Tessa's Recipe Rundown
Taste: The perfect balance of sweetness and spice.
Texture: Thin and crispy, these cookies break in half cleanly and have a satisfying crunch.
Ease: Super simple 30-minute recipe. No chilling required.
Pros: The perfect easy, festive addition to any Christmas cookie box.
Cons: None.
Would I make this again? I make these cookies every holiday season!
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These Crispy Gingersnaps Cookies are the perfect classic, crispy gingersnap cookie.
Typically, I prefer a chewy cookie, but every once in a while, I crave that satisfying crunch and crispness of something sweet.
So, I tweaked my Chewy Gingersnap recipe (which is included in my cookbook – available on Amazon!) to make them thin and oh-so-satisfyingly crunchy.
These cookies are perfectly spice-forward, with that beautiful snap. Plus, they look so pretty next to beautifully iced Cut-Out Sugar Cookies and Christmas Brownies on your Christmas dessert table!
These cookies have become one of my most popular cookie recipes ever, with hundreds of wonderful reviews like this comment from reader El below:
Reader Love
My husband loved these cookies. He is a grumpy old man and doesn’t praise much of anything, so when he said, “These are the best cookies I have ever tasted!” I figured that was a super rubber stamp of approval. Great cookie!
–
Enjoy on a cozy day with a glass of milk or a cup of coffee or tea.
Sprinkle of Science
How to Make Thin & Crispy Gingersnaps
What are Gingersnaps?
Gingersnaps are just what they sound like: a cookie flavored with ginger, plus other spices that we’ll talk more about below. They are typically crunchy or have a brittle texture, thus the “snap”. The spiciness of the ginger and richness of the molasses pair perfectly with coffee, tea, hot cocoa, or mulled wine.
A year-round favorite all over the world, Gingersnaps are particularly popular to welcome in the fall and winter holiday seasons. Perfectly spiced, these cookies have the most beautiful cracked, sugary tops. I love these cookies in the fall, when the temperatures are slowly beginning to drop. They’re delicious with a glass of cold milk or even lemonade – and even better when used in place of graham crackers for over-the-top Gingersnap S’mores or to make ice cream sandwiches!
What Makes Cookies Crispy and Crackled?
- A heavy amount of baking soda interacts with the molasses in this recipe to encourage spread.
- This allows cracks in the dough to develop where moisture escapes, creating that beautiful crackled appearance and crunchy texture.
- Ensure your baking soda is fresh and active – learn how to test leavening agents for freshness here.
- There’s also much more granulated sugar than brown sugar in this recipe. White sugar encourages more spread and has less moisture to make for a crisper cookie.
- Lastly, a longer baking time ensures a crunchy texture all the way through the center of these cookies.
Why Roll the Dough in Sugar?
Rolling the cookie dough balls in sugar contributes to the overall texture of the cookies as well as the cracky tops. It helps to draw moisture out from the surface of the cookies while they bake, though the majority of the “crackliness” comes from the baking soda and molasses.
Feel free to skip this step if preferred, but your cookies won’t be quite as crisp and won’t look as pretty.
Measure Your Flour Correctly to Ensure Gingersnaps are Crispy!
- To avoid ending up with Gingersnaps that are thick, hard, or dense instead of perfectly crispy, make sure to measure your flour accurately with a digital kitchen scale.
- It’s so easy to accidentally add too much flour if you’re measuring by using cups.
- If you don’t have a scale, use the spoon and level method to measure.
- Just take a look at what a difference too much flour can make:
How to Make Flavorful Gingersnaps
- Make sure your spices, especially the ground ginger, are fresh and of high quality.
- If your spices no longer smell very aromatic, toss them and purchase new spices.
- The fresher the spice, the more flavorful it’ll be.
- While I haven’t tried it, you can also experiment with crystallized ginger, but expect your cookies to be a little more sugary.
- If you want more spice in your gingersnaps, add a tablespoon or two of freshly grated ginger.
- You can also add a pinch of cayenne pepper or a little black pepper.
- In addition to the spices, the molasses used is also important. More on this just below.
The Molasses
Make sure to use unsulphured molasses. Never use blackstrap molasses in baking, it’s extremely bitter. Brer Rabbit or Grandma’s in their ‘mild’ or ‘original’ flavors tend to work best.
Can I Make these Cookies Smaller?
Sure! Use a small 1 tablespoon-sized cookie scoop for small Gingersnap Cookies and reduce the bake time by a couple minutes.
Can I Double This Recipe?
Yes! Simply double all ingredients to yield about 56 medium-sized cookies. No other modifications needed.
Can I Use This Recipe to Make Gingerbread Men?
No – this recipe was written to be a simple drop-style cookie, so it won’t hold its shape well when rolled out and shaped using cookie cutters. Instead, try my Gingerbread Cookies Recipe!
How to Store Homemade Gingersnaps
Store baked, cooled Gingersnaps in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 7 days.
How to Freeze Gingersnap Cookies
Store baked, cooled Gingersnap Cookies in the freezer inside an airtight container for up to 1 month.
Alternatively, portion out the balls of cookie dough, roll in sugar, place them on a baking sheet, and freeze for 1 hour or until solid. Transfer to an airtight container and store in the freezer for up to 2 months. Bake cookies from frozen, reducing the temperature to 325°F and adding a couple minutes to the baking time. Learn more about freezing cookie dough here.
More Christmas Cookie Recipes:
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Ingredients
- 1 1/2 sticks (170 grams) unsalted butter, at cool room temperature
- 3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated sugar, plus 1/2 cup (100 grams) for rolling
- 1/4 cup (50 grams) lightly packed light brown sugar
- 1/3 cup (113 grams) unsulphured molasses (NOT blackstrap)*
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 2 teaspoons baking soda**
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 2 1/4 cups (286 grams) all-purpose flour,
measured correctly
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, use an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment to beat the butter, 3/4 cup granulated sugar, and brown sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the molasses and egg and beat until combined. Add in the salt, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and flour, and beat until combined.
- Place the remaining 1/2 cup sugar in a shallow dish. Scoop the dough into 1 1/2 tablespoon balls and roll in the sugar before placing on the baking sheet, leaving plenty of room for spread. Bake for 15 minutes or until the cookies are spread and the surface looks crackled.
- Let cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely. Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 7 days.
Notes
This post was originally published in 2020 and has been updated with additional baking tips. Photos by Ashley McLaughlin.
Hi, could I add some fresh ground ginger into this recipe? If so, how much?
Hi Carole! As Tessa mentions in the pink tip box above the recipe, “If you want more SPICE in your gingersnaps, add a tablespoon or two of freshly grated ginger. You can also add a pinch of cayenne pepper.” I hope that helps! Let us know what you think of this recipe once you’ve given it a try 🙂
yum!!!!!
Taste is good. I followed directions precisely but they came out thicker than in the picture, and while they’re crispy on the outside, the inside is soft and cakey. Wish I knew why this happened.
Hi Terry! Hmm, it sounds like there’s possibly too much flour in your cookies. How do you measure your ingredients? By volume (using cups), or by weight (using a digital kitchen scale)? When measuring by volume, it’s so easy to mis-measure flour/sugar/etc and throw off the entire chemistry of a recipe. Flour is the easiest ingredient to accidentally mis-measure, and your resulting cookies will be thicker and more cakey as a result. Tessa talks about how to best measure ingredients to ensure accuracy every time, in this article here! I hope this helps, Terry! If not, please feel free to reach back out, so we can continue to troubleshoot together 🙂
Thanks, Kiersten! I just used measuring cups for the flour. Maybe I’ll try them again later to see if weighing instead helps. I don’t bake a whole lot, and I do think I’ve had a problem before with something not coming out as expected, so maybe I’m a chronic over-flour-er.
Hi Terry! Haha, many of us have been chronic over-flour-ers in the past, until we discover the magic that is the digital kitchen scale! If you don’t already have a scale, here is a link to one of Tessa’s favorites. Good luck, Terry – and have a wonderful holiday season 🙂
Yum! Made these delicious cookies tonight! Mine came out thinner (flatter) but still had a nice crisp and were chewy. Not sure where I went wrong. My butter may have been too soft as I left it out the night before and our house temperature indoors is 71. I’m going to give it another go soon. My niece shared this recipe with me and hers came out perfect!! Thanks for an awesome recipe! So glad I found your site.
Hi Eileen! I’m so glad you’re enjoying Handle the Heat, and enjoyed these cookies, even if they didn’t come out exactly as you hoped! I would definitely blame the butter here. We recommend butter be around 67°F when creaming for best results. This means butter typically only needs to sit on the counter for an hour or two to reach this temperature, before using. Have a look at this article, where Tessa discusses butter temperatures, how long to cream butter and sugar for, and the repercussions on the resulting baked goods! Let us know how Round 2 goes – good luck 🙂
There is no need to buy ginger snaps anymore. These are delicious. I cooked them to be crispy. I’m sure you could make them softer by baking less. I did add a little more ginger. They are great whether you do or not. It’s a fast recipe and makes the perfect amount.
These cookies are delicious and beautiful. I did roll them in Sugar and they sparkled. I made them for coworkers. 2 batches. Found that putting the dough in fridge for an hour helped them come out of my cookie scoop easier. Thank you!
I’ve made this several times, it’s such a great recipe! I have browned butter in advance for a lot of my holiday baking, and wanted to ask if I should adjust the recipe in any way if I substitute browned butter rather than regular butter.
Thanks so much!
Hi Amanda! I’m so glad you love these gingersnaps! Your question is a tricky one to answer. American butter is about 80% butterfat and 20% water (on average, depending on the brand of butter), so when you brown butter, you lose that extra moisture/water as it evaporates through the browning process. It takes some experimentation to alter a regular non-browned-butter recipe to work with browned butter for that reason. You can simply try adding a little water back into the recipe, or start with more butter than the recipe requests, in order to compensate for the moisture you’ll lose as it browns. It’s something you’ll have to experiment with a little in order to perfect, but it can be done, and it’s a fun experiment in the meantime 😉
Made these last night and they are AWESOME. I skipped rolling the cookies in sugar and had no issues. When they were done they still were a bit chewy in the middle, but overnight they crisped up and they are fantastic. I will absolutely be making this recipe again.
These whipped up pretty quickly and tasted so yummy! Crisp edges with just a bit of soft, chewy center made for a fantastic ginger cookie. Will be my go to recipe for the holidays !
Love these ginger snaps. They are crispy and sooooo good. Make these cookies. You will not be disappointed.
I can’t stop eating them. They’re actually crispy. I am obsessed. Thanks for another wonderful recipe!
So happy to hear that you’re enjoying these, HB!
Would you recommend freezing these? If so, would you freeze the cookie itself or the unbaked dough?
Hi Britt! You can absolutely freeze these cookies – but we definitely recommend freezing the dough, rather than the baked cookie, for best results. Learn more about how to freeze dough and bake from frozen here! Happy baking 🙂