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.
What Makes Cookies Chewy, Crisp, or Cakey?
My free guide reveals the ingredients and tweaks that matter.
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:
Crispy Gingersnaps
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Ingredients
- 1 1/2 sticks (170 grams) unsalted butter, at cool room temperature
- 1 1/4 cups (250 grams) granulated sugar, divided
- 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.
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 2020 and has been updated with additional baking tips. Photos by Ashley McLaughlin.
I just used this recipe for the first time and everything tasted great! Easy instructions and I love that it was also in grams. I personally prefer more spice so I think I’ll try adding fresh ginger or cayenne next time. My cookies turned out to be a medium crisp with 15 minutes (might be my oven) so check your oven if you need to bake longer.
Have just finished a 2nd batch. Delicious! Making for Christmas. Hopefully this 2nd batch will make it. First batch is gone. Tried to upload an image, but I guess file too large and I don’t know how to fix it. Oh well. Mine do have the cracks in the top. BUT, I did have to add additional flour to both batches to get the dough to cookie consistency and able to roll. Yes, I measured the 286 g (used King Arthur AP flour), but consistency was too thin. Sorry, I did not measure what I added, but it was more than 1/2 and prob less than 1 c. Just kept spooning until it felt right. Next time I will be more precise. But thanks so much for this recipe. We love them!!!
Baking Soda doesn’t really need to be tested.
Baking Powder may need to be tested.
The components of Baking Powder are Bicarbonate of Soda (baking soda, a base), potassium bitartrate (cream of tartar, an acid), and corn starch ( to prevent caking). Separately these components store quite well – indefinitely. But when combined (especially in the presence of water vapor), the acid and base will slowly neutralize each other and become ineffective as a leavening agent.
Don’t try to store Baking Powder for long periods of time. It will just degrade and become ineffective. You can make your own baking powder using Baking Soda and Cream of Tartar which have stored separately.
I love this recipe. I had one similar to it that I lost so I was happy to find yours and it turned out just beautifully. The only problem I had, if it is a problem, is that I had to use a quarter cup of shortening because I only had a half a cup of butter and the recipe called for 3/4 of a cup. I was not able to attain the beautiful deep cracks like your pictures. I baked them till they were crispy, but they never did crack and I did not want to burn them. So would you be able to tell me why I could not get the cracks. It makes them so pretty and I would love to have mine look like yours next time I make them which will be again before Christmas in three days.
Shouldn’t the molasses be measured as mls and not grams?
Hi, my question is that fresh ginger would work as well?
I haven’t tested this recipe with fresh ginger before, so I can’t provide any guidance on how much to use with certainty. If you give it a try, let me know how it goes!
I haven’t used this recipe yet:
1. Love the fact that weights are listed in grams for butter, flour, sugar, brown sugar, and molasses. Very useful for me.
I don’t really see the point in using light brown sugar when molasses is being used. Dark brown sugar would be fine. If you want less molasses flavor, reduce the molasses and add a tiny bit of water.
If you like the the commercial ginger snaps that have a little spicy heat, add a couple dashes of cayenne pepper. I like my ginger snaps to have a little bit of zing.
They tasted great but for some reason, mine didn’t get that crinkly top. What might have caused this? I tested my baking soda and it was active.
I found that 15 minutes is too long. I recommend no more than 11. If you like a strong ginger flavor I would add additional ginger. This is a great recipe!!
I have been dissatisfied with my old gingersnap recipe and have been searching for a new one where the cookies actually snapped. I just made your recipe this morning and your recipe is just what I was looking for. My husband was really impressed and I had to slow him down before he ate them all. The cookies are great and I think you for sharing!!!
Hi, in your blog it says that you can freeze the cookies baked and then reheat them later. But I’m wondering can I freeze the uncooked dough to use at a later date?
Hi Maria! Absolutely – learn how Tessa recommends freezing cookie dough (and baking from frozen!) here. Happy baking 🙂
Hi! These look delicious and exactly what we are looking for. We are just wondering if we can use oil instead of butter or maybe a substitute so they are dairy free.
Hi Miranda! We haven’t tested this recipe with dairy-free substitutions, so you’ll have to let us know how it goes if you try it!