These chewy ginger cookies are perfectly spiced with chunks of candied ginger for an extra chewy texture and ginger flavour. They're the perfect Fall and holiday cookies that are easy to make and delicious!
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Notes from the baker
To be honest, I'm not fan of ginger in cooking, smoothies, or on its own but I do love ginger-flavoured baked goods and I can't resist a chewy cookie (with a crisp exterior!).
I never thought I'd be using the bag of candied ginger that's been in my pantry untouched for a year but it truly adds so much flavour and texture to these cookies. I strongly recommend it to level up your typical ginger cookies.
These cookies give me all the warm and cozy vibes of Fall and the holidays. They come out perfectly cracked every time with a satisfyingly chewy texture. It's a must-make around the holidays!
Why you'll love this recipe
- Chewy cookie texture. These cookies have a soft and chewy texture and they just get chewier the next day after baking!
- Warm and spiced flavour. If you love ginger or gingerbread, you'll love these cookies.
- Chunks of chewy candied ginger. An unexpected addition that takes these cookies from good to great!
- Easy to make. You can enjoy these cookies in about an hour and they turn out perfectly every time.
Tools
- Electric hand mixer - A hand mixer is essential when making any recipe with softened butter. Creaming the butter and sugars together with a hand mixer is much easier than doing it by hand and it ensures the mixture is aerated for fluffy cookies.
- 4-tablespoon cookie scooper - Bigger cookies are better! When you use a bigger scoop, there's more dough in each cookie to spread nicely when baked. You'll end up with nice and big bakery-style cookies. I almost always use a 4-tablespoon scooper and I wouldn't use anything smaller than a 3-tablespoon scoop unless I was making mini cookies.
- Baking sheet - You can use any baking sheet or baking tray to bake the cookies on.
Ingredient notes
As always, the full recipe card with ingredient amounts and instructions is at the bottom of this post! Keep reading for more details on each ingredient or skip ahead to the recipe.
- All-purpose flour
- Baking soda
- Ground ginger
- Ground cinnamon
- Salt
- Unsalted butter - This should be softened to room temperature to make it easier to mix.
- Granulated sugar
- Brown sugar - A mixture of granulated sugar and brown sugar helps make these cookies chewier and gives them great flavour.
- Fancy or cooking molasses - Molasses is a concentrated syrup that is created as a by-product of sugar. It's an essential ingredient in ginger and gingerbread cookies for its distinct flavour. You can use cooking molasses for a stronger taste or fancy molasses for a lighter, sweeter taste. I used cooking molasses in mine.
- Egg - This should also be at room temperature to prevent the butter mixture from curdling.
- Vanilla extract
- Candied ginger - I highly recommend adding candied ginger to your ginger cookies to make them even better. You can find it in most grocery stores, likely with other dried fruits. Finely chop it into small chunks for better distribution across the cookies.
Tips for making the best chewy ginger cookies
- Use room temperature ingredients. The butter and egg should be at room temperature. This prevents the butter-egg mixture from curdling and helps them mix together seamlessly.
- Chill the cookie dough. The cookie dough will be quite sticky right after mixing it together. Scoop the dough out into balls and chill them just until they're firm to the touch so that they don't stick to your hands when you're rolling them.
- Roll the cookies in sugar. The sugar coating on these cookies helps dry out the exterior of the cookies so that you get these beautiful cracks in them. It also helps the outside of the cookie set faster before the insides are cooked through. This is how we achieve cookies that are crisp on the outside but soft on the inside.
- Let the cookies cool before enjoying them. These cookies taste great when they're warm and freshly baked but they will continue to get chewier as they cool. They're even better the next day. I recommend trying them both ways.
Storage
These chewy ginger cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Leftover cookies can be frozen in an airtight container or a freezer bag for up to 1 month. Thaw at room temperature before eating.
Frequently asked questions
Yes! You can make the cookie dough balls and keep them in an airtight container or covered with plastic wrap in the fridge for 1-2 days or in the freezer for up to 1 month. When you're ready to bake them, let them sit out at room temperature for about 15 minutes while your oven preheats, roll them in sugar, and bake as directed. To bake frozen cookie dough balls, either let them thaw in the fridge overnight or bake them directly from frozen at 325°F for a few minutes longer than usual.
Baking by weight is much more accurate than volume. When using US standard cups, ingredients like flour and sugar can easily be overpacked into the cup causing you to add too much of certain ingredients. Recipes with weight measurements are also easier to scale to smaller or bigger batches without dealing with weird fractions. To measure by weight, you simply need a kitchen scale which you can usually pick up for less than $20.
Small measurements are given in tablespoons and teaspoons because most kitchen scales are not accurate under about 10g. Tiny amounts like a ¼ teaspoon may not register accurately unless you have a drug scale. Mixing these measurements is a common practice among other recipe sites and commercial kitchens.
More cookie recipes to try
- Gingerbread Latte Cookies
- Earl Grey Sugar Cookies
- Easy Gingerbread Cookies
- Gingerbread Sandwich Cookies with Ginger Cream Filling
Recipe
Chewy Ginger Cookies
Equipment
Ingredients
- 185 g all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 60 g unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 100 g granulated sugar
- 50 g brown sugar
- 50 g fancy or cooking molasses
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 70 g candied ginger, finely chopped
- 50 g granulated sugar, for rolling
Instructions
- Prep: Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Line a second baking sheet or cutting board with parchment paper. The first baking sheet will be used to bake the cookies and the second sheet will be used to chill the cookie dough so it can be a plate, cutting board, or any kind of flat surface. Set both aside.
- Flour mixture: In a medium bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, ground ginger, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.
- Cream butter and sugar: In a large mixing bowl, add the softened butter. Use an electric hand mixer to beat the butter until it becomes very creamy. Add the granulated sugar and brown sugar and beat together until creamy and fluffy. Mix in the molasses until well combined.
- Mix in egg: Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix on low speed until combined.
- Combine wet and dry mixtures: Add the flour mixture and mix on low speed until just barely combined with lots of flour patches remaining. Add the candied ginger and finish mixing with the hand mixer or switch to a spatula to avoid overmixing.
- Scoop and chill cookie dough: Use a 4-tablespoon cookie scooper to scoop the cookie dough onto your lined cutting board. No need to space them apart. Let the entire board chill in the fridge for about 15 minutes until the dough is firm to the touch. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350°F while you wait.
- Roll in sugar: Once chilled, roll each cookie dough ball in between your hands until it forms a round shape. Roll the dough ball in granulated sugar until coated. Place the cookie dough balls on your lined baking sheet, leaving about 2" in between each ball to account for spreading.
- Bake: Bake cookies for 12-14 minutes or until the exterior of the cookies is dry and set but the dough in between the cracks still looks slightly wet and underdone. The insides of the cookies will set as they cool and become the chewy centers that we're aiming for.
- Cool: Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Anonymous says
Hi! Can this dough be made and frozen in advance? Thank you!
Anonymous says
good recipe!
Mary says
If I used a small cookie scoop how long would I bake? I want more cookies than just 9…. I figured I could use a smaller scoop
Jayne says
Excellent flavor and texture. I followed the receipe to the letter. Weighed my ingredients and chilled the dough. The only thing is that my cookies spread and were very thin. Not sure what went wrong.
Sun Ra says
I've been craving for ginger molasses cookies and this recipe caught my eye because of two spices that have been omitted- cloves and nutmeg, which I'm not a huge fan of! These cookies tasted way better than my local coffee shop cookies that sell $4 each! Cheers to sharing this awesome recipe! Thank you!
Ella says
These cookies are hands down the best ginger cookies I’ve ever had/made! The chewy texture from the dough and also the pieces of candied ginger is to die for.
jen says
a bit too much molasses in flavor for me personally, and underbaking the cookie resulted in it being a bit too gooey
Tracy says
This recipe was fantastic!! Super easy to make and turned out so so well. I decreased the granulated sugar by 20 grams but they were still a bit too sweet for my taste (I’ve got an east Asian palate haha), but delicious nonetheless. I also added pecans (already roasted) to the mix which paired super well with the ginger. Thank you for the brilliant recipe, it’s going to be a new staple of mine (along with your matcha mochi cookies)!!
Aglaé says
Absolutely delicious! Perfect balance in taste and texture. Thank you!!!
Jade says
Best ginger cookies!! Love the chewy texture of the cookies.
Sarah says
These turned out great! I really really like the recipe. The only tricky thing is that it was difficult to convert the measurements for grams into cups. Not sure if I missed an option to convert the units here, but I used an online calculator and it was fine. Also, for my oven, 12-14 minutes was not enough time to cook them properly, so you might have to play around with the time. I love that I didn’t need a lot of equipment and I had most of the ingredients in my pantry already. Thank you!
oliwia says
hi i was wondering if the candied ginger is optional? its just hard to find in my area
Gail Ng says
It's optional, just recommended 🙂
Ari says
Why is this not viral? You’re a great baker and photographer, keep going! The cookies were DELICIOUS, i shared some with my family and they loved them!! ☺️ It was pretty easy too
Li says
Thank you!:)
May says
Hi, can these be rolled out for gingerbread people cookies? I'm looking for a soft & chewy recipe. Thanks.
Gail Ng says
No, I don't think this will work for cut-out cookies. This dough won't hold its shape and will spread when baked!