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 made these 4 times now and they are the best, crisiest ginger snaps ever. Perfect!
So happy to hear how much you’re loving them! Thanks for letting us know! 🙂
Oh my goodness, these are the best gingersnap cookies! I love the crispy outside:slightly chewy inside. Easy to whip together (I used my stand mixer), shape and bake. Also I like that it makes a smaller batch. Will definitely make again!
Happy you enjoyed them, thanks so much for the comment 🙂
I followed the recipe exactly but the first baked batch ran completely together (were arranged in balls about three inches apart). I cut the pan of cooked “cookies” into squares and they tasted fine, but were very chewy. So I re-mixed the remaining dough with another 1/4 cup of flour. This time, they flattened and ran together, but not as badly. Still chewy–not crisp at all. I’m really puzzled. Possibilities: I used butter that had been frozen and was allowed to reach room temperature sitting out. My daughter suggested possibly previously frozen butter reacts differently than butter never frozen. I also cooked both batches for 15 minutes–possibly not long enough, although the dough had flattened out entirely and no longer bubbled. At any rate, I can’t recommend this recipe because it came out so disastrously for me!
Sorry to hear of your issues, Dorothy! A few questions to help troubleshoot. Do you use a digital scale to measure your ingredients? What size cookie scoop are you using? I’m also wondering if perhaps your butter was actually too warm, which is why your cookies spread so much. If you check out our article on How to Cream Butter and Sugar, about 1/3 of the way down the page is a photo showing what butter looks like at different temperature stages. Too warm of butter can actually affect the creaming portion of this recipe, resulting in flat puddle cookies. Did your gingersnaps have the crispy/crackly look on top? I’m really hoping I can help figure out what went wrong here, these cookies are so deliciously crispy when made correctly!
Great recipe. I subbed vegetable shortening for the butter 1:1, I find the shortening makes the dough easier to handle at room temp. Came out great. Each cookie is about 30g of cookie dough for anyone who likes their cookies the exact same size.
Happy your cookies turned out great!
Finally the CRISPY Gingersnap recipe I was looking for! I added extra finely chopped crystallized Ginger for extra zest! so YUMMY
Hooray!! So happy you loved this recipe, thanks for taking the time to comment!
I followed this recipe closely, except that I grated fresh ginger. My husband loved them! I used latex gloves when rolling the dough balls in sugar as this dough is sticky. Thank you for a delicious recipe! These are really good!
Great feedback, thanks for taking the time to comment! Glad you both enjoyed this recipe 🙂
Hey Tessa, I made the gingersnaps, they were a big hit! I got the question if these could be made gluten-free. What’s your thoughts on this? Thanks mike
Hi there! We don’t bake gluten free, so I can’t say for sure! Please let us know how it goes if you give it a try 🙂
Thank you! The temperature of butter is extremely important to the texture of these cookies so stick a probe in in you want the picture results. And MEASURE on a scale! If they cake up in the oven, flatten them with the back of a flipper and keep baking. I did double the Ginger and would recommend a bit more if you really want that ginger flavour. I love this recipe!
So glad you enjoyed them! And thanks so much for your feedback and suggestions for other readers, we appreciate it!
Felt like I followed recipe, but it just became a funny memorable experience. The dough was sticky and the first batch turned into one big cookie sheet cookie; no crackle. Left lots of space the second time, still one big sheet cookie. Tastes ok, but they definitely don’t look like the picture. Butter was salted, maybe that was the problem.
Sorry you had issues with your gingersnaps, Julie! Using salted butter wouldn’t have been the issue, though you will want to reduce the amount of salt in a recipe when baking with salted butter (general rule of using salted butter in place of unsalted is to reduce ¼ teaspoon of the salt in the recipe per 115g of butter). Do you use a digital scale to measure your ingredients? It either sounds like there may not have been enough flour added, or your butter was too warm. You could also try refrigerating your cookie dough for about 10 minutes prior to baking (much longer and your cookies may turn out thicker and not as crispy). I hope you give this recipe another try!
Followed the instructions but my cookies came out more like little cakes.
Hi Alicia! Do you use a digital scale to measure your ingredients? It sounds like too much flour may have been added to your cookies. If you don’t have a scale, I’d recommend using the Spoon & Level Method detailed in this article HERE. I hope you give this another try!
The go-to Ginger snap cookie recipe! How many times can a person say YUMMY! I was looking for ‘the best ginger snap cookie’ last evening and came across this one. Look no further- yes and yes, delicious. I added a little cayenne pepper to the first batch and some black pepper to the 2nd batch [based on comments], will definitely bake these again. Would love to add a picture, but don’t see how to upload. Santa and his Elves are going to be really happy with these cookies.
Sounds delicious! So happy you loved this recipe, Robin! Feel free to tag Tessa on Instagram using #handletheheat so she can see your baking masterpieces! You can also share pics in the HTH Facebook Group 🙂
I’m literally in the middle of baking these right now and they are so good! Great recipe, just added a little extra ginger.
So happy you’re enjoying this recipe!