Tessa’s Recipe Rundown
Taste: Gingerbread + chocolate = bliss!
Texture: These cookies are perfectly chewy, gooey, and decadent with a slight crunch from the sugar coating.
Ease: There’s more prep work involved with this recipe – but it’s worth every second, promise!
Pros: My all-time favorite Christmas cookie. It isn’t December without these cookies.
Cons: No immediate gratification here unless you freeze the dough balls for baking off whenever the craving hits (which I definitely do).
Would I make this again? I’ve been making this recipe every Christmas for about a decade now!
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Chewy Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies are the ultimate Christmas cookies!
They’re bursting with perfectly-spiced flavor, loaded with gooey chunks of chocolate, and are ultra soft and chewy throughout.
Plus, the sugar coating makes these cookies sparkly and crunchy and so beautifully Christmassy – perfect for gifting or any cookie exchanges.
What Makes Cookies Chewy, Crisp, or Cakey?
My free guide reveals the ingredients and tweaks that matter.
Sadly I cannot claim this recipe’s genius as my own creation. I adapted it from Martha Stewart’s Cookies cookbook, one of the first baking cookbooks I ever owned! I first made and shared this recipe in 2009 and I’ve made it every holiday season since.
I hope you love these fabulous cookies as much as I do!
Sprinkle of Science
How to Make Chewy Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies
Tips for Soft, Chewy Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies
- Be sure to measure your flour correctly by weighing it with a digital scale. If you don’t have one, use the spoon and level method to avoid creating cakey, dense, or tough cookies that don’t spread.
- Measuring your dry ingredients accurately is one of the best ways to improve your baking.
- If you don’t measure your flour correctly, you could end up with crumbly dough and dry, hard cookies lacking in flavor.
No Eggs?
Yes, this is an egg-free recipe, so it’s perfect for friends or family members who can’t eat eggs!
The Best Baking Pans for Cookies
I always use an unlined aluminum half-sheet pan, like this one, for baking cookies. Additionally, I always use parchment paper for baking cookies. Never use dark-colored pans to bake cookies, as they tend to overly brown or even burn the bottoms of the cookies. Learn more about the best baking pans here.
What Can I Use Instead of Molasses?
If you cannot get molasses where you live, you can try substituting golden syrup, honey, or dark corn syrup, though the results will not be the same.
Do I Have to Use Fresh Ginger?
Yes! I promise it’s seriously worth the extra effort, and it gives these cookies the most incredible taste and aroma.
The Spices
Check your spices to ensure they’re not expired. Even if they’re not expired, check they’re still very aromatic. Older spices carry less flavor and fresh spices will carry much more flavor. So, just be aware of that and feel free to adjust accordingly.
The Chocolate Chunks
I recommend purchasing a bar of baking chocolate and chopping it up, for the most delicious, ooey-gooey chocolate chunks throughout the cookies. You can use prepackaged chocolate chunks if you prefer.
Do I Need to Chill Chewy Chocolate Gingerbread Cookie Dough?
This Chewy Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies dough must be chilled for at least a couple of hours, but overnight is even better. Here’s why:
- Chilling cookie dough is very similar to marinating meat – things just get so much better!
- The texture becomes chewier and thicker and the flavor intensifies.
- If you don’t have time, no worries. You can bake the dough off as soon as it’s firm enough to portion out (about 2 hours), but note that your cookies may be a little thinner that the pictures here.
- Learn more about the magical things chilling cookie dough does here.
How to Store Chewy Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies
Store Chewy Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. The cookies are gooey when warm, but become more chewy as they cool.
Chewy Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies
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Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups plus 1 tablespoon (200 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/4 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
- 1 tablespoon Dutch-process cocoa powder
- 1 stick (113 grams) unsalted butter, at cool room temperature
- 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, peeled and grated
- 1/2 cup (100 grams) packed dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup (170 grams) unsulfured molasses
- 8 ounces (227 grams) semi-sweet chocolate, cut into small chunks
- 1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated sugar, for rolling
Instructions
- Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and cocoa. Set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and fresh ginger on medium speed until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add brown sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add the molasses and beat until combined.
- On low speed, gradually add in the flour mixture. Stir in the chocolate chunks until just combined. Cover with plastic and refrigerate until firm, at least 2 hours or overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 325°F. Using a medium spring-loaded cookie scoop, scoop the dough into 1 1/2-tablespoon balls and place 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets. Roll each ball in the granulated sugar.
- Bake until surfaces just begin to crack, 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely.
- Store cookies in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
Recipe Notes
The Ultimate Cookie Handbook
Learn the sweet SCIENCE of cookie baking in a fun, visual way to customize your own recipes frustration-free. Plus, my best 50+ homemade cookies!
This post was originally published in 2009 and has been updated with recipe improvements, additional baking tips, and a new video.
Reader Chewy Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies Photos
If you make any HTH recipe, post it to Instagram, tag me, and use the hashtag #handletheheat – I love to see your creations! Check out lovely HTH reader Alikane’s beautiful Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies:
Oh, Tessa!!! These cookies were easily my favorite that we baked this Christmas season. Oh my word. They were absolute HEAVEN!! Thank you, thank you!!!
Hi Tessa!
They look so appealing!
I have a question, would it work if I used coconut oil instead (because lactose) or vegan butter?
Thank you
Just made these today and they are sublime!!! I’ll definately be making again – great recipe
We just made this recipe and this might just be my new favorite chocolate cookie recipe! Only thing is we didn’t have fresh ginger so we did about 1 cup chopped candied ginger and OMG OMG OMG. Those chewed pieces, with the chocolate chips….amazing. Seriously make this recipe if you love ginger and chocolate!
Correction to me previous post – meant they get very hard upon cooling with all that SUGAR, not chocolate. Sorry.
These are awesome. I made them twice, first time they were perfect, but the second time I used a different brand of molasses, and “regular” chocolate chips. I also over baked them the 2nd time. SO – use quality molasses and great chocolate, and don’t over-bake, as they get very hard upon cooling with all that chocolate.
Nou – Black treacle should substitute fine for the molasses I think.
Hi Tessa
Thanks for all your great recipes.
You quite convinced me to try this one, but unfortunately I dont have molasses, nor do I know where to find it here in France. What do you think could be a good enough substitute ? Honey ? Maple syrup ? Thx in avance. Keep up the good work
Hi Tessa! I’m thinking about making these for my girls’ cookie exchange, but I have a question–is it the GINGER that is freshly grated, or the NUTMEG? The notes above and the recipe itself are contradicting. Thanks in advance!!
These were delicious! Mine also fell flat, but it totally didn’t matter as they were so good. I’ll definitely be making these again!
So good! They turned out perfectly. I rolled them in cinnamon sugar instead of regular sugar because I just love cinnamon. Thanks for the recipe!
I read the recipe wrong when making these cookies and put in 1 1/2 CUPS (!) of boiling water instead of teaspoons. I was really bummed until I realized that I was stirring what appeared to be cake batter. I sprinkled in a bit of self rising flour because it actually seemed too soupy and poured the cookie batter in a cake pan. It made a delicious cake with excellent texture! Then I started over, following the recipe correctly, and got delicious cookies. Thanks for sharing this recipe. I will be making these cookies and the cake version again!