Soft & Chewy Gingersnaps – Thick, soft, and chewy gingersnap cookies perfect for the holiday season! So delicious and ready to eat in just 30 minutes!
For more amazing cookies to make around the holidays, check out my posts for my tasty Best Soft and Chewy Snickerdoodles, White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies, Cookie Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies, and Double Chocolate Peppermint Bark Cookies.
Why This Recipe Works
Delicious — This gingersnaps recipe is one for the books! Truly, it’s one of the best recipes for this kind of holiday cookie that I’ve ever made (and I’ve tried A LOT of them). The combination of butter, molasses, brown sugar, and ginger is just perfect. The flavor is perfect, without that overbearing gingery taste that some recipes have. If you have a gingersnap lover in your family (or even if it’s just for you), you should make these gingersnap cookies ASAP.
Soft, chewy texture — Not a fan of crunchy gingersnaps (me either!)? Then these old fashioned gingersnaps are for you. In addition to these cookies being so very tasty, they’re also just the perfect texture. They’re big,puffy ones you can really sink your teeth into. These will have you sitting on holiday cloud nine after just one bite. So dense, so delicious, you just may not want to share!
Easy to make — The prep time for these homemade gingersnaps is just 10 minutes. Add on 10 to chill and 10 to cook and that’s a total of just 30 minutes of your time for a lovely, tasty, soft, chewy easy gingersnap that you’ll want to eat right out of the oven. Simply cream together the brown sugar and butter, then add the other wet ingredients. Whisk the dry ingredients together, then combine. Chill the dough, then form into balls and cook for 10 minutes. So quick and easy.
Perfect for the holidays — Are you a big holiday baker? Do you like to make loads of cookies for everyone to eat or do you give out cookie trays to your friends and family? Either way, these soft, chewy gingersnaps are the perfect cookie to add to your holiday baking rotation. I have found that it’s nice to have a slightly different-tasting cooking in the mix of sugar and chocolate, and a gingersnap is just perfect for mixing it up!
Ingredients
Brown Sugar — Brown sugar adds flavor, chew, and moisture to the gingersnap cookies. It also gives them their brown color and, of course, sweetness.
Butter — I use unsalted butter but you can use whatever butter you have.
Molasses — Molasses is key in gingersnap cookies. It adds a spicy, warm flavor and helps keep the cookie together. I like to use name-brand molasses like Grandma’s.
Egg — Egg helps bind the cookie ingredients together.
Vanilla — Vanilla adds flavor. I like to use real vanilla extract.
Flour — All-purpose white flour is what I use in this gingersnap cookies recipe. I haven’t tested it with other types of flour.
Baking Soda — Baking soda helps the cookies to stay chewy and helps them to rise in the oven.
Ground Ginger — Just a little ground ginger is all you need to add that spicy ginger flavor to homemade gingersnap cookies.
Salt — Fine table salt is what I typically use in cooking and baking. It helps the flavors all come together
Cinnamon & Ground Cloves — Two other key flavors in these gingersnap cookies that I like to add to give them just a little something extra! A tiny bit goes a long way.
Sugar — I like to roll these old fashioned gingersnaps around in some white sugar before baking. They give a little extra crunch/texture to the cookie and it looks pretty too!
Here’s How You Make It
- First, preheat your oven to 375 and lightly grease a cookie sheet. Then, in a large mixing bowl, cream together brown sugar and butter until it’s light and fluffy.
- Next, add the molasses, egg, and vanilla to the butter/sugar mixture and mix well.
- Combine the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, spices, and salt) in another bowl and whisk together to combine. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, one cup at a time. Mix the ingredients together after every addition.
- When the flour mixture is completely incorporated into the wet ingredients and the dough comes together, cover the dough with a towel or plastic wrap and put in the fridge to chill for 10 minutes.
- While the cookies are chilling, add 1/4 cup of white sugar in a small bowl. When you’re ready to bake the cookies, roll them out into balls and then into the sugar, rolling around to coat all sides. Place dough balls onto the greased baking sheet and lightly press to flatten slightly.
- Repeat this process with the remaining dough, leaving about 2 inches between each cookie to account for spreading. Bake the gingersnap cookies for 9-10 minutes, and then allow them to cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet after removing them from the oven. After the 5-minute cooling period, use a thin metal spatula to remove the cookies from the sheet and place on a wire rack to cool completely.
Both cookies are spiced and have a ginger flavor. Both are brown in color. But the main difference between a gingerbread cookie and a gingersnap cookie is that gingerbread is rolled out and cut into shapes, while a gingersnap is rolled into balls. Gingerbread cookies are also usually thinner and crispier than gingersnaps.
Sometimes, despite my best efforts, I’ll get a batch of too-hard homemade gingersnaps. I hate it when that happens. But the reason for this is usually that I’ve added too much sugar (sometimes I get distracted by my kids or who knows…) and sometimes I incorrectly measure the flour, or the flour is too condensed. (Make sure to whisk it all well.)
Or, did the cookies bake too long? That can make them harder too. Finally, sometimes the molasses can make homemade gingersnaps hard. But, the cookies will soften as they absorb moisture after baking, when left in a container on the counter.
Expert Tips and Tricks
- Want softer cookies? Add 1 teaspoon corn starch to the dry ingredients to make these cookies extra soft and thick!
- Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days or in the fridge (thought they will harden in the fridge and lose some chewy texture.)
More Cookie Recipes
- Chunky Monkey Banana Cookies
- Best Super Soft Peanut Butter Cookies
- Thumbprint Cookies
- Snowball Cookies
- Best Easy Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
Did you make this recipe? FANTASTIC. Please rate the recipe below and be sure to tag me on social when you share a photo on social – I love seeing what you’re up to in the kitchen!
Soft and Chewy Gingersnaps
Ingredients
- 1 cup brown sugar
- ¾ cup butter
- ¾ cup molasses
- 1 egg
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- 3 ½ cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼ cup sugar - for rolling
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375. In a large bowl cream together brown sugar and butter until light and fluffy.
- Add molasses, egg and vanilla and mix well. In another bowl combine flour, baking soda, ginger, salt, cinnamon, and cloves and whisk to combine. Gradually mix dry ingredients into wet ingredients, 1 cup at a time.
- When flour mixture is completely incorporated and dough comes together, cover dough and chill 10 minutes. Place 1/4 cup sugar in a small bowl. Roll about two tablespoons of dough into a ball and roll in sugar. Place dough ball onto a lightly greased baking sheet and lightly press to flatten slightly.
- Repeat with remaining dough, leaving about 2 inches between balls for spreading. Bake 9-10 minutes. Allow to cool 5 minutes on the baking sheet. Use a thin metal spatula to remove cookies from chest and allow to cool completely on a wire rack. Store in airtight container.
so chewy and flavorful! a definite keeper of a recipe. thanks so much for sharing:)
These were yummy! I tripled the batch and added more ginger, salt, cinnamon and vanilla to taste and it was amazing! Thanks!
“Soft and chewy ginger snap” is an oxymoron! It’s not a ginger SNAP if it’s soft and chewy, it’s gingerbread. The clue is in the ‘snap’.
That said, these are very nice!