About These Chewy And Spicy Ginger Crinkle Cookies
These chewy and spicy ginger crinkle cookies are a cross between chewy molasses cookies and spicy gingerbread crinkle cookies! The cookies are super chewy, with intense flavors of molasses, cinnamon, ginger, and more. But if you’re worried they’re too spiced, don’t be! Each cookie dough ball is rolled in a generous amount of powdered sugar, tempering the spices to the perfect level of sweetness and giving each cookie a unique crinkled appearance.
Why You Should Make This Recipe
Here are all the reasons to make these super flavorful ginger crinkle cookies:
The recipe can fit easily into any schedule.
Because the cookie dough contains molasses, it can be a little too soft to scoop immediately after making the dough. I always recommend chilling the dough for at least 1 hour before scooping it into cookie dough balls. However, you can easily extend that hour for up to 3 days! Beyond that, the dough stores for up to 3 months in the freezer. That means you can fit this recipe easily into the schedule that works for you.
The cookies store well.
I’ve already talked about how the cookie dough stores well in the refrigerator and freezer. But the baked cookies keep extraordinarily well too! The molasses in the dough keeps the cookies chewy and fresh for days! Additionally, I find that I actually like the flavor of these cookies much better the day after baking. Their spice flavor strengthens overnight, leading to more delicious and flavorful cookies.
Ingredients and Substitutions
Now that I’ve convinced you to make these cookies, here’s everything you need to make them:
Shopping List For Ginger Crinkle Cookies Recipe
- all-purpose flour
- baking soda
- ground ginger
- ground cinnamon
- ground allspice
- ground cloves
- kosher salt
- unsalted butter
- granulated sugar
- large eggs
- unsulphured blackstrap molasses
- confectioners’ sugar
And let’s talk about some key ingredients and potential substitutions:
Common Ingredient Substitutions For The Recipe
Here are common substitutions for the ingredients in the recipe:
- All-Purpose Flour. Substitute the all-purpose flour with your favorite 1-1 Gluten Free All Purpose Flour (I like the ones by Bob’s Red Mill and King Arthur Baking Company) to make the recipe gluten-free!
- Kosher Salt. You can replace the kosher salt in the recipe with half its amount in table salt.
- Unsalted Butter. You can substitute the unsalted butter with salted butter without any noticeable difference in taste. You can also use vegan butter sticks to make it dairy-free; however, the recipe won’t be vegan since it still has eggs in the dough!
How To Make The Recipe
Here are the basic steps to make these ginger crinkle cookies from scratch:
- Prep the ingredients. (Prep Time: 5 minutes)
- Make the ginger crinkle cookie dough. (Work Time: 10 minutes)
- Refrigerate the dough for at least 1 hour before assembling the cookies. (Chill Time: 1 hour)
You can make the dough up to 3 days ahead of assembling and baking the cookies. - Assemble the cookies. (Work Time: 10 minutes)
- Bake the cookies. (Bake Time: 10 minutes per batch)
Best Recipe Tips
Tip About Baking Equipment
- I recommend using a 3-Tablespoon cookie dough scoop for this recipe; doing so will result in 19 cookies!
Best Techniques To Help You Successfully Make The Recipe
- Most baking recipes instruct you to sift confectioners’ sugar before using in the recipe. Confectioners’ sugar tends to clump when stored; sifting removes these lumps. However, you don’t need to sift the confectioners’ sugar for these ginger crinkle cookies. Why? I find that the lumps in the confectioners’ sugar help coat the cookies more thoroughly. The lumps also break up into interesting crinkles when baked!
- In the recipe, I instruct you to scoop the cookie dough with a cookie dough scoop. I then instruct you to drop the dough balls directly into the confectioners’ sugar and toss to coat. Don’t skip this step! If you drop the dough onto a sheet pan without coating them first, it’s likely that they’ll stick to the sheet pan.
- Coat the cookies generously with confectioners’ sugar. I mean it. Ideally, you don’t want any uncoated spots showing on the cookie dough balls. These show up as “bald spots” on the cookies, ruining their crinkle effect. Additionally, the cookies will absorb some of the confectioners’ sugar as they bake. So err on the side of caution and cover them with a THICK layer of confectioners’ sugar!
More Drop Cookie Recipes
- Chewy Lemon Sugar Cookies
- Chocolate Chip Cookies With Powdered Sugar
- My Best M&M Cookies
- My Best Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe
- Not Cakey Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Small Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies
More Holiday Baking Recipes
- Brown Butter Chai Crinkle Cookies
- Candy Cane Grasshopper Blossoms
- Pumpkin Neapolitan Cookies
- Ube Crinkle Cookies
Get the Recipe: Chewy and Spicy Ginger Crinkle Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
For The Ginger Crinkle Cookie Dough
- 2 ¼ cups (10.15 ounces or 288 grams) all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground allspice
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ cup (1 stick or 4 ounces or 113 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup (7 ounces or 198 grams) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup (6 ounces or 170 grams) unsulphured blackstrap molasses
Assembly
- ¾ cup (3 ounces or 85 grams) confectioners’ sugar, sifted if necessary
Equipment
- (3-Tablespoon) cookie dough scoop
Instructions
- First, whisk together the dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, and salt.
- Cream the butter and sugar. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter and sugar. Beat on medium-high until light, fluffy, and doubled in volume, 2 to 3 minutes, using a rubber spatula to scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl as necessary.
- Add the eggs, molasses, and dry ingredients. Reduce the mixer to low and add the eggs one at a time, adding the next egg only after the previous one has been fully incorporated. Slowly pour in molasses and beat until just combined. Scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl. With the mixer on low, gradually add the dry ingredients and beat until just combined. Scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl once more, and beat on low for an additional 30 seconds.
- Chill the cookie dough. Cover the bowl of cookie dough with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 1 hour, or up to 3 days.
- When ready to assemble and bake the cookie dough, prep your oven and pans. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 375°F. Line two half sheet pans with parchment paper.
- Coat the cookies. Place the confectioners' sugar for assembly in a medium, shallow bowl. Use a 3-Tablespoon cookie dough scoop to portion the cookie dough into balls, dropping them directly into the bowl with confectioners' sugar. Toss until the cookie dough balls are completely and generously coated. Place the cookie dough balls at least 3 inches apart on the prepared sheet pans.
- Bake the cookies. Bake one pan at a time for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the edges have set but the centers are still soft. Cool the cookies on the pan on a wire rack for 20 minutes, or until the edges and bottoms of the cookies have set and feel firm to the touch.Repeat with the remaining cookie dough.
- Serve and store. Serve warm, or at room temperature. The cookies can be stored in an airtight container or zip-top bag at room temperature for up to 3 days.
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Weeknight Baking:
Recipes to Fit your Schedule
Over the past several years of running Hummingbird High, I kept a crucial aspect of my life hidden from my readers: I had a full-time, extremely demanding job in the tech world. In my debut cookbook, Weeknight Baking, I finally reveal the secrets to baking delicious desserts on a tight schedule.
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Can’t wait to make these for Christmas events!
very nice cookie combination! I love the texture too and their fittingly festive for the holidays, thank you!
Great flavor but I struggled with them being too wet and spreading, I think I didn’t refrigerate them long enough (only did a half hour).
Also I am never successful getting the butter and sugar to whip, it just gets smeary – any advice? I’ve played around with butter temperature and nothing seems to work!
Love your recipes, thank you for sharing.