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
Nadia says
I made these gingerbread cookies yesterday they were easy to make and delicious!!
Katt says
They taste great but I must of done something wrong because they are not soft!
Christi Johnstone says
Either too much flour (did you stir it, spoon it into the measuring cup, then level? If you scoop with the measuring cup it compacts and you get too much) or too much time in the oven, or the oven temp could be off. An inexpensive oven thermometer is a great way to check that one!
KHJ says
I made these for Christmas cookie exchange this year (2023). I’m a skeptic by nature but these proved me wrong. Perfect taste and texture. Slight crunch around the rim with a soft center, but no falling apart or near raw feel. Perfect. My sister even asked me for the recipe which I forwarded to her from the site. 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 Thank you!
Meredith says
Cookies were a hit! The texture was wonderfully soft and chewy. I used 1 tsp of cinnamon and nutmeg each as the recipe recommends and the flavor was pretty mild. If (when) I make these again, I will probably double each of those for a stronger gingerbread flavor.
We made some of the cookies as regular balls of dough, but we also cut out shapes with cookie cutters and that worked well. If you want to use this recipe with cookie cutters, split the dough into thirds, chill the dough, then roll out the dough and work very quickly to cut the shapes before the dough warms up. The dough needs to be thoroughly chilled (at least a few hours) to cut the shapes out. Smaller shapes cooked for about 6 minutes, larger shapes for about 8.
Johanne Louise says
Wow I made these gingerbread cookies came out fantastic I decorated them all my 15 family members loved them ask me for recipe. It was a hint making more for other Party for New Year Eve soon this week I make triple recipe as I have many people who loves these best recipe ever.
Anonymous says
These are the softest and most delicious cookies I have ever had! They are easy to make as well.
Emily says
These are the best gingerbread cookies. They are even better than I expected. We will definitely make them in the future! Yum! And next time I will roll them into 1″ balls instead of the massive ones we used that took longer to cook. That also equals more cookies! Thank you for this great recipe!
Kim Anne says
This recipe was so easy to make that I was skeptical of how they’d turn out…But man was I wrong. I’ve been craving a soft ginger molasses/gingerbread cookie for a while. WOW these hit the spot and then some. My partner was hesitant about them, because he doesn’t like gingerbread too much, but even he ate almost the whole first batch on his own. I whipped this up in about 10 minutes, and chilled the dough in between like I do when I make snickerdoodles, so it stayed firm when I rolled them into a ball. Some of the best cookies I have ever made, so fast and easy. I would recommend these to anyone.
Craig says
I think this is the same (or pretty close) to my grandma’s recipe (which she didn’t leave behind) – so glad to have stumbled across!
She always flattened hers a little with a fork (criss-cross), so I did that way too, think their at LEAST 10% tastier that way 😉
Heather says
These are delightful! I just made a batch and the whole family loves them. The 4 year old said “I’ve been waiting for these for years!!!”