These chewy soft ginger cookies are going to become a new favourite. Just try to not go back for one after another. If the lead up to Christmas has you dreaming of that sweet aroma of holiday spices – like cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger. I’m going to jump straight in and say these cookies are mind-blowingly good.
They definitely earned a spot on my list of the 25 best Christmas cookie recipes. You’ll love these Biscoff butter cookies too. For you true ginger lovers, try these ginger shortbread and this ginger loaf cake.
❤️ Why you’ll love them
- The perfect combination of spices
- Rich and deep flavour from treacle, brown sugar and ginger
- Their texture is soft and chewy in the middle, but the edges are crisp
- Rolled in sugar, they have a gorgeous crunchy coating
- No need to chill the dough
- No fancy equipment required
This recipe was first published here on November 16th, 2021.
Never Miss a Recipe!
Get the latest recipes straight to your inbox.
Ingredients & substitutions
For such a flavour-packed cookie, there really aren’t too many ingredients in these soft ginger cookies.
Detailed quantities and instructions in the recipe card below.
- Treacle: I use treacle but feel free to use molasses instead. It gives this cookies such a depth of flavour. If you use molasses, make sure it’s regular molasses and not blackstrap molasses.
- Crystallised ginger: This is real pieces of ginger that have been candied in sugar.
- Brown sugar: Brown sugar helps to give these cookies their chewiness.
- Butter: Use unsalted butter, so you can control the salt level.
- Baking soda: The baking soda gives these cookies a fluffy, soft centre.
- Salt: Always add a touch of salt, even to sweet treats, as it will enhance the flavours.
- Ground ginger: This gives a good punch of ginger flavour. If your ginger has been sitting around for a while, it’s a good idea to buy a fresh jar – the flavour will be better.
- Cloves: I add a touch of ground cloves too to give them that real spiced cookie flavour.
- Demerara sugar: Demerara sugar (very similar to turbinado sugar) has large crystals so it gives a lovely crunch to these cookies. You can use white granulated sugar too but the crystals are smaller.
How to make ginger cookies
These easy cookies are all mixed in one bowl and there’s no need to chill the dough before baking, which means you can have these chewy and soft ginger cookies ready to devour in half an hour.
Detailed instructions in the recipe card below.
1. Cream the butter treacle and sugar
Cream together the butter, treacle and sugar untily lightened and fluffy, then beat in the egg.
2. Add dry ingredients
Beat in the dry ingredients on low then mix in the crystallised ginger.
3. Coat in sugar
Roll balls of dough in demerara sugar until covered all over.
Tips and tricks
- Don’t overbake them. The key to keeping these ginger cookies perfectly soft and chewy is to cook them until just cooked or ‘set’ and not cooking until firm or crunchy.
- Use a small cookie scoop. You’ll want to use a small cookie scoop (roughly 1 tablespoon in volume) or you can use a tablespoon measure to get level spoons of dough.
How to store ginger cookies
Make sure to store these cookies in an airtight container to retain their lovely soft texture. They will keep well at room temperature for at least a week.
These ginger cookies can be frozen too so you can make them ahead of time for gifting during the holidays.
The cookie dough can also be frozen so you can have cookies whenever you feel the need. Roll balls of dough and freeze them on a baking tray until solid. Transfer them to an airtight container and it will keep well in the freezer for up to 2 months.
More ginger recipes you’ll love
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Did you try this soft chewy ginger cookie recipe?
Show it some love in the comments below.
Hungry for more?
- Subscribe via Email, Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram.
- Add Sugar Salt Magic as a Google Preferred Source.
Ingredients
- 260 g plain flour (all-purp flour) (2 cups / 9.2oz)
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt / kosher salt
- 113 g unsalted butter , room temperature (½ cup / 1 stick / 4oz)
- 150 g light brown sugar (¾ cup / 5.3oz)
- ¼ cup treacle (85g / 3oz)
- 1 large egg
- 55 g crystallised ginger , chopped finely (⅓ cup / 2oz)
- ⅓ cup demerara sugar (turbinado sugar)
For best results, always weigh ingredients where a weight is provided
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180C / 350F /160C fan forced. Line 2 large baking sheets with baking paper.
- Sift together the flour, ground ginger, baking soda, ground cloves and salt and whisk to distribute evenly. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl, using an electric hand mixer, beat together the butter, sugar and treacle until lightened and fluffy (1-2 minutes).
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the egg and beat until fully combined.
- Add the flour mixture and beat through until 90% combined. Now add the crystallised chopped crystallised ginger and give it all a mix until everything is well incorporated.
- Use a small cookie scoop or eye-ball approximately 3 teaspoons of dough and roll into 1-inch balls. Roll in the demerara sugar and place on baking trays 1-2 inches apart.
- Bake for 8-9 minutes – be careful not to overbake. Let them cool on the trays for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire
- Please take a moment to leave a comment & rating. It's appreciated and so helpful.
Notes
- Both the dough and the baked cookies can be frozen for up to 2 months.
- Store baked cookies in an airtight container to keep their soft texture.
This post may contain affiliate links that earn me a small commission for my referral, at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting Sugar Salt Magic.
21 Comments on “Soft Chewy Ginger Cookies”
Marie,
Can I use golden syrup (in place of treacle)?
Thanks, Chris.
Absolutely, Chris. It will work fine but will be a slightly different flavour but still great.
I love this recipe so easy to make I’ve made these twice, the Grandkids keep eating them then they say can you make some more.
I’m so so happy to hear this, Wendy. Thanks so much for dropping back to leave a review.
the dough is delicious! I have just put them in the oven – but only made 15 cookies???
So happy you love them Debbie. I would say this just comes down to different cookie scoop sizes. I roll these quite small (a US tablespoon size).
OMG. I’m gonna eat the whole batch. These are soooo tasty
So happy you love them Cindy. What would you give them out of 5 stars?
Can I use molasses instead of treacle or would light or dark corn syrup be a better substitute?
Hi Jodie, yes you can use molasses. Regular molasses, not blackstrap. Happy baking 🙂
What kind of holiday season can be without some (And I totally mean a lot) of gingerbread cookies, right? These look and sound terrific!
Thanks so much Ben
These cookies are so easy to make. They taste even better that any you can buy in the shop. I love the soft chewy texture they have. As the mixture makes so many at your suggestion I put some in the freezer. They taste just as lovely as the day I made them. My Husband who can be a bit fussy really loves them. Thank you very much for posting.
I’m so happy you love these Heather. One of my favourites too.
Oh my goodness Marie, I took your advice and gave these ago. They honestly have to be the best ginger cookies I have ever had. They are so good that I have had requests already for more.
They have just the right amount of ginger and the chewy centre with the bite of the ginger pieces delicious.
Thank you for your lovely recipes.
You’ve made my day, Joanne. So happy you love them. Thanks so much for your support.
Yes, I think we’re both big fans of those ones.
FINALLY! I don’t know who issued the memo that ginger cookies must be crunchy, but I disagree with it. I have been waiting for a recipe like this! <3
Haha! Yes, we’ve been doing it wrong all this time! I’d love to hear what you think if you try them 🙂
I am definitely a fan of ginger-flavoured things! These look like perfect little bites. Your work colleagues are lucky to get such delicious desserts from you! 🙂
Thanks Marie. Every so often, I find a bottle of wine on my desk so it’s win-win I’d say 🙂