And just like that, December is officially here. I’ve been planning on sharing these Old Fashioned Ginger Snaps with you ever since my neighbor brought them over to me last year around this time. She loves to bake like me, and we are always swapping recipes back and forth and borrowing from each other’s pantries. We even have a group text thread called “The Pantry Pals”. Isn’t that great? Good neighbors are a gift!
My sweet neighbor knows how much I love these Old Fashioned Ginger Snap cookies, with their sparkling sugary exterior, crisp edge and slightly chewy center, so when she gives them to me, she also gives permission not to share them. She says, “It’s okay if you want to hide these.” I love it! She knows me well.
I asked her for the recipe to share with you all, and she said that it came from her Aunt Marva, who was her mom’s identical twin sister. This Old Fashioned Ginger Snap recipe has stood the test of time for a reason. They are one of my favorite cookies of all!
Yesterday was a fairly productive day for me. After having the boys home sick for the beginning of the week, it felt good to have the house to myself. I got caught up on laundry, worked on my editorial calendar, and made more to-do lists. After making cookies and putting my kitchen back together, I started on my Christmas cards.
We ordered them from Minted again this year, because we love the quality of the paper and print, as well as the design choices and free envelope addressing! We also love that you can view all the design options with your actual picture inserted into them. So easy!
Should I chill the cookie dough?
There is no need to chill the dough for Old Fashioned Ginger Snaps. Generally, chilling the dough can help sticky cookie dough to be more manageable, but this dough is not overly sticky. Chilled dough will also spread less in the oven than room temperature dough, but these cookies are supposed to be nice and thin, so spreading is good!
Can I freeze Old Fashioned Ginger Snaps?
Yes, these cookies will freeze very well in a well sealed container or a freezer ziplock bag for 3-6 months. You can also freeze the dough balls on a paper plate and then slide the plate into a gallon size freezer ziplock to bake at a later time. I love baking a half batch of cookies and then freezing the dough balls of the second half for later. A freezer full of cookie dough is a joyful sight!
If you love Old Fashioned Ginger Snaps, but want to bake a thicker, chewier cookie, try these Bakery Style Molasses Cookies. I know you’ll LOVE them!
Hope your December is off to a great start as well. Go ahead and put these cookies on your to-do lists!
Old Fashioned Ginger Snaps
I love these Old Fashioned Ginger Snaps with their sparkling sugary exterior, crisp edge and slightly chewy center! Everyone LOVES these cookies!
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 3 dozen 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup butter, softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup molasses
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- additional 1/2 cup sugar for rolling (I used half coarse sparkling sugar, and half granulated sugar)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper, Silpat, or by greasing it.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar together on medium speed. Add egg and molasses and mix.
- In a separate bowl, mix flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and ginger together.
- Gradually add the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl on low speed until everything is incorporated and a dough forms.
- Scoop dough into balls. I used a scoop that measures about 1 1/2 tablespoons. Roll the dough ball in the sugar and place on the baking sheet (12 per sheet). No need to flatten the dough balls. They will spread out as they bake.
- Bake for 11-13 minutes. Allow them to cool on a cookie sheet for a few minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Cookie
- Calories: 101
- Sugar: 10g
- Sodium: 118mg
- Fat: 4g
- Saturated Fat: 2.5g
- Unsaturated Fat: 1.3g
- Trans Fat: 0.2g
- Carbohydrates: 16g
- Fiber: 0.3g
- Protein: 0.9g
- Cholesterol: 15mg
Best old fashion ginger snaps ever! My husband was so impressed.. will make them again soon
Didn’t have the ginger “snap” that I expected. I suspect it’s because most recipes call for more ginger and less other other spices (by 2x or more) and more molasses. This just didn’t hit the mark of what a gingersnap should taste like to me
Can I use Brown sugar instead of White? I thought that would make the cookies better?
Hi June, great question! Because we are adding the molasses, brown sugar would be redundant. And I love this recipe so much, I wouldn’t change a thing!
Making the ginger snaps today!
My mixers flat attachment is missing can I still make the ginger snaps cookies 🍪
Sure, I bet the whisk attachment will be fine too. Hope you enjoy!
Can I use freshly minced ginger instead? Would I need to alter the recipe at all?
I used grated fresh ginger and it came out wonderful. I added it to the wet ingredients.
Just made a double batch! I did mince up 3/4 cup of candied ginger, they are great!!
Thanks for the recipe 👏👏👏👏
Theses were fabulous! However I had to flatten them out after approximately 5 mins of baking them. Noticed they were not spreading so I did it myself..lol. Tasted amazing and making another batch today! Thank you?
I am making them again, will be the third time, I increased the ginger to 1 tablespoon and also added 1 teaspoon black pepper, cooked exactly 10 minutes at 350 turned out just perfect
my mom loves them and i will make them
Wonderful, enjoy!
Hello I made these yesterday for my husband. His favourite. It’s my daughter in laws gift to him every Xmas and she won’t share her recipe lol. So because we are isolating I thought I would surprise him with his favourite cookies and I found this recipe. I used a hand whisk and followed instructions exactly, well a little less sugar. I made them a little large and my husband likes them a little crunchy. So I left Them in the oven for 12-13 mins and they were perfect. We use maple syrup for most baking. I was wondering if I could sub the sugar for maple syrup in this recipe.
Thank you for this recipe I sent it to a lot of people already.
I’m so glad you could make these for your husband, Patti! I hope they brought you both joy. I haven’t tested them with maple syrup, but I usually suggest making slight changes to the recipe a little at a time – maybe substitute some of the sugar for maple syrup and see what you think.
Best recipe I’ve ever used for ginger snaps. Yummy!
Oh my!!! These were sooooo yummy. I am a huge Ginger Snap fan and these did not disappoint.
I found my dough to be a bit sticky so after the first batch was in the oven I put the dough in the refrigerator. Helped when rolling them into balls for the second and third batch.
Thank you for the great recipe. It’s a keeper 🙂
These cookies are fantastic. The best ginger snaps I’ve ever had.
The best ginger snaps I have had since my mother made them. Sadly I can’t find her recipe for them. This might be it. They are delicious! Thanks!
I just made this recipe exactly as printed ..
They are awesome!!!! Crispy on the edges and soft in the middle , I did add a little pepper to give it a slight kick👍
Thank you so much, Donna. Interesting idea to add pepper, may need to try that!
Hi-I had to put the dough in the fridge because it came out too sticky once I added all the ingredients. We’ll see how they turn out! Looking forward to trying them!!
As I enjoyed a cup of earl grey tea this afternoon, i thought “I wish I had some gingersnaps to go with this!” I’m in the middle of making a batch. The last 12 are in the oven, and 4 from the first round are down the hatch. Delicious! I’ll make these again, for sure. Tomorrow there will be fine cookies with my tea!
I like a spicier cookie, so i was generous with the cloves and cinnamon, and doubled the ginger. Perfection! I just wish I’d doubled the batch!
Great recipe, but I only ended up with 2 dozen somehow…😂
I only came out with two dozen too! I figured it was because I was snacking so much on the dough. Lol
Sparkling sugar is just big granular sugar so I used raw sugar and got perfect results !! Made these as Christmas presents for family friends and they turned out amazing!! Pair well with eggnog or baileys !! When rolling in sugar I made sure to leave one side uncovered so the bottoms wouldn’t be too hard w melted sugar. Made a few without sugar and they were just as good. Great recipe !!
I live in Asia and have not been able to find molasses. Going to try with honey, but can I freeze the dough to make small batches at a time?
Haha! I just went back up and found my answer!
I used only 1/2 tsp of cloves, as 1 tsp would be overwhelming. While the flavour of these cookies is nice, the ratio of butter to flour is too high. Even when I chilled the dough, the cookies spread too much and never crackled. I questioned the amount of butter:flour but I went with the positive results. Should have known better.
Great recipe! I do sub the butter for oil for a bit more crispiness and eliminate the need to freeze the dough first.
Made 1/2 batch as directed and they were alright—texture was nice, we liked the molasses taste and softness with some bite; but thought it was a bit weak in flavor. For the other 1/2 batch, I tweaked it and added microplaned ginger in the dough and rolled in a mix of sugar and ginger powder and it was excellent!
These cookies are dynamite. Just the right amount of spiciness without being too sweet. I’ve made them 3 times twice following the recipe exactly and once I substituted 3/4 cup of whole wheat flour for the white. The cookies were much the same with a slightly earthier twist. Thanks.
These are the absolute best cookies. I have probably made the recipe hundreds of times in the past couple of years. My husband shares cookies with his work buddies and everyone just raves about them
Using shortening instead of butter makes these more like Ginger Snaps rather than a ginger chewy/dry cookie.
Not a fan.
Came out flat!
I bake all the time.
No idea what’s up but they came out terrible.
After 2 batches of paper flat cookies I added more flour.
A little higher but no crinkles at all.
It’s a no from me
I doubled the batch, cooked for 11 minutes and they turned out perfectly. Next time I will double the ginger as it was a very subtle flavour. I also added a piece of candied ginger on top. They are very good. Thanks for the recipe.
Thank you, Terry.
Perfect cookie, easy and no-fail recipe! I don’t know what it is about me, but I just can’t bake cookies, they never turn out right. But these ALWAYS turn out perfect! Thanks!