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!
This post may contain affiliate links. Read our disclosure policy.
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:
Email This Recipe
Enter your email, and we’ll send it to your inbox.
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.
Spot on! These cookies are great. I think I’ll put a bit more ginger next time.
They turned out wonderful! I added 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg and 1/4 cup if pecans and it really improved it, 9/10 recipe
My sugar was a bit clumpy the cookies were perfect IMO. I made big ones so I didn’t get 28 they weren’t crispy but I like them soft. Great recipe. One of my all time favorite cookies
I really was exited about these. They were good. I followed the recipe exactly. Weighed the ingredients and checked my baking soda. They were chewy in the middle and crisp around the edges. Great if you want a chewy cookie but I made these because they were supposed to be crisp.
Smelled amazing but… I think the recipe would be clearer had you put the cups of butter required rather than the sticks. I read the other reviews, and some people experienced very wet, sticky batter. They probably also misinterpreted the stick/cup issue. Otherwise the recipe seems amazing!
Thanks for the feedback, Ava! This is why I always include gram measurements for all butter measurements to avoid any confusion.
I did 1.5 sticks and they were perfect
These are amazing. The rich, deep, spicy flavor is delicious. They look exactly like the picture when they are done. Don’t tell my sister, but these are better than hers which is our “family recipe.” LOL
haha yay! We won’t tell, Connie, but what the ultimate compliment! 🙂
These cookies were incredibly easy to make and really delicious.
TOP TIER ginger snap recipe. These turned out better than any other recipe I’ve tried! 10/10 would recommend.
THIS IS IT! This is the best gingersnap recipe in a field of thousands. I only made small adjustments. I live at a high altitude… one additional egg and an ice cream sized scoop for large cookies. It only took 13 minutes for batches of 6 to spread. Total 18. Thank you Tessa
Not sure what I did wrong. I followed the recipe but the dough ended up very wet and the cookies spread a lot. Next time I’ll try chilling them before baking. They taste good, though.
Hi Kate, another commenter just below yours experienced something similar! Please see my response below — chilling the dough will result in a thicker, less crispy gingersnap, so I’d recommend first checking your butter temp and how the flour was measured. Let us know if you try again!
I am a reasonably experienced baker and followed this recipe exactly. The dough was too sticky to roll and when baked merged into a single puddle.
When cookies merge like that, it’s almost always due to butter being too warm or flour measurement issues. These cookies are especially sensitive to butter temperature. It should be cool room temperature (around 67°F), where it gives slightly when pressed but still holds its shape.
A slightly sticky dough can also point to either warm butter or a bit too little flour (which is why we recommend weighing it, if possible). Next time, make sure your butter is at a cool room temperature and double-checking how the flour is measured. You’re so close, one small tweak usually fixes it!
Made these today for the first time and they came out beautifully! They look exactly like the photos in the recipe and they taste amazing. I got exactly 28.
I love them, definitely going on my rotation-list!
I did use ‘expired’ baking soda (expired in Oct, it’s Dec now), but I tested it before starting the recipe and it reacted, so I went for it. Couldn’t have asked for a better result.