recipe. Simply follow the recipe and stop before you roll the ginger cookie dough into sugar. Freeze the dough at this point for up to 3 months.
When ready to bake, take the cookie dough out of the freezer and let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes. Then pick up where the recipe left off by rolling the dough in sugar and baking.
Variations
As I have had this Ginger Cookies Recipe up for a couple of years now I’ve gotten a ton of comments telling me how you all have tweaked this recipe to make it your own. So here are some variations that readers like you have loved:
Candied Ginger. I believe this was mixed into the dough and then rolled in sugar and baked.
Dipped in White Chocolate and Sprinkles. This was to dress it up a bit and make it look more festive. Plus chocolate is always good.
Icing. A simple mixture of powdered sugar, cinnamon, and milk. Skip the sugar coating if you do this one.
More Christmas Recipes to Love!
- Soft & Chewy Gingerdoodle Sandwich Cookies
- Gingerbread Cookies That Actually Taste Good
- Spicy Gingerbread Cookies
- Gingerbread Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting
These are pretty fabulous warm, but just as chewy and delicious cooled. Add some nog and you got yourself a very festive treat!
Printable recipe card below 🙂 Happy Holidays friends!
Soft Ginger Cookies Recipe AKA "Gingerdoodles"
These soft baked Ginger Cookies, or Gingerdoodles, are the quintessential Christmas cookie! Chewy, buttery and full of warm spices that everyone will love.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter softened
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup molasses
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon cloves
- 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar for rolling
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Cream butter and sugars together until light and fluffy. Stir in egg, vanilla, and molasses. Whip 1-2 minutes or until it turns a light brown color. Stir in remaining ingredients and mix until dry ingredients are just combined.
- Roll a heaping tablespoon of dough into a ball and coat in granulated sugar. Place on silicone baking mat, lightly greased cookie sheet or parchment paper-lined cookie sheet.
- Bake 7-9 minutes or until outside looks cooked but inside is still soft and gooey. Cool 5 minutes on cookie sheet before transferring to a cooling rack.
- Serve warm or at room temperature. Store in an airtight container until ready to serve.
Nutrition
Calories: 84kcal | Carbohydrates: 14g | Fat: 2g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 11mg | Sodium: 88mg | Potassium: 47mg | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 85IU | Calcium: 10mg | Iron: 0.5mg
These cookies are great! Every one that tried them loved them, including my very picky sister… I had to cook them longer than the recipe called for (about 10-11 mins) but they were still chewy and delicious. Thanks for the recipe!
Just came out of the oven and they are incredible and I have pretty high cookie standards. These just became a holiday staple around here! Congratulations on a fantastic recipie.
Nikki
Dies this recipe work in Hugh altitude? Any adjustments?
I live in Colorado – at around 7000 ft – just made the cookies (after seeing it on Pinterest) and they turned out fine.
Yes, I had to make an adjustment… I’m “new” to CO – this is my third baking season – and everything’s been trail or error – LOL! An older woman told me that she ONLY adds an extra egg to everything she bakes and adjusts the baking time. That’s what I did for this recipe. The dough came out gooey, but I stuck it in the freezer for a couple of hours before baking. My cookies turned out flatter than Lauren’s but they taste good.
Next time, I might remove some sugar which is what I do sometimes, with good results.
Good luck! (And, if you do make adjustments, I’d be curious reading about your results.)
Made the cookies again, without any modifications, and they turned out perfectly! So, your answer is – no, you don’t need to make any adjustments. They turn out crisp on the edges and soft in the centers.
I just made these and they are delicious! However, mine remained in a ball shape rather than spreading. Did you flatten yours first? Or any idea why mine didn’t spread?
You probably added too much flour. Next time you make them, try fluffing your flour first, spooning it into your measuring cup and leveling it with a butter knife.
I started another batch before I got your reply. My butter was at room temp but it’s been pretty cold and I wondered if that had anything to do with it, so I softened/partially melted it. Well, now I have very flat cookies – seriously more like Gingerdoodle pancakes! Which isn’t a bad thing at all, except that’s not quite what I wanted for a cookie exchange 😉 Will try again – third time’s a charm? They’re all so tasty!!
I made a double batch of these last night. I brought some to church, and they disappeared almost instantly! The batch at home disappeared almost as fast!
I didn’t think I liked ginger cookies until I tried these. 🙂
when you made a double batch, did you double the recipe or just make two batches. If you doubled it, did it work out ok just doubling every ingredient?
thanks,
Natalie
Doubling the recipe will work out just fine!
Hi Natalie,
I doubled the recipe. Every ingredient was doubled and it turned out fine.
Made these last night and they are perfect! Baked for 9 minutes, rested on cookie sheet for 5 minutes. Soft, chewy, and delicious! Definitely making these again!
Really want to make these! dont have molasses (what is it..?!) what can I substitute?
Thanks for the challenge I just couldn’t resist. I was scrounging around to see what cookie makings I had at home when I saw this post… I KNEW I had every single one. A few changes – I’m allergic to dairy & egg yolks… Used butter flavored Crisco (I’m going to try a batch with Earth Balance baking bars as well); I used 3/8 cup egg whites in place of the egg; I didn’t have brown sugar so I doubled the sugar to 1 cup & added (eyeballed) approximately 1-2 tbsp molasses in addition to the 1/4 c. I also found out I didn’t have any ground cloves, but whole cloves & a coffee grinder later…I was in business. Had to add about 3/4 c more flour & dough was still soft. I used my cookie scoop & dropped directly into the sugar & coated it that way. They turned out FAB-U-LICIOUS!! Thanks so much for sharing. Yum, yum, yum!!!
Can these be frozen and if they are, do they lose any of the crunchy- or chewy-ness that make them so good?
I just made 144 of these for a neighborhood cookie exchange. They are delicious! Thank you for sharing the recipe! Also, for bigger batches, if you double the recipe and use 1 TBSP. scoops (not overflowing), you get about 8 dozen nicely sized cookies! Love your blog! Keep the posts coming!
The 2 cups flour I used did not result in a stiff dough like you have shown in your photos. It was quite “soupy” and no way I could roll these into balls. After consulting my snickerdoodle recipe, I added another cup of flour. I think after tasting the resulting cookies that I will stick to making regular snickerdoodles and make my customary ginger cookies. This didn’t work for me.
I made theses and they are awesome! Our new favorite! They are good even after several days of making!
I add 1/4 tsp white pepper to mine. Gives them just a little bit more spicyness.
I made these for the first time last year and was hooked….this year I cut the molasses in half to 2Tbsp and the clove to just a dash, bumped the vanilla up to a full tsp, and they were absolute perfection for me! Baked up fine, too with those minor changes.
I’ve always loved the idea of gingerbread and gingersnaps, but they were always just too spiced for my taste. Your recipe helped me finally find a way to enjoy seasonal spices without feeling overspiced on my finicky tastebuds – Thanks!
Just wanted to tell you that I have been looking for a gingerdoodle recipe literally for years. There was a bakery I used to buy them at in college and have never been able to really replicate them, until these! They were perfect and crinkled and cinnamony molassesy perfection. My new (old) favorite!
I just have to tell you, these are my new favorite cookies! The texture is beyond perfect, they stay chewy and just right for days (if they last that long). I made them last week and we ate them all so everyone asked me to make them again. The flavor is lovely, sweet but with a small punch of ginger, I love it. I made a few small tweaks…subbed wheat germ for some of the flour (just ’cause it’s healthier and doesn’t affect taste or texture) and used whole wheat white flour. I also used a full teaspoon of vanilla and was overly generous with the cinnamon.
Dreamy, wonderful recipe and a new family favorite. Thank you!
So I just found this recipe online just recently and I made these cookies last night. I just made the dough and put it in the fridge because it was late. I asked my husband to bake the cookies tonight. He ended up eating literally over half the batch of dough before it was baked. When I asked why we only got 15 cookies out of the entire batch, he said the dough was delicious, amazing, and addicting like crack. Great recipe! 🙂
This looks awesome I can’t wait to make them! Question though, could you make the dough ahead of time, perhaps a day in advance?
definitely!
These have become our family fave, so soft and chewy and gingery. Thanks so much for sharing this. I make these regularly for the kids lunches and then at Christmas we dip one side in a little white chocolate and sprinkles to dress them up.
One of my besties sent me this pin and these are delicious!!! Nom, nom, nom!
I am seriously in Heaven… this might be the best cookie recipe I’ve ever tried! Thank you so much for sharing.
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Do you I need to make any adjustments if I am at high altitude?
Amazing cookies! Perfect for the holiday season and cookie exchanges!
I always stick to my tried and true recipes at the holidays, but decided to give this recipe a try. They are absolutely DELICIOUS and my new favorite cookie. Thanks for the recipe. Friends and family will enjoy it for many years to come! Oh and I did add a quarter cup or so of chopped candied ginger. Oh my, soooo good when you bite into that piece of chewy goodness!
Just made these and they came out PERFECT. Excellent recipe- thank you!!!
Awesome!! So glad you liked them!!
These were so good! I must have made them too big since I only got 28. Oh darn. Lol. But man flavor is spot on.
Love, love, love this recipe! I have made two recipes so far this holiday season, & they were gobbled up at a holiday potluck. Making another batch today as these won’t last long! Going on my annual holiday baking list for sure. Thanks for a great recipe!
I’m going to make these today with my boys. Can’t wait to taste them!!
I wanted to make a holiday cookie but nothing was grabbing my fancy until I saw these! Going to make them this weekend, can’t wait!!
Loved! They were perfect! I especially love how you use less sugar than most recipes do (im the gal that will literally cut whatever the recipe says in half when it comes to sugar). They didn’t last long in my house ????
[…] my Gingerdoodle cookie recipe which has been on my blog since 2011 and is one of the most popular Christmas cookies recipes on my […]
Totally in need of a last minute neighbor gift treat. Going to try these out and see what my wonderful neighbors think (and my family of 4 of course!)
First the back story: This morning I whipped up a large batch of gingerbread playdough for my daughters class and it left my house smelling like gingerbread with nothing edible in sight! Needless to say, I was craving it. I opened my email and immediately spotted your new ginger sandwiches, which led me back to these beauties. They hit the spot! Thank you for your excellent timing and your excellent recipes. (I love that you don’t go overboard with sugar)
These are a family favorite
My family loves these! Chewy perfection!!!
[…] Gingerdoodle Cookies from Lauren’s Latest […]
This is my go to holiday recipe – my husband is already asking me to make them. Last week we had people over for dinner and he was telling everyone about these cookies haha. I better get baking.
Your recipes add some sweet pizazz to my marriage- so thanks for that.- Aaron
[…] recipe is adapted from my gingerdoodle cookies…just baked into bars with cream cheese […]
Can you make the cookie dough and roll into balls ahead of time and freeze? I would sugar them just before baking.
Yes!
I was just wondering if the dough could be frozen to cook later. I see someone did that.I must try these!
Yes, for sure!
Dry and too sweet, barely the taste of ginger, a disappointment! Added some Nutella to soften the batch. ????
I have made these the last three years for Christmas and this recipe can not be beat, these cookies are simply the best!
[…] my Gingerdoodle cookie recipe which has been on my blog since 2011 and is one of the most popular Christmas cookies recipes on my […]
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Hi
Just came upon this heavenly recipe that had a filling in them could you post the filling INGREDIENTS or did I just miss it drooling over these cookies .
Thanks
DROOLING IN GEORGIA !
My favorite childhood cookie was my grandmother’s ginger cookies. No matter the time of year, they were always so yummy.
I love ginger cookies and these are perfect!! They stay soft, chewy and delicious!