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.
Easy Soft Gingerbread Cookies
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
Jenn says
Oops, just left a reply and forgot to fill in the stars. Five stars for sure!
Jenn says
These are so yummy! My five year old had fun stirring scooping and rolling them in the sugar. I’m glad I didn’t have to use cookie cutters or refrigerate before cooking. I made two batches side by side and used brown sugar for one and white for another. The brown has wider cracks and is a little softer. The white set up a little higher and are a little more crunchy. I cooked them for 11 minutes. Both are delicious. I also added a teaspoon of cloves for a really rich flavor and it’s awesome. Next time I will try adding 1/4 teaspoon of chili powder to really give it a kick.
Thanks for your time to post your skills and reply to people! 🙂
Renee says
Great recipe! Except I missed a Cup of flour for the first batch of 6 and they went completely flat, corrected it and they turned out perfect. I’ll make them again and will add the extra ginger and cinnamon and maybe your cream cheese frosting!
Jen says
These are amazing! I used fancy molasses this time but am wondering whether I could use blackstrap molasses next time. Would that work?
Karen says
My son made these today, just tried one & it was SOOOOO good!! I would not even think of trying any other recipe. These are so soft & just… perfect. Well, maybe “perfect” with a layer of cream cheese frosting on top 😋 😋😋
Marlene says
I made them and not only did they spread a lot they are very thin almost flat. What did I do wrong?
Christi Johnstone says
The most likely problems would have been…
-An incorrect measurement of ingredients (always double check and use proper measuring tools)
-Butter was melted, not just softened (where you can leave an indent in it with your finger)
-Your oven runs too hot (this is more common than people realize, and it can fluctuate). If you don’t have an inexpensive basic oven thermometer, you might want to grab one. The first sign I had that my oven was fluctuating in temperature was my long time cookie recipes started all coming out flat. The oven was indeed running too hot.
Carmen says
Perfect! I increased the ginger & cinnamon as you recommended & the whole family loved them. So good, so easy & nice that the dough doesn’t need chilled; because sometimes you don’t want to plan ahead, you just need a cookie! Thanks!
Bernice says
Definitely a 5 star as this is the first time I baked ginger bread cookies and these cookies are so easy and fast to make, they are so moist and just perfect. The person complaining wayyyyy too much flour sure didn’t know how to measure. lol. It’s just a personal preference but I’ll try and use less sugar next time but these are OMG awesome. Thank you for sharing your recipe with us!! xo
Kate says
Baked them today they are awesome thanks for the recipe
Renée says
Just made a huge batch for Christmas and they’re divine!! How do I store them to maximize freshness? And can they be frozen?
Christi Johnstone says
You can freeze them. Another option is to store the in an airtight container with a slice of sandwich bread. The sandwich bread will get hard, while the cookies stay soft. You can change the slice of bread every day or so to maximize freshness.