Easy Soft Gingerbread Cookies Recipe with Ginger Glaze for Holiday Baking
Soft, pillowy gingerbread cookies rolled in sugar and finished with a simple ginger glaze, with crisp edges and a tender, chewy middle. They’re ready in 45 minutes with no dough chilling required.
Total time is 45 minutes, the batch makes about 20 cookies, and there’s no stand mixer required (though it speeds things up) and no resting the dough before baking.
There’s something about soft gingerbread cookies that feels more like a hug than a cookie. These aren’t the crisp, snap-in-half kind you cut into shapes — these are the soft, slightly puffed kind that stay chewy for days, with a warm hit of ginger and molasses in every bite.
I make a batch of these every year once the weather turns cold. They’re the cookie I bring to a cookie exchange when I want something that doesn’t need decorating but still looks like I tried. Roll the dough in sugar, bake, drizzle with glaze, done.
They’re also forgiving. No chilling, no rolling pin, no cutters. Just scoop, roll, bake.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- No dough chilling — mix, scoop, and bake the same day
- Soft and chewy for days when stored right
- Warm molasses and ginger flavor in every bite
- The ginger glaze is optional, so it works plain or dressed up
- Ready in under an hour start to finish
- Freezer-friendly dough and baked cookies
Ingredients
For the cookies:
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar, plus extra for rolling
- 1 large egg
- 1/3 cup molasses (not blackstrap — see note below)
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tbsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1 pinch sea salt
For the ginger glaze (optional):
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tsp ground ginger
- 3 tbsp water
Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
- Molasses: regular (unsulphured) molasses keeps these cookies from tasting bitter or overly intense. Blackstrap molasses is more bitter and darker — if that’s all you have, it will still work, but the flavor will be stronger.
- Butter temperature: soft, not melted. Butter that’s too warm makes the dough loose and leads to flatter, thinner cookies once baked.
- Glaze: totally optional — plenty of people skip it and the cookies are still good rolled in sugar alone.
Step 1: Cream the Butter and Sugar
Beat the softened butter and granulated sugar together until light and fluffy, about a minute. Mix in the egg and molasses until fully combined and smooth.
Step 2: Mix in the Dry Ingredients
Add the flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. Mix until a thick dough forms. If the dough feels loose or sticky rather than thick, your butter was likely too warm — pop the bowl in the fridge for 5 to 10 minutes before scooping. Warm dough is the main reason these spread thinner than they should.
Step 3: Scoop and Roll in Sugar
Scoop out 2 tablespoons of dough and roll it into a ball. Roll each ball in granulated sugar and place it on a parchment-lined baking sheet, spacing them a couple inches apart.
Step 4: Bake
Bake at 350°F for 10 minutes, until the cookies are set at the edges but still look soft in the center. They won’t look fully done when you pull them — that’s normal. Overbaking past this point is what turns a soft cookie cakey or dry.
Step 5: Let Them Finish Cooking on the Tray
Let the cookies cool and settle on the baking sheet for 15 to 20 minutes before moving them. This step matters more than it seems — the cookies keep cooking from residual heat as they sit, which is what gives them their soft, set texture. Moving them too soon can leave the centers underdone.
Step 6: Make the Glaze and Dip
Whisk the powdered sugar, ginger, and water together until smooth. If it feels too thick to dip easily, add water a few drops at a time until it loosens. Dip the top of each cooled cookie into the glaze, then set it back on the tray or a wire rack until the glaze sets, about 15 minutes.
Tips for the Best Results
- If your dough feels crumbly or dry rather than thick and scoopable, you likely packed the flour cup too full — spoon flour into the measuring cup and level it off instead of scooping directly from the bag.
- Rotate the baking sheet halfway through if your oven bakes unevenly, since lopsided browning usually comes from an oven hot spot, not the recipe.
- Store cooled, glazed cookies in a single layer until the glaze is fully set, or they’ll stick together.
Variations and Add-ins
- Skip the glaze: roll in sugar only for a simpler, less sweet cookie — several bakers say they prefer them this way.
- Add orange zest: a teaspoon of orange zest in the dough brightens the molasses and pairs well with the ginger.
Soft Gingerbread Cookies
Ingredients
Method
- Beat the softened butter and granulated sugar together until light and fluffy, about a minute. Mix in the egg and molasses until fully combined and smooth.
- Add the flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. Mix until a thick dough forms. If the dough feels loose or sticky rather than thick, chill it for 5 to 10 minutes before scooping.
- Scoop out 2 tablespoons of dough and roll it into a ball. Roll each ball in granulated sugar and place it on a parchment-lined baking sheet, spacing them a couple inches apart.
- Bake at 350°F for 10 minutes, until the cookies are set at the edges but still look soft in the center.
- Let the cookies cool and settle on the baking sheet for 15 to 20 minutes before moving them. They keep cooking from residual heat as they sit.
- Whisk the powdered sugar, ginger, and water together until smooth. Dip the top of each cooled cookie into the glaze, then set it back on the tray or a wire rack until the glaze sets, about 15 minutes.
Bake a Batch for Your Holiday Cookie Jar
These are the cookies I make when I want something that tastes like the holidays without turning my kitchen into a decorating station. They’re soft enough to pack in lunchboxes, sturdy enough to mail to family, and good enough to eat plain off the tray while they’re still warm.
If you give these a try, I’d love to know how they turned out — leave a star rating and a comment below so other bakers can see what worked for you.
For more holiday cookie recipes you will love:
