These scrumptious Soft Ginger Cookies are so full of flavor, slightly crispy on the edges with a soft and chewy texture on the inside. They are a family favorite and are perfect for holiday gift-giving, Christmas parties, and cookie trays.
Are you a fan of gingerbread? I absolutely love it. I like the soft and chewy kind, not the hard kind that you need to dunk in milk. These easy, Soft Gingerbread Cookies are the best. One of the key ingredients is molasses. Which by itself is not the best-tasting ingredient but look out when you mix it with butter, sugar, flour, and fall baking spices. Considered yourself warned because these cookies are amazing!!
What is molasses?
Molasses is the dark, sweet syrupy by-product from refining sugar cane or sugar beets into sugar. It is a different type of sweetener, just like honey or agave syrup, and is often used to produce a certain type of flavor. Just as honey produces a different taste than sugar, so does molasses. It is next to impossible to describe, but you will know it when you smell and love it when you mix it in this cookie batter.
These delicious cookies are perfect for your holiday gift-giving, cookie exchanges, and parties. They are quick to come together, and they freeze exceptionally well.
How to make Soft Ginger Cookies!
Grab a medium bowl and combine your flour, ground ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and salt. Set this bowl aside for a few minutes.
Using a stand mixer or hand-held mixer, cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Stir in egg, coffee, and molasses. Slowly blend the dry ingredients into the butter mixture. Shape the dough into 1-inch balls and roll through sugar. Place the cookie dough balls on parchment paper-covered cookie sheets about 2 inches apart and bake for about 12 minutes. Then move to wire racks to cool after 5 minutes.
Can you roll these Gingerbread Cookies for cutting into shapes?
Yes, you most certainly can. Divide the dough in half and shape it into round mounds. Cover each fully with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator to chill for at least four hours up to three days. Remove from fridge and place on a generously floured surface; using a rolling pin covered with flour, roll to one-quarter to one-third inch thick. Using cookie cutters cut and place on parchment paper-covered baking sheets one inch apart. Combine and re-roll scraps. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-12 minutes. After 5 minutes, remove to a wire rack. Cool completely and decorate as desired.
If you are rolling the dough and cutting, then these cookies will become crisper. Much of the aeration is removed by rolling the cookies. The cooking time for cut cookies is reduced to 8-12 minutes. I suggest you run a test run with 1-2 cookies to establish optimum cooking time.
How to freeze these soft ginger cookies
After baking, let the cookies fully cool. Double wrap in Ziploc freezer bags (removing as much air as possible) and place in sturdy freezer containers. Place in the freezer for up to 2 months. When thawing, remove them from all packaging and place them on serving plates in a single layer until they are thawed. Once thawed, they can be stacked for serving, packed in airtight containers, or packaged for gift-giving. It is the condensation that builds up in the freezer bags that ruins the cookies.
If you like gingerbread, you have got to try these cookies. They are delicious, dependable, and easy to prepare. They freeze well, package well, and are perfect for holiday gift-giving! What’s not to love about them?
More cookie recipes you will love!
Soft Ginger Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 tablespoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup butter softened
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 tablespoons prepared dark coffee
- 1/4 cup molasses
- 1/4 cup white sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a medium bowl and combine flour, ground ginger, baking soda, ground cinnamon, ground cloves, ground nutmeg, and salt. Set aside.
- Using a mixer, cream butter, and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Stir in egg, coffee, and molasses. Slowly blend flour mixture into butter mixture until incorporated; scraping down the bowl and beaters. Shape dough into 1-inch balls and roll through white sugar.
- Place on parchment-covered baking sheets 2 inches apart. Bake for 12-14 minutes. After 5 minutes, move to cookie cooling racks.
Video
Notes
- If rolling the dough and cutting; these cookies will become crisper. Much of the aeration is removed by rolling the cookies. The cooking time for cut cookies is reduced to 8-12 minutes. I suggest you run a test run with 1-2 cookies to establish optimum cooking time.
- Cover your baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. They help the cookies bake evenly, brown better, and lift off the cookie sheet without breaking.
- For optimum results, bake one sheet of cookies at a time. Use multiple cookie sheets or let the single cookie sheet cool before dropping more dough on it, as a warm cookie sheet can cause cookies to spread too fast.
- Store the cookies on the counter in an airtight container for up to 5 days or freeze them in a freezer-safe container for up to 2 months.
Nutrition
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This post was originally published October 21, 2018 and was republished October 18, 2019 with new content.
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Sara Welch
Whipped up a batch of these this weekend and was dreaming of Christmas! Exactly what I needed to cure my sweet tooth; delicious!
Emily Flint
I firmly believe the only way to make a gingerbread cookie is soft, LOL! This recipe is so delicious, I will be making it all holiday season!
Dannii
Anything with ginger is good with me. These cookies would be perfect for Christmas time.
Marni
I LOVED these cookies!!! They were so so nice, and fluffy, my whole family enjoyed them. I’ll definitely be making these again. My only mild issue was that they tasted rather strongly of coffee. Maybe I used too strong coffee in them? I’m not really sure but they were still amazing!
Beth Pierce
Thanks Marni. Maybe you would enjoy them better without the coffee. I am a huge coffee drinker!
Macie
I love the flavor and texture of these cookies, so perfectly soft and chewy!
Beth Pierce
Thanks Macie! So glad that you liked them!
Sara Welch
Whipped up a batch of these this afternoon and they turned out perfect! Exactly what I needed to cure my sweet tooth! Delicious!
Betsy
One of my favorite cookies! I love these cookies with all the wonderful aromatic spices! The coffee is a really nice touch; really adds a new, unique dimension. Love the way these cookies pair with a cool glass of milk or a warm glass of egg nog!
Chris Stitt
Do you have to use coffee?
Beth Pierce
No you do not have to.
Aimee
These are amazing! They actually turned out just like in the picture. I had some Chinese 5 spice and added a half teaspoon of that too. Yum! Thanks!
Beth Pierce
So glad that you like them. That is a great idea with the Chinese 5 spice!
Tayler
Do I need to cool the dough before baking? I tried to roll the dough into balls and the batter is too sticky and soft to roll right after mixing. Followed the directions exactly
Beth Pierce
If the dough is too loose than chill it.
charlene mccullen
Has anyone tried making these as a pan cookie yet. I had my first gingerbread cookie yesterday and it was in the pan form and lightly iced. Super delicious. Now it’s got me on the challenge of finding the right recipe to make them.
Jasmine
Hi, this recipe looks super good. I can’t wait to make these, soft gingerbread is the best gingerbread. What type of molasses do you use
Beth Pierce
Thanks so much! I use Grandma’s original.
Indi
Beautiful… made these scrumptious cookies with the kids and they had so much fun measuring and adding all the different ingredients. We didn’t have molasses at the time but that didn’t dull the taste. I refrigerated the mix half hour before and it was ok to work with but day after mix was much better and cookies turned out much better too – I baked second batch for about 12 minutes and added extra ginger which worked and I loveddd the undercooked bread texture. Sprinkled some caster sugar on top before baking which gave a little extra sweetness… if I’m honest kids enjoyed making more than eating but I didn’t mind ( all the more for me!). Thank you for this recipe – will be my go to for gingerbread 🙂
Beth Pierce
Thanks Indi! So glad that you liked them. Kids just love to cook and it is so much fun to do it with them.
Indi
Yes certainly, I just need to get over the urge to control for precision and need to just let there be mess, spills and flour clouds! More baking is the way I’m sure 🙂 Thanks once again.
Lynn
Fluffy in the middle and crisp edges as promised! Awesome recipe! Thanks! Also great with the tops dipped in a powdered sugar + milk icing. 🙂
Beth Pierce
Thanks Lynn! So glad that you liked them! I will try to tip!
Dana Chiu
Successfully made these with Arrowhead Mills GF flour (mix includes xanthan gum) and 6 oz. room temp Earth Balance vegan baking sticks for my friend’s daughter who is GF/DF. Used 2 T. of the Lebkuchengewurz spice mixture I referenced in my previous comment/review. Used 1/2 C. brown sugar, and increased molasses to 6 T. Did not roll in sugar as I iced with sifted powdered sugar, drop of lemon oil and enough soy milk to be spreadable. (After making with orange oil, I prefer that over the lemon.) Used decaf espresso (which I also did every time I’ve made these). I forgot to add to my previous post that I used zest of one orange for this GF/DF version as well as for the one made with regular flour.
Dana Chiu
Excellent! I made it as written the first time. I think my butter was way too soft as they spread and were thinner than your photo. BUT they were delicious and chewy! The second time I made I tried to replicate a local bakery’s version of a bar cookie. I used a Lebkuchengewurz spice mix (from The Daring Gourmet) and used 2 T. of this mixture in the cookie recipe, used Kerry Gold salted butter, only 3/4 C. brown sugar, increased molasses to 6 T. and added 2 T. ginger syrup (The Ginger People’s) and did not roll in the additional sugar since I iced with a sifted powdered sugar, couple drops orange essential oil and enough coconut milk to get a pourable/spreadable consistency. I baked this in parchment lined 15×10 jellyroll pan for 14-16 minutes. An offset spatula helped to spread the dough out evenly. I iced while a little warm, then chilled overnight, cut into squares and will store in fridge with unbleached coffee filters between layers so they don’t stick together. The are lovely, chewy and spicy! Thanks for the awesome recipe and Merry Christmas!