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 made this today and absolutely delcious, lve the crispiness and the chewness of the centre, this will be my go to recipe from now on
So happy to hear that!
These are delicious and easy to make.
I’ve made this recipe in the past and making it again for this holiday season! It’s so easy to pull together and tastes amazing too!
I have made these cookies twice and both times I made the mistake of thinking they were not done and then left them in the oven a few minutes too long, on convect. They came out delish, but hard so do not overcook…the ones I made following the instructions without convection were perfect.
Delicious!
Thank you.
Glad you enjoyed them!
Can you use cookie cutters for this recipe?
We haven’t tried that, so I can’t say for sure!
I have to say I love this recipe. They are delicious it was my first time making homemade cookies. I had asked my husband to get me some ginger snaps and the store didn’t have any. I found this recipe and had to try as I was craving them now I’m glad the store didn’t have any. Thank you for the recipe.
So happy you enjoyed them, Teresa! Thanks so much for the comment 🙂
I just made these and they weren’t thin, I didn’t use a scale but measured accurately. They are also darker in color, I used cooking molasses which is what I have used for gingerbread cake. Is this the wrong kind
Hi Judy! We recommend using unsulphured molasses, like Grandma’s Molasses or Brer Rabbit All Natural (not full flavor). To ensure thin gingersnaps, you want to make sure you use room temperature butter (around 67°F) 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. If you don’t have a digital scale, follow the Spoon & Level Method in THIS ARTICLE. I hope that helps!
Mine came out exactly like yours. I will be sure to measure with a scale next time. They were thicker and darker but still delicious!!!
I made these on Friday, and had consumed all of them on Sunday. Clearly, I’m a horrible person. But I made another batch for my coworkers today, Redemption!
haha love it! Wasn’t that first batch just a test batch so you didn’t give your coworkers bad cookies? 😉 Glad you loved them, Faith!
If I use salted butter should I reduce the salt or leave it out completely?
We personally don’t use salted butter in recipes as explained in this article about Salted vs. Unsalted Butter; however, the general rule of using salted butter in place of unsalted is to reduce 1/4 teaspoon of the salt in the recipe per 115g of butter. So reducing the salt to 1/8 teaspoon should work. Let us know what you think of this recipe when you give it a try 🙂
This is the best recipe!…but I always have 2 sticks of butter softened so I have to guess home much more of what.
I’m glad you enjoyed them, Annie! Though I’m not quite sure I understand what you mean regarding the butter?
Mine came out flat but chewy instead of crisp. Not sure where I went wrong…flavor is great though.
Hi Ashley! Check out the pink tip box above the recipe for more details on how to get that perfect crispy gingersnap 🙂 Did you substitute any ingredients? Do you weigh your ingredients with a digital scale? If no to the first question and yes to the second, I’m thinking you may have needed just a bit more time in the oven to help crisp them up. Glad you still enjoyed the flavor, but I hope you give this recipe another try!
Very good. I wish I could print this out.
Hi Virginia! You can print this recipe out! We include a print button in two areas, one at the top of the page below the Recipe Title (there are three circular red buttons, one with the Facebook logo, Pinterest logo, and then a printer logo). You can also find the print button directly above the recipe itself, as a similar red circular button. I hope that helps!