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!
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Old Fashioned Ginger Snaps
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 3 dozen 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
Description
I love these Old Fashioned Ginger Snaps with their sparkling sugary exterior, crisp edge and slightly chewy center! Everyone LOVES these cookies!
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
Serena Suggs says
Good cookie, but doesn’t taste like a Ginger Snap…more of a snicker doodles.🤔
CM says
These taste nothing like a snickerdoodle lol
Maybe you missed something
Blye says
If your cookies don’t tatste like a ginger snap your ginger was either too old, too cheap, or both. You have to use fresh ground powdered ginger, or fresh grated ginger.
Charles Bodnar says
Just a fantastic recipe !! however consider this .I made a double batch. To it I added 1 table spoon of minced raw ginger and a teaspoon of ground black pepper. Holy cow!!! The ginger snaps were at a whole new level of WONDERFUL.
CB from North Carolina
Julie says
Wow, thanks for the comment. Love that you gave them your own twist!
Kaye says
Delicious!! Crisp on the outside and a slight chew on the inside. The ONLY thing that I would do differently next time, (And there will be a next time), I would add a little more ginger for more of a ginger bite. Thanks for sharing your recipe 😊
Alexis says
These cookies spread so much for me! Whether I bake straight from the freezer or room temp they come out so thin.
LouAnn says
I will have to buy molasses. Any suggestions?
Julie says
I always buy Grandma’s Original unsulphured molasses. Enjoy!
Vivian says
This is so good.
B says
I love how soft they are! I’m making them again, but can’t remember if the butter is salted or unsalted?
Anne Knights says
Not a true gingersnap, but a delicious cookie nonetheless. Dough very soft couldn’t roll, used a small ice cream scoop for uniformity, worked just fine. Not a newbie, been making cookies for 65 years so I have a bit of practice.
Blye says
If your cookies don’t tatste like a ginger snap your ginger was either too old, too cheap, or both. You have to use fresh ground powdered ginger, or fresh grated ginger.
Della says
I used identical recipe to this one over 50 years ago but used crisco, not butter.
Recently I made them again – my husband likes them. I also chilled the dough in the fridge before baking per my recipe instructions.
Kim says
I bake these cookies for my 96 year old Mom and she loves them. Thank you
Arek says
I I normally like my cookies crunchy but these were very very good, used everything in the recipe given except that sprinkled the brown sugar on the top because they were too soft to roll in regular sugar but they’re good.
Terri says
Delicious! I added about a half cup of finely chopped candied ginger and the ginger really popped! Maybe need to make a little longer for more crunch?
Maggie says
Definitely not a true ginger snap. I tried this recipe because I have lost the origional recipe I had for my Dad’s favourite ginger snaps. They were amazing and easy.
Nancy J Cecco says
I’ve made these before and LOVED them! This year I wanted to cut them into shapes instead of the balls. Can I roll this dough out and use a cookie cutter to make shapes? Would I need to alter the cooking time/temp? Thanks!
Julie says
Glad you like them! I’m not sure how the dough would work for cut out cookies, but my worry would be that they would spread out and look like blobs.