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
Alisa says
These are the BEST gingerbread cookies I have ever tasted, and I have tried many! Easy to make, no fuss. I rolled some of the gingerbread cookie balls in sugar, and kept some plain. They were both wonderful! The friend I was baking them for likes strong flavours, so I increased the ginger and cinnamon by 1 tsp each. Delicious! Next step, make another batch and substitute Splenda for the sugar so my family of diabetic people can enjoy them. I hope they work…
Christi Johnstone says
Alisa, I’m so glad you’ve enjoyed them! I have to agree, they are may favorite gingerbread cookies as well! I need to make a batch, stat!
Alisa says
Oh my gosh, your gingerbread cookie recipe is delicious with Splenda! I did an exact substitution of Splenda for sugar, and added a TBSP of egg white as the dough was a little dry. Fantastic!!! How can I thank you Christi? Dessert at the holidays can be a little bare at our house, but not now that I have found your site!
Happy holidays and a heart full of happy!
Christi Johnstone says
Alisa, I’m so happy to hear this! That is fantastic! I’m thrilled the recipe worked well for you with the substitution, that is fantastic! All the best to you!
Jennifer says
Hi! Do you think you could refrigerate the dough (for how long?) or freeze it? I have two Thanksgiving dinners planned a week apart and may make a big batch of dough so I can bake cookies for both! Thanks so much, they look delicious!
Christi Johnstone says
The actual cookies will freeze well! Otherwise I would recommend scooping the dough, then freezing the individual dough scoops, to be baked at a later time. I don’t like to leave dough in the fridge for more than 24 hours for food safety purposes.
Judy says
So, CAN you freeze the hunk of dough when needed and defrost in the fridge the night before? I don’t have a lot of room in my freezer for all the individual rolled cookies but I do for a hunk of dough. Also, I like to make all my Christmas cookie dough ahead of time and just bake them off the week I need them. Thank you!
Christi Johnstone says
Judy, I haven’t with this recipe, I tend to make my cookies then freeze them, as it allows me to spread out the baking more. That said, I can’t imagine they’d be any different than most cookie doughs that you’ve frozen. I think you’re safe!
Emerald says
These cookies need a full stick of butter, and extra egg and 1/3 cup of molasses instead if 1/4. The dough was too crumbly as Is. However with the additions they came out wonderful and delicious. Will be making again and again.
Christi Johnstone says
Emerald, I’m curious how you scooped your flour? I’ve never needed those extra items, and this has been a really popular recipe and I’ve never heard that before. I’m just wondering if maybe your flour was a bit heavy. Also, as this recipe calls for 3/4 cups butter (which for most standard sized butters, is 1 and 1/2 sticks), when you say a full stick are you meaning two full sticks is what you used?
Anamika @ Supplement Crunch says
These are amazing! Thank you for compiling them for us!
Lisa says
Do you use ground ginger that’s like a powder or fresh ginger?
Christi Johnstone says
Ground ginger!
Lauren Porter says
My mom has been making gingerbread cookies like this my whole life. I love them because they are so soft. She even sent me a package of them in the mail because she knows they are my favorite. I can’t wait to give this recipe a try and see how they turn out. So glad I stumbled upon this, thank you for sharing your recipe! 🙂
Hannah Dunn says
Made this for me mom for mothers day and put orange cream cheese frosting on it.
The cookies came out AMAZING. They were gone in 3 days!
I saved the recipe for future gatherings….especially now that I’m engage. Lol
The Chef says
Good Job to whoever made this recipe!!!!!! These are the best ginger cookies I have ever had in my life! Every time I make these cookies everyone says that they are the best cookies they have ever had. The good thing is they are chewy and soft, and the flavor is not too strong. One time I made these cookies, and someone told me that they could win an award!!! That is how good they are!! I love these cookies! This is the best ginger cookies recipe! I will always make this ginger cookie recipe!
Christi says
So glad you enjoyed these! These soft gingerbread cookies are hands down one of my all time favorite cookie recipes!
Julie says
Can you use vegan margarine instead of butter?
Christi says
Hi Julie, if you find that it usually works in place of butter than I’m sure it’d be fine!
Keri says
hands-down the best gingerbread/gingersnap cookie recipe ever. I used pink sea salt, which I think added a lot to bring out these flavors and I rolled them in granulated sugar before baking. They’re absolutely perfect. Thank you for sharing this recipe!