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This Soft Ginger Cookie recipe is a delicious holiday treat. A cookie that is just perfect for those who like a bit of that ginger spice but doesn’t want a crunchy ginger snap. These cookies are soft, warm, and best enjoyed during the Winter months. A great treat for Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Soft Ginger Cookie Recipe Summary
A big differentiating ingredient between my recipe and other people’s version of a ginger cookie is making my own candied ginger. While you can also use storebought candied ginger, we give an opportunity to take that root you find in the produce section at your store and make a real homemade treat.
This soft ginger cookie recipe has several classical ingredients for a ginger cookie, alongside our homemade candied ginger and grated fresh ginger. Making these cookies involves mixing all the ingredients(with a little bit of timing), adding them on a parchment-paper-lined cookie sheet, and baking. Soon enough, you will be making the holiday treat of your dreams.
Making Your Own Candied Ginger
We previously made our own candied ginger, and I would advise you to follow this Homemade Candied Ginger recipe for our ingredients. Of course, you can just buy the candied ginger, but if you are a from-scratch kind of person, give it a try! Also, making your own candied ginger is very economical and easy.
Dicing and Grating your Ginger
No matter if you use purchased candied ginger or make our recipe, dice it up real good. If you want to get chunks of diced candy, leave them a little bigger, but the intent is to give an even distribution of fine candied ginger.
We also add two teaspoons of freshly grated ginger. The grated ginger helps give an even distribution of ginger’s zing. If you have some ginger root, just remove a bit of the skin and use your grater to get just enough. It should add up to two teaspoons.
Sifting Dry Ingredients
If you have a sifter, you should use it. I have a nice fine strainer and just put all of the ingredients within it. Sifting serves a few different purposes, according to The Kitchn. First, it helps combine dry ingredients. In this case, we are combining a bunch of flour, as well as some other Christmassy sorts of flavors. Second, it helps remove any lumps or chunks of these dry ingredients. Finally, it aerates the dry ingredients and gives it a nice fluffy powder that is easier to mix.
Bread Flour vs All-Purpose Flour
Bread flour adds more gluten to cookies and makes it chewier. We are trying to make a nice, chewy cookie and it is perfect for this soft ginger cookie recipe. As a side note, I also like to use bread flour for my chocolate chip cookies.
What Does Baking Soda Do For This Soft Ginger Cookie Recipe?
In baking, baking soda is a leavening agent that helps the cookie rise during the cooking process.
Soft Ginger Cookie Process
- Sifting the ingredients to both combine the dry ingredients and aerate the flour.
- Mixing the wet ingredients before adding the sifted dry ingredients.
- Just at the beginning of mixing the dry ingredients.
- After mixing the dry ingredients and just before mixing in the candied/grated ginger.
- Pattied out one of the 16 cookies right before pressing into the sugar.
- On the parchment paper just prior to baking.
Soft Ginger Cookie Tips Summary
- If you don’t have a real sifter, you can use a fine strainer to accomplish the same job. If you have neither, just let it go.
- Use our Candied Ginger Recipe or purchase some.
- Make sure to dice the candied ginger well.
- When covering the pattied cookie in sugar, don’t be afraid to press down a bit to help the sugar stick. Also, don’t be afraid to add more sugar if need be.
- If you don’t have a stand mixer, mix for 10 minutes on the first mix using good spoon. Double all other mix times and just use your best judgment.
Products I Used in this Recipe
Did You Make This Soft Ginger Cookie Recipe?
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Soft Ginger Cookie Recipe With Real Ginger
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 13 Minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 16 cookies 1x
- Category: Holiday Cookie
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: European
Description
These Soft Ginger Cookies are delicious, chewy, and very munchable. Not only do you get plenty of holiday flavors, but you get some wonderful texture in this Soft Ginger Cookie Recipe.
Ingredients
- 2 ¼ cups bread flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup sugar + ½ cup sugar for rolling
- ½ cup unsulphured molasses
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- 1 egg
- 1 cup diced candied ginger (See Notes)
- 2 teaspoon grated ginger
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° Fahrenheit.
- Sift bread flour, baking soda, ground cinnamon, cloves, and salt into large bowl.
- In Standing Mixer Bowl with paddle attachment, add 1 cup sugar, molasses, and oil.
- Mix on medium for 5 minutes.
- Add egg and mix on low for 1 more minute
- Stop and scrape batter from sides and mix on low for another minute.
- Slowly add the sifted dry ingredients to the stand mixer with the wet ingredients and mix an additional 2 minutes once all is added.
- Add both diced ginger and grated ginger. Mix on low for another minute.
- Measure total weight of the resulting dough and divide into 16 equal parts.
- Patty each of the 16 into about a small palm width and place both sides in sugar to coat.
- Add each onto a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. 8 per cookie sheet, so this will take two sheets.
- Place each cookie sheet into middle racks of preheated oven for 13 minutes.
- Remove and place on wire rack after cooling for 5 minutes.
- Allow to cool and eat!
Notes
- Use this Homemade Candied Ginger Recipe for optimal cookie.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Cookie
- Calories: 229
- Sugar: 32 g
- Sodium: 134 mg
- Fat: 4 g
- Saturated Fat: 1 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 3 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 46 g
- Fiber: 0 g
- Protein: 3 g
- Cholesterol: 12 mg
Ooh, your ginger cookies look so good. I like a good snappy biscuit, but keen to try these ones now. I’m super impressed with you candying your own ginger and I had no idea there was such a thing as sulphured molasses. Eek, one more thing to check.
I am glad you are digging it. There is always something else to check, isn’t there?
These look so good! I love ginger cookies, but I’ve never made them. I’ll have to give it a try!
Give em a try! You won’t regret it.
Do these cookies freeze well?
I would imagine so, BUT I have not done this.
This happens to my little ones favorite cookie since the days he started eating cookies. Every year for Christmas he will make me start my baking with these cookies. I like that you have used candied ginger instead of ginger powder. I will try this next time I make some. Happy Holidays to you!
Awesome! Thanks for trying
Thanks for dropping off the cookies. These were my favorite ones!
Awesome. I really like these ones.. something neat about starting with actual ginger root and ending up with cookies.
I’ve never made ginger snap cookies before but this was exactly the right recipe. Everything I wanted in a ginger snap cookie is present. It took a little prep, but I had a lot of fresh ginger root hanging around so I decided to try it. I will never use a different recipe for ginger snap cookies!!!!! Yummyyyyyyyy! Thank you chef!
I am so happy you tried it and liked it! It really is fun, imo, to go from fresh ginger root to cookie.