Chewy, Soft Gingerbread Cookies
These gingerbread cookies are chewy and delicious, thanks to the combination of ginger, cinnamon, and molasses. Make them any shape you’d like; keep them simple or decorate to your heart’s content.
In This Article
Soft Gingerbread Cookies
Cookie confession moment. I’m not a fan of crunchy gingersnaps. For me, crunchy gingersnap cookies are really meant to morph into crusts. Case in point: crispy, crunchy gingersnaps are the perfect crust for a New York Pumpkin Cheesecake.
Otherwise, gingerbread cookies are best devoured when they’re wonderfully chewy and soft. These cookies are not shy on holiday spices, and the resulting aroma is scrumptious.
The aroma of cinnamon, ginger, and molasses waft freely through the air as these beauties bake into a golden brown delight. Perfect for Christmas gift-giving, party cookie trays, and cookie exchanges. These big, soft, chewy ginger cookies 100% taste and smell like the holidays.
Gingerbread Cookies: Key Ingredients
- Ground Ginger – ground ginger is easy to use and provides intense ginger flavor to these cookies.
- Cinnamon and Cloves – these warm fall spices balance out the flavors beautifully.
- Orange Juice – a bit of orange juice gives these gingerbread cookies a touch of citrus essence. If preferred, you can use apple juice or milk instead.
- Molasses – molasses gives these gingerbread cookies an earthy, warm sweetness. It also helps keep these cookies chewy and soft.
- Coarse sugar, colorful sprinkles, or your choice of icing can be used for decorating however you’d like.
- I’ve used melted white chocolate as a pretty (and super easy!) drizzle on top of the cookies.
How to Make Gingerbread Cookies: Key Tips
- Let your butter come to moderate room temperature – it should be softened, but not at all melty.
- Beat butter and sugar for a full 3-4 minutes, until the mixture is light and fluffy. Many cookie-baking-woes are eliminated by not skimping on this step.
- Always be sure you have a fresh box of baking soda every baking season, as the freshness affects rise-ability during baking.
- Just gently combine the dry and wet ingredients together until a dough forms; take care not to over-mix cookie dough, or it may take on a tougher texture.
- The dough typically needs at least 30 minutes to chill. You can also chill the dough overnight, and let it sit at room temperature just until it’s workable. Dough should remain cool to the touch before it goes into the oven.
- If you have unbaked cookies waiting to go into the oven, keep them chilled until it’s their turn to bake; this step is especially helpful if you’re baking cut-out cookie shapes.
- Do not freeze this cookie dough; if you’d like to make the dough in advance, keep it tightly wrapped in the fridge for up to a week.
Soft Gingerbread Cookies
Commonly Asked Questions
You can keep it simple by sprinkling on festive coarse sugar sprinkles right before baking, pressing the sprinkles onto the top of cookies to adhere. For a super easy “icing,” we melt white chocolate chips or use candy melts to drizzle or dip baked cookies in. Candy melts set up quite nicely upon cooling.
For 1 tablespoon sized cookie balls, we bake it at 350ºF for 8-9 minutes. The cookies will seem a bit underbaked at that point, but they’ll set upon cooling.
You can keep unbaked cookie dough in the fridge, covered, for up to a week. Baked cookies should be kept airtight at moderate room temperature, also up to a week.
More to Bake and Eat
- Brown Sugar Cookies, Soft and Chewy – these are the perfect canvas for your favorite add-ins. But we really just love them as-is!
- Chewy Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies – if you love a bit of coconut, try these luscious cookies with coconut flair.
- Andes Mint Cookies – these are the best way to create minty + chocolatey cookies!
- Snowball Cookies (Russian Tea Cakes) – we just cannot get enough of these melt-in-your-mouth cookies every year.
Also Try These Lofthouse Sugar Cookies!
Chewy, Soft Ginger Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 ¼ cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp ground ginger
- ¾ tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground cloves
- ½ tsp salt
- 12 TB unsalted butter, softened to room temp
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup dark brown sugar, tightly packed
- 1 large egg
- 1 TB orange juice
- ¼ cup molasses
- Optional: coarse sugar for sprinkling or white chocolate/candy melts for decorating
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together the four, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat together the softened butter with both sugars on med-high, until light and fluffy, a full 3-4 minutes (set a timer), scraping down sides and beaters as needed. Beat in the egg on medium-low until incorporated. Add orange juice and molasses, continuing to beat just until combined.
- Add dry ingredients into the butter mixture, beating on medium-low just until ingredients are fully incorporated; do not over-mix. Cover tightly and chill in fridge at least 30 minutes, or until dough is firm enough to handle. (If you're planning to roll and cut into shapes, chill at least 1 hour.)
- Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.Drop Cookies: Shape dough into 1-TB sized balls. Place them 2 inches apart on lined baking sheet, and sprinkle tops with coarse sugar if desired. Bake about 9 minutes, taking care not to over-bake. Cookies will appear very soft. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet without disturbing them for 5 minutes, and gently transfer to wire rack to cool completely.Cut-Out Cookies: Lightly flour a large cutting board and rolling pin. Roll dough into 1/4" even thickness. Use 1 1/2 – 2" cookie cutters for best results. Place cookies 2 inches apart on lined baking sheet and place in fridge for 10 minutes. Bake about 8-9 minutes or until cookies have puffed out and are still soft. Let cool on baking sheet for 10 minutes, and gently transfer to wire rack to cool completely before icing.
Equipment
- Candy Melts, for decorating
Notes
- Always ensure flour is measured accurately; use this simple Scoop and Level method.
- If you prefer, you can use apple juice or milk instead of orange juice.
- You can use light brown sugar in lieu of dark brown sugar, though dark brown sugar provides a deeper molasses flavor and color.
- If you’re rolling out the cookie dough and cutting into shapes, keep unbaked shapes in the fridge until it’s their turn to bake; this will help them keep their shape as they bake.
- Decorating ideas: melt white chocolate for a super-easy and pretty drizzle. Use colorful sprinkles. Try candy melts, for smooth and tasty icing colors.
- If you enjoyed this recipe, please come back and give it a rating! ♡
Nutrition
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