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.
I have been baking for almost 40 years. Every year I make dozens of batches of different Christas cookies. Until this year, I had never made ginger snaps. I have to see, this is BY FAR the best cookies I’ve ever tasted. The heavenly smell as they are baking, just screams CHRISTMAS. I will be adding this to my yearly repertoire and I a now making some lemon curd to dip them in. You’ve never tasted anything like ginger snaps dipped into lemon curd. Thank you so much for sharing this most excellent recipe!
You’ve definitely got me wanting to try them in lemon curd now, that sounds so interesting! Wow, what an amazing review to read through. So happy you loved this recipe, Donna!
The is a great recipe and the flavor was wonderful. We had an issue that they didn’t come out flat. I feel that we follow the directions accordingly. Any ideas to help make them more flat? (Or adding a little more of an ingredient)
Hi there! Glad you enjoyed the flavor 🙂 To ensure thin gingersnaps, you want to make sure you use room temperature butter as well as measure your ingredients, especially your flour, with a digital scale. Adding too much flour to a recipe can result in thicker cookies. I hope you give this recipe another try, I’d love for you to enjoy them the way they’re meant to be
I Asked my husband to buy ginger snaps to make a cheesecake crust but was so disappointed with the boxed cookies I went in search of a recipe. I made this today and they are amazing. I had to reduce the cooking time by 2 minutes for my ovens and next time will add a more ginger, but so easy and amazing. I bake every weekend so with Christmas looming I am working on the list of cookies for cookie day and these just made the cut. I’m replacing the molasses cookies with these.
Thank you for posting this. FYI, I live in AZ too.
So happy you loved this recipe, Melissa! Cheesecake with homemade gingersnap crust would taste amazing! Thanks so much for the comment 🙂
Hi! Can I use molasses powder for this recipe?
Hi Mairah! I’m not sure, we haven’t tried that! Please let us know how it goes if you give it a try 🙂
We love ginger snaps, gingerbread etc. I use a few different recipes but now, this is my go to. Perfect
Wonderful! So happy to hear you loved this recipe, Claire! Thanks for sharing 🙂
I made these because I couldn’t find ginger snaps at the store and I needed them for pumpkin pie crust. They were a SNAP to make. I decreased the molasses to 1/4 cup. Next time I would double the ginger. Delish!
So happy they worked perfectly for you! Homemade gingersnaps in a pumpkin pie would be incredible, enjoy!
This recipe is sooo easy and absolutely delicious. I bake about 1-4 batches a week and share them with so many people. The most descriptive term was “drool worthy”. I add some cinnamon to the coating sugar. Perfect cookie for the season. Yummy warm spices.
Amazing!! So happy to hear they’re such a hit, thanks for sharing 🙂
Excellent
What is the sugar content of each cookie so I can portion them out properly?
We don’t keep track of nutritional content with our recipes, so I can’t say for sure!
Hi I have always wanted to make gingerbread/ginger cookies but there’s always this one ingredient I can’t get & that’s molasses..is there any replacement for molasses as it’s not available in the place I live.
Hi Sarah! We honestly haven’t tried these with anything else besides molasses, so I can’t say for sure!
Hi! Can I chill this dough over night?
Hi Aviv! Chilling this dough is not required 🙂 If you chill the dough, you’ll end up with a bit thicker of a cookie as they won’t spread as much in the oven and may not turn out as crispy. Just depends on your preference 🙂
Another HIT recipe from you which i baked over the weekend and they came out AMAZING !! I slightly under bake i order to have them chewy and full of flavor
Yay! So thrilled to hear this!