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These Crispy Gingersnaps Cookies are the perfect classic, crispy gingersnap cookie.
Typically I enjoy more of a chewy cookie, but every once in a while I want that satisfying crunch and crispness of something sweet.
I tweaked my Chewy Gingersnap recipe (which are included in my cookbook – available on Amazon!) to make them thin and crunchy.
These ginger cookies would also make a great base for ice cream sandwiches!
In fact, my best friend Ashley from Baker by Nature sent me ice cream from Salt & Straw, our favorite ice cream shoppe, as an early Christmas gift.
One of the flavors she sent was for Gingerbread Cookie Dough. I’m thinking I have to make ice cream sandwiches with these ginger snaps and that ice cream!!
Of course, they’re also marvelous on their own with a glass of milk or a cup of coffee or tea.
How to Make Thin & Crispy Gingersnaps
What are Gingersnaps?
A year-round favorite all over the world, Gingersnaps are particularly popular to welcome in the fall and winter holiday seasons! Gingersnaps are perfectly spiced with the most beautiful cracked, sugary tops. While these are mostly enjoyed during the colder months, I actually love them in the fall in Arizona, when the temps are slowly beginning to drop. They’re delicious with a glass of cold milk or even lemonade… and even better used in place of graham crackers for over-the-top s’mores!
Gingersnaps are just what they sound like: a cookie flavored with ginger – plus other spices that we’ll talk more about below. Gingersnaps are typically crunchy or have a brittle texture, thus the “snap”. The spiciness of the ginger and richness of the molasses pairs perfectly with coffee, tea, hot cocoa, or mulled wine.
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 more about that 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.
Measure Your Flour Correctly to Ensure Gingersnaps are CRISPY!
- To avoid ending up with Gingersnaps that are thick and chewy instead of perfectly crispy, make sure to measure your flour accurately with a digital scale.
- It’s all too easy to accidentally add too much flour if you’re using cups.
- Check out my article on How to Measure Flour for step-by-step instructions.
- 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.
- 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.
- In addition to the spices, the molasses used is also important.
- 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.
How to Store Homemade Gingersnaps
Store the gingersnaps in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 7 days.
How to Freeze Gingersnap Cookies
- Scoop out the balls of cookie dough.
- Place on a baking sheet and freeze until solid.
- Remove to an airtight container and store in the freezer for up to 2 weeks.
- Bake from frozen, reducing the temperature to 325°F and adding a couple minutes onto the baking time.
- You can also store baked Crispy Gingersnap Cookies in the freezer, in an airtight container or freezer bag, for up to 1 month.
More Christmas Cookie Recipes:
-
1 1/2
sticks (170 grams) unsalted butter,
at cool room temperature
-
1 1/4
cups
(250 grams) granulated sugar,
divided
-
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 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
-
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.
Be sure to use spices that haven’t been sitting open in your spice cabinet for years! The fresher the spice, the more flavorful it’ll be.
Photos by Ashley McLaughlin.
Hi, made these last year for Christmas cookie boxes to ship across the country and they shipped wonderfully and everyone loved them! Wondering if you have any recommendations for making ahead and freezing (freezing baked vs unbaked dough etc) so I can make plenty
Hi Becky! So glad these cookies were such a hit for you! Either way works well for freezing these cookies. Check out Tessa’s tips for this at the bottom of the pink tip box (above the recipe) 🙂
Of all the recipes I’ve tried, this one is my favorite because I like them crispy.
I made your cookies today and they are amazing!! Thank you so much for the recipe!!
I made these yesterday and they turned out perfectly! Thank you so much for sharing the recipe.
I’ve been a home baker for more than 3 decades. These days, I’m helping a “kitchen challenged” friend learn some basic baking. She asked for us to make gingersnaps. I don’t make them often because the recipe I’ve had (think red checked, usually decent cookbook) just never did it for me and I couldn’t be bothered to find another or create my own.
I searched and came upon this article and recipe. First, it’s fantastic to have so much food chemistry and taste information included for newer bakers. Second, I like the idea of using granulated versus all brown sugar because of the moisture in brown sugar. Third, it’s an easy recipe for a newbie baker. Fourth, listing ingredients by both volume and weight is always helpful and gave me a chance to explain to her why weight for flour and sugars is almost always better.
And now on to the actual gingersnap. She had an easy time with my guidance, which allowed her to really do the work and “be a baker” herself. They came out beautifully, crackled and crispy, with a perfect ginger-molasses flavor. My friend was so happy and proud.
Small alterations: We added an extra 1/3 tsp or so of ginger and used a nut-milk based butter instead of dairy butter (mostly because that’s what I had leftover from baking with a vegetarian friend).
We are so happy to hear that you enjoyed all of Tessa’s tips and baking science information in the post, Caroline! And yay for your beginner-baker friend nailing these cookies with your guidance!! We hope you’ll try more of Tessa’s terrific recipes 🙂 Happy baking!
Made these today. I made the ginger 2 teaspoons and added 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper. Wish I could post picture, they cracked n r perfect. Thank you
Aloha! I made these today and they turned out delicious and crispy except the first batch. They turned out a bit chewy but still delicious! The rest all turned out crispy even though I ended up only baking them for 13 minutes. My oven is new so it bakes a bit hot. I did use 2 tsps. Of ground ginger as well as some fresh grated along with some cardamom. They came out crackly and perfect. Absolutely a keeper. Mahalo for the recipe
hi. just wondering why not black strap molasses for your ginger snap cookies?
thank you
Hi Tina! The extremely bitter flavor of blackstrap molasses will overpower the flavor of the spices, and you won’t taste much else, so that’s why we don’t recommend it. As Tessa mentioned in the pink tip box, above the recipe, “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.” I hope you enjoy these cookies 🙂
I made these for the first time today. I gave 4 stars because I needed to add 5 minutes to the cooking time and these are very mild in taste. Therefore I will add cayenne next time. I like mine to be a little spicy.
Hi Sooner! Glad to hear that you enjoyed these cookies! A couple quick tips:
– Your spices might be a little old. I recommend checking the age of your spices (expiration dates should be printed on the packaging). Spices lose their potency as they age, so purchasing newer spices (we recommend McCormick or another high-quality brand) for the best, most powerful flavor.
– As you needed to add 5 minutes to the bake time, I wonder if your oven might be running a little cool. Do you have an oven thermometer to check that? Check out Tessa’s article here about ovens, full of tips!! If you don’t have an oven thermometer to ensure your oven is at the temperature it says it is, invest in one now! They are inexpensive and really help your baking so much! This oven thermometer is one of Tessa’s favorites.
I hope this helps! Happy baking 🙂
hi! just made these..no cracking snd bs was fresh! weighed everything. made 35. taste is incredible!! i like the idea of cayenne!!!
Would you kindly provide the amount of butter in cup[s}? Thanks.
Hi Shirley! This recipe calls for 1 1/2 sticks or 170 grams of butter. 1 stick = 1/2 a cup, therefore 1 1/2 sticks is equal to 3/4 cup. I hope that helps! Let us know what you think of this recipe once you’ve given it a try 🙂
Made it last Xmas, everyone loved it. For my husband and a few others, it was a bit sweet (mostly we don’t eat white sugar and I use only brown sugar in my baking). I found it sweet too, and I don’t eat sugar but that didn’t stop me from eating every last one of these cookies. I made double the quantity to gift to colleagues. It’s been 6 months but people still talk about those gingersnaps. I diced up homemade candied ginger nice and tiny and added it like orange zest. Added extra bite and spice to the cookies. Come to think of it, some of the sweetness must have come from that.
I wanted to make these again and been hunting for recipes with molasses and found a lot of other recipes but they didn’t look right. Found this again after a lot of hunting and so bookmarking, reviewing, sharing on socials etc. coz this is one recipe I never want to lose again.
They came out perfect, even though I didn’t have cloves. Great recipe. Thank you!!
Perfect gingersnap cookie. I got 28 cookies with 1 1/2 cookie scoop. Will be making again.
A little hashish and canna butter goes great in these ginger snaps!
I love these cookies! I’ve made them four or five times. Today I decided to play around a bit and added ⅛ tsp cayenne pepper, 1 tsp black pepper, and one cup of toffee bits. They turned out great, and are positively addictive, but I didn’t get the cracks in the top. Wondering why.
Hi Laura! So glad you enjoyed these cookies – your additions sound so good! As Tessa explains in the pink tip box above the recipe, the crackly appearance comes from your baking soda. Baking soda and baking powder can lose their effectiveness long before the expiration date printed on the packaging. Tessa has a whole article dedicated to the differences between baking powder vs. baking soda, and how to test both for freshness – check out that article here! The other possible reasons for lack of cracks could be too much flour (easily done when measuring by volume instead of weight – more on that here!) and butter that’s too warm (butter is ideally 65-67°F when creaming to make cookies – more on that here!). I hope something here helps, Laura! Thanks so much for your comment and Happy Baking!
I made this recipe, they burnt, they didn’t crack.
What position should have I had my oven rack? Maybe that caused the unfavourable result.
Hi Marion! I’m sorry to hear that your cookies didn’t turn out as they should. It’s difficult to know exactly what went wrong without having baked alongside you, but I do have a couple of thoughts as to what might have happened.
– Ovens – you mentioned oven rack position and it’s typically recommended for any cookies to bake on the middle rack (and the same goes here). This is best for the most even distribution of heat and therefore the most even baking. Beyond the rack position, though, is your oven’s temperature – do you have an oven thermometer to check that? Most ovens are lying to us about their real temperature, and many can run much colder or warmer. If your cookies burned, my suspicion is that your oven is running quite hot. Check out this article, where Tessa explains this in more detail.
– How do you measure your flour? By weight using a digital scale, or by volume using cups? Weighing vs. measuring by volume can have a huge impact on your baked goods. It’s so easy to accidentally add too much flour if measuring by volume, and too much flour can change the intended outcome greatly. Tessa talks about how best to measure ingredients in this article here!
– Another issue could be your leavening agents may not be fresh. If your baking powder or soda are not fresh, this can impact the cookie’s ability to rise and spread properly, prevent crinkles/cracks, and more. Tessa talks about how to test for leavener freshness in this article here!
– Another thing could be how long you creamed your butter and sugars together for, and how warm your butter was at this time. Both have a huge impact on a cookie’s outcome. Have a look at this article, where Tessa discusses both and the repercussions on the resulting baked goods!
– Lastly, what type of pan are you baking on? Different materials of pans conduct heat differently, so some darker-colored pans will cook the bottom significantly faster than other lighter-colored pans. Tessa discusses and shows the differences between a variety of baking pans in this article here!
I hope something here helped, and I hope you give these cookies another try sometime – they really are delicious! Happy baking 🙂
Very good. I love gingersnaps but never took the time to make them. These turned out better than I hoped. Your recipe said it yielded 28 cookies and I got 29 so that’s a first! Thanks for the recipe.
I made these today 5/22/2023 and they are the best ginger snaps cookies I have ever made. I also used a farm fresh organic ginger powder ,that made the flavor so good. I will keep this one as I am a long time home cook and love baking.
I made this, but I’m wondering, is the molasses needed?
Hi Sally! We hope you enjoyed these cookies! Yes, molasses is vital to the flavor and texture of these cookies. Check out the pink tip box (above the recipe) for more information and details about why and how the molasses is needed 🙂
I’ve been baking for just a short time. Full disclosure, I’m making edibles. This is the best ginger snap recipe I’ve found by far, although I’ve substituted canola oil for butter. Oh, and I increased the powdered ginger to 2 teaspoons.
Delicious, and they are so… snappy!
Delicious recipe!! I made these using extra ginger because I like it to have a little more burn but the crisp is exactly what I was looking for. I used a flat-bottomed glass to press them down so they would spread out more and it is perfection.
Absolutely fantastic. Super easy but just delicious!
Exactly what you want in a gingersnap. Easy to make and delicious. I had no trouble deciphering the instructions!
Teeny nitpick. The instructions say to mix the butterS and sugar. I think it should be butter and sugarS. I spent a while making sure I wasn’t missing some special kind of butter!
Hi Sadia! Thanks so much for pointing out that typo. I have fixed it now! Let us know if you ever give these cookies a try – we’d love to hear what you think 🙂 Thanks again!
I love these cookies. They are my guilty pleasure!
Hi Tessa,
I am a bit confused by the instructions. It says 250grams of Granulated sugar and 50 grams of Btown Sugar. However, the instructions then say 3/4 cups of sugar combined to he used in the sugar/butter mixture and that 1/2 cup should be put aside for rolling the dough in.
Can you please clarify EXACTLY how many grams of the granulated sugar is supposed to be used when mixing the butter and sugar?
Thanks in advance.
Laura
Hi Laura. As you noticed, this recipe uses a total of 1 1/4 cups (or 250 grams) granulated sugar.
3/4 cup (or 150 grams) goes into the dough.
The remaining 1/2 cup (or 100 grams) is for rolling the dough.
All the brown sugar gets mixed into the dough only.
I hope that helps 🙂 Happy baking!
A little stiff. Not the best recipe imo
Hi Jan! I’m sorry to hear that these cookies didn’t turn out as they should. It sounds like you accidentally added too much flour. How do you measure your ingredients? By volume (using cups), or by weight (using a digital kitchen scale)? When measuring by volume, it’s so easy to mis-measure ingredients (particularly flour) and throw off the entire chemistry of a recipe. Check out Tessa’s article here, where she talks about how to best measure ingredients to ensure accuracy every time. I hope that helps, Jan, and I hope you give these cookies another try sometime – they really are delicious! Happy baking!
FABULOUS !!!
These are DELISH and CRISPY just as promised!
Thank you – they’re a bit hit at my house!
Fantastic cookies. I added some chopped, candied ginger. They definitely snap:)
Great addition, yum!
Thank you so much for this recipe Tessa! My first try at baking cookies. Was looking for ginger snap recipe and I found the perfect one!! Came out as you described. And thank you for the comments about the flour. Just before adding I remeasured and, voila! I don’t know how but had close to 1/2 cup too much ready to go. Thank you!!!
The cookies came out puffy and thick as appose to thinner and crispy. Am I beating the eggs too long? Or over mixing? I was trying to make them crisp like the picture. They are more like cake. Kind of. They still get hard. Just thicke. And taste great. I rolled them in sugar with 1/2 of ground ginger for extra kick.
Hi Karen! I’m sorry to hear that these cookies didn’t turn out as they should! Without having baked alongside you, it’s difficult to pinpoint exactly what went wrong here, but here are a couple things that I’d recommend looking at first:
– How do you measure your ingredients? By volume (using cups), or by weight (using a digital kitchen scale)? When measuring by volume, it’s so easy to mis-measure ingredients (particularly flour) and throw off the entire chemistry of a recipe- and wind up with a cookie that’s thicker and cakier than it’s supposed to be! Check out Tessa’s article here, where she talks about how to best measure ingredients to ensure accuracy every time.
– How old are your leavening agents? If your baking soda/powder are not fresh, they won’t do their jobs and your baked goods can not rise properly, fall after baking, and much more. Tessa talks about the science behind leavening agents, and how to test for leavener freshness, in this article here!
I hope this helps, Karen, and I hope you’ll give these cookies another try sometime – they really are so good! Happy baking 🙂
I made these cookies a couple of days ago. Fantastic and my husband’s new favorite. Actually, he asked me to bake another batch because this one disappeared too quickly. I followed the recipe and didn’t add or take anything away.
Thank you!
These are sooooo good! Crispy and delicious! Reminds me of my grandmother’s house.
I am not one to change a recipe because I think I know better than the originator, but necessity requires it sometimes. Used salted butter, & Sorghum for molasses. Best cookie ever! Even my cookie snob grandson loves these (had to coerce to try them). I hate making cookies but honestly, these are worth the time and effort…little of both, actually ☺️