These soft Gingerbread Cookies get more compliments than any other cookie recipes I have ever made. Even people who say they don’t like gingersnaps end up loving these easy homemade cookies!
No exaggerating, every time I make these gingerbread cookies, people go crazy for them. The responses are always the same. “These are the best ginger cookies I’ve ever had.” “I didn’t even know I liked gingersnap cookies until now.” “You have to give me this gingerbread cookie recipe.”
Hands down, these are the best gingerbread cookies that I, and most of my friends and family, have ever tasted. Truth be told I’ve never been a big fan of gingerbread. My feelings on gingerbread and ginger cookies have always been lukewarm at best.
Often in the past ginger bread cookies didn’t even make it on to my Christmas cookies list. These easy gingerbread cookies totally changed that. This past year at our Christmas gathering, my friends and family inhaled them so fast that I made a second batch Christmas night.
If you are wondering how to make soft gingerbread cookies or looking for the best gingerbread cookie recipe, I’ve got you covered.
Gingerbread Cookies
Everyone seems divided on what to call these. Are they ginger cookies, gingersnaps or gingerbread cookies? Maybe they are molasses cookies or ginger molasses cookies! Clearly they aren’t gingerbread man cookies, but is there a hard fast rule on ginger cookie names? To me a gingersnap should have, well, some snap.
Given that these ginger cookies easy to make, and are soft and chewy gingerbread, I call them easy gingerbread cookies. Call them whatever you like, just make them. Trust me, you won’t regret it!
How To Make Gingerbread Cookies
The only thing that might be better than the taste of these cookies is how easy they are to make. There is nothing complicated about this gingerbread cookie recipe. They are quite similar to making snickerdoodles actually.
Chilling the dough isn’t even required for these, so as a result you can whip these cookies up in no time. If you need a great cookie for a cookie exchange or Christmas party but are short on time, I would certainly recommend these.
Ingredients At A Glance (printable recipe at bottom):
- Butter
- Sugar
- Egg
- Molasses
- Flour
- Baking Soda
- Salt
- Cinnamon and Ginger
Directions At A Glance:
- Combine the wet ingredients, then combine the dry ingredients, then mix together.
- Scoop dough into balls and place on baking sheet.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes.
Molasses Cookies
Molasses is not something I use often. These molasses cookies and my gingerbread bars are probably the only recipes I use it in. Growing up my Dad would put molasses on all the things. He’d use it on pancakes, in oatmeal, anything was fair game. Between you and me, for that reason it kind of always turned my stomach a bit.
If you think about it, molasses looks a lot like tar. That is probably why I steered clear of gingerbread recipes for a long time. However this gingerbread cookie recipe has helped me get over my molasses phobia. So if you are thinking I don’t like molasses, don’t worry, I don’t either. But I sure do love these ginger molasses cookies! Now let’s get baking!
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Want more delicious holiday and Christmas Cookie recipes? I have some great recommendations for you below the recipe card. Don’t miss them. And if you like this recipe, sign up to get my free Favorite Cookies e-Cookbook!
Gingerbread Cookies
Ingredients
- ¾ cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- ¼ cup molasses unsulphured
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon if you like a strong cinnamon flavor, increase to 2 tsp total
- ½ tsp dried ground ginger if you like a strong ginger flavor, increase to 1-2 tsp total
- Optional: granulated sugar to roll cookie dough balls in
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- First, mix together butter and sugar until light and fluffy, approximately 2-3 minutes with an electric mixer.
- Next, add egg and molasses and mix well.
- In a separate bowl combine flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and ginger, stirring to combine.
- Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until well combined.
- Form or scoop balls of dough that are slightly smaller than a golf ball. If desired, roll dough balls in granulated sugar after forming. Place them on a baking sheet approximately 2” to 3” apart to allow room for cookies to spread.
- Finally, bake for 10-12 minutes, remove from oven and allow cookies to cool on baking for approximately ten minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Video
Nutrition
Disclaimer
Nutrition information is estimated as a courtesy. If using for medical purposes, please verify information using your own nutritional calculator. Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
If you are looking for Gingerbread Man Cookies, I’ve got those for you as well!
I hope you and your family enjoy these delicious soft gingerbread cookies as much as my family does! Also check out all the cookie recipes and Christmas cookie recipes here on Love From The Oven!
Looking for more delicious gingerbread recipes? These are certainly some of my favorites!
- Fun Gingerbread Snowballs by Crazy For Crust
- Breakfast ready Gingerbread pancakes by Love From The Oven
- Easy Gingerbread Fudge by Spend With Pennies
- Slow Cooker Gingerbread Latte by The Cookie Rookie
- Crunchy Gingerbread Biscotti by She Wears Many Hats
- Gingerbread Loaf Cake by Crunchy, Creamy, Sweet
- Party ready Gingerbread Martini from Nutmeg Nanny
Now grab that ginger, run to the store for some molasses, and get baking!
Originally published September 2018
Judy Palermo says
Can you make the dough and freeze it?
Christi Johnstone says
I haven’t tried it with this dough, but there is no reason it wouldn’t work like any other cookie dough you freeze.
Chris says
Very good. Can I freeze these ?
Christi Johnstone says
Chris, I haven’t tried with this recipe, but like most drop style cookies you should be fine freezing after they have cooled completely.
Ashleigh Kruschel says
SO SO GOOD…. used 1.25 tsp ginger (ish) and 1.5 tsp cinnamon (ish) and it was the perfect amount of spice. I also rolled mine in raw sugar which added some amazing texture. Not overwhelming, but enough to let the flavours linger. Super soft as well.
Tiff says
TL;DR These truly are the most perfect cookies I’ve ever eaten… and I am a die hard cookie lover so that’s saying something. Cookies in general are my favorite dessert.
A few years ago, I was diagnosed with a gluten intolerance and it changed my cookie eating life forever. I have baked dozens of cookies since, trying to find the gluten free holy grail cookie… not one that’s just OK but one that tastes the way real cookies are supposed to be.
I followed this recipe to the letter, the only thing I changed was subbing all purpose flour with Cup4Cup GF flour (found at Target). They are perfection. And I mean I nearly cried for joy. Thank you for sharing this treasure of a recipe with all of us! It truly is the best cookie I’ve ever tasted.
Judy says
My daughter and I just made these and followed the recipe exactly. Loved the soft, chewy texture. I agree with other reviews, though, that the flavour wasn’t strong compared to other gingerbread recipes so I’ll add more cinnamon and ginger next time. And there will be a next time because I prefer soft cookies. Thanks for the recipe!
Christi Johnstone says
You are welcome! People definitely have some strong views on how much spice is good in cookies like these, so absolutely feel free to amp up the spices!
Marilyn says
I’ve now made these twice in 1 week! My family (and my kids friends) devoured them! Didn’t change a thing within the recipe. Just baked a bit longer to get a little more crunch! Great Recipe!
Barbara W. says
I just made a double batch of these cookies. They were incredibly easy to put together – my Kitchen Aid Artisan stand mixer was slightly challenged by the volume of a double recipe once I added the dry ingredients, but I went slowly and easily until the wet and dry were incorporated. That worked fine! The dough was very easy to handle and roll without chilling, which is always a plus! I thought maybe I was making each cookie to big, but I only came up short 3 cookies of the 48 I expected to get from a double batch – so that’s pretty close! I baked them for 12 minutes and let cool on the cookie sheet (on a rack) for 10 minutes before transfer directly to a cooling rack – no sticking or crumbling – perfect! One question I had was about rolling in sugar/or flattening slightly before baking. The recipe didn’t say anything about either of those things, but the picture looks like there’s a bit of sugar on top. It also doesn’t mention whether or not to grease the cookie sheets. I baked on ungreased pans & rolled very lightly in granulated sugar before baking – and I did not flatten the balls before baking. That seemed to work out great! Now comes the tasting – they smell heavenly, so I can’t wait to try them! Does this cookie freeze well?
Erin says
This is the most perfect ginger cookie recipe ever. The texture is like a dream. It is soft and wonderful and both batches have baked up perfectly for me. Many thanks!!! ?
Margo says
Wonderful easy cookies!
Erica says
These are SO good! They’re amazing fresh out of the oven, but even better the next day! I didn’t roll mine in sugar, but may next time. Will 100% make these again. Thanks for sharing this delicious recipe!