It’s not officially Christmas until you bake a batch of snappy gingersnaps! These classic cookies are irresistible with their sparkling sugary exterior, crispy edges, and slightly chewy centers. Plus, they’re super easy to make. Just follow this recipe and you’ll have a batch of fresh ginger snaps in no time.
These old fashioned cookies are easy to make and always a hit with friends and family. This recipe yields a crispy cookie with a slightly chewy center, and the sparkling sugar on the outside gives them that extra bit of holiday magic.
Ginger snaps are perfect for gifting, cookie wraps, cookie trays, and Christmas parties! In fact, they are not just for Christmas, but a great cookie that you can make all year round.
If you’re baking for the holidays, add these Classic Gingerbread Cookies to your cookie tray! You might also love my Decorated Shortbread Cookies, Classic Pizzelle Cookies, and my favorite Pecan Meltaways!
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Why You Will Love This Recipe
- Traditional Cookie – These cookies are exactly as you remember them! A little hard, chewy, crispy, and delicious!
- Easy Recipe – This is a drop cookie that is rolled in granulated or decorating sugar, and then baked into crispy, and flavorful perfection! You will get all the beautiful cracks that you expect in a gingersnap cookie.
- Holiday Classic: Whether you’re prepping for the holiday season or simply craving a bit of nostalgia, these cookies have an inherent magic about them that will transport you straight into the holiday spirit.
Key Ingredients
Complete list of ingredients with quantities and instructions is located in the recipe card below
- Flour: Simple all-purpose flour is all that we need for this recipe, nothing fancy. Make sure to level it when you measure it out using cups.
- Baking Soda and Salt: The rest of the dry ingredients. Sift them together with the flour.
- Egg: You need one egg that is brought to room temperature before you mix it in the dough.
- Butter: I’m using salted butter that was softened to room temperature. You can use shortening instead, but I personally prefer the buttery flavor.
- Molasses: You can’t make gingersnap cookies without molasses! I use Grandma’s original molasses.
- Spices: A combination of 3 dry spices make these cookies so delicious! We’re using ground cinnamon, ground ginger, and ground cloves which are the standard gingersnaps spices. You can also add cardamom, mace, and nutmeg if you like.
- Coarse decorating sugars: These give our cookies a delightful crunch and a festive, sparkly look. Alternatively, you can use granulated sugar or cinnamon sugar (I used granulated sugar).
How To Make Ginger Snaps
- Prep: Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C, and line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper or Silpat silicone mats.
- Combine Dry Ingredients: In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour with baking soda, salt, cloves, ginger, and cinnamon. Set aside.
- Cream Wet Ingredients: In the mixing bowl of a stand mixer, add butter, margarine, sugar, eggs, and molasses, and mix until smooth and creamy.
- Combine: Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, and mix until a smooth dough has formed.
- Form into Cookies and Bake: Using a small cookie scoop, scoop the dough and roll into balls then roll in sugar. Place on the prepared cookie sheets, and bake for 12-15 minutes or until the edges start to brown.
- Cool: Remove from the oven, allow to cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Top Tips
- Be Sure to Measure Your Ingredients Correctly: The wrong ratio of flour to butter in this recipe could make all of your cookies spread all over the tray.
- Crispy Cookies: If you like very crispy gingersnaps, you can roll out the dough and make cut outs. They won’t hold their shape like sugar cookies, but they will still be delicious!
- Rolling: I rolled these in coarse decorating sugar for some spark, but feel free to use granulated sugar or cinnamon sugar instead.
- Do Not Overbake: Remember that all ovens are different, so you have to watch your cookies to make sure not to overbake them. Overbaked cookies are tough, dry, and crumbly, and you want to avoid that.
- Freezing: You can freeze unbaked cookie dough balls, and baked cookies too. If you’re freezing the cookie dough, make sure to scoop it out into cookie balls before freezing and then bake from frozen. You may need to add a minute or 2 to the baking time.
Storing
Store ginger snaps for up to a week in an airtight container.
If the cookies start to get stale, put a piece of white bread in the container with them. The bread will dry out, but the cookies will stay perfectly chewy.
Baked cookies can be stored in the freezer in a ziploc bag or freezer container for up to 3 months! Let them thaw on the counter before serving.
Other Christmas Cookies You Should Try
Recipe FAQs
Gingersnaps are a classic cookie that originated in Germany a long time ago, they were called “schnappen” in German! They are called gingersnaps because the main spice in them is ginger, and they make a snapping sound once you bite into them.
One teaspoon of ground ginger is what I use in my gingersnap cookie recipe. You can add more or less depending on your preference, you can also use fresh grated or candied ginger instead.
No, self-rising flour contains baking powder and salt which can disrupt the balance of flavors and textures in these cookies.
While molasses is key to the flavor of these cookies, you can substitute it with dark corn syrup or honey. However, note that the flavor will be less robust.
This is likely because the cookies were overbaked. Remember to take them out of the oven when the edges just start to brown.
This could be because the dough was too cold, or there wasn’t enough fat in the mixture. Make sure your ingredients are at room temperature and accurately measured.
These crisp and chewy cookies are perfect for Christmas – or any time of the year! So preheat your oven and get baking! Your friends and family will love these chewy, spicy ginger snaps.
Before we wrap up, I’d love to hear from you! If you try this recipe, please rate it, leave a review, and don’t forget to pin it on your Pinterest boards. Spread the love for these gingersnap cookies, and let’s keep the tradition alive!
Ginger Snaps
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ¾ cup unsalted butter softened, or shortening
- ¼ cup molasses
- 1 large egg at room temperature
- Coarse decorating sugars or granulated sugar or cinnamon sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C, and line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper or Silpat silicone mats.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour with baking soda, salt, cloves, ginger, and cinnamon. Set aside.
- In the mixing bowl of a stand mixer, add butter, margarine, sugar, eggs, and molasses, and mix until smooth and creamy.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, and mix until a smooth dough has formed.
- Using a small cookie scoop, scoop the dough and roll into balls then roll in sugar. Place on the prepared cookie sheets, and bake for 12-15 minutes or until the edges start to brown.
- Remove from the oven, allow to cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
- This recipe made me 56 x 2½ inch cookies. I used a small (1 tbsp size) OXO cookie scoop, and each was 15-17 grams before rolling in sugar and baking.
- Be Sure to Measure Your Ingredients Correctly: The wrong ratio of flour to butter in this recipe could make all of your cookies spread all over the tray.
- Crispy Cookies: If you like very crispy gingersnaps, you can gently roll out the dough and make cut outs. They won’t hold their shape like sugar cookies, but they will still be delicious!
- Rolling: Feel free to roll these cookies in granulated sugar, cinnamon sugar instead, or white sparking sugar (decorating sugar that looks like sprinkles).
- Overbaking: Remember that all ovens are different, so you have to watch your cookies to make sure not to overbake them. Overbaked cookies are tough, dry, and crumbly, and you want to avoid that.
- Freezing: You can freeze unbaked cookie dough balls, and baked cookies too. If you’re freezing the cookie dough, make sure to scoop out into cookie balls before freezing and then bake from frozen. You may need to add a minute or 2 to the baking time.
Nutrition
This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.
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