Old fashioned Ginger Cookies
Old fashioned Ginger Cookies, are the perfect cookies to bake to go around the neighborhood during the holiday season. The spices in the cookies fill the whole house with a wonderful aroma.
The second recipe I chose to redo before the holiday season is one of our favorite Cookies - Old fashioned Ginger Cookies. This is a cookie recipe that I bake every year without fail and in fact, my little one looks forward to the holidays, especially to eating these cookies.
The recipe turns out perfect each and every time and the crinkles on the Old fashioned Ginger Cookies are enough to make you bake them over and over again.
Let us have a sweet ending to the year with these sweet and aromatic cookies. As these spicy cookies bake, the kitchen will be filled with a wonderful tempting aroma.
Children and adults like these old-fashioned ginger cookies equally and will end up fighting for the last cookie left (as happened at my house). Make sure you bake enough of these to go around the neighborhood and spread the warmth of the holidays.
Check out my other cookies recipes here to bake for the holidays -
I was very skeptical about making a spice-loaded cookie as I was not sure how my boys would like it. Turns out that this ginger cookie is one of the favorites in houses not only during the holidays but any time of the year.
As soon as I begin making plans for holiday baking, the first request that I get from boys is for these ginger cookies.
The best part about this cookie is that there is no shaping involved. Also, the recipe yields a large number of cookies and it is perfect to pass around the neighborhood.
Preparation time - 15 mins
Cooking time - about 12 mins for each batch
Difficulty level - medium
Ingredients to make Old fashioned Ginger Cookies - Makes around 60 cookies
- All-purpose flour - 2 ½ cups
- Baking soda - 1 tsp
- Ginger (ground) - 1 ½ tsp
- Cinnamon (ground) - ¼ tsp
- Cloves (ground) - ¼ tsp
- Butter - ½ cup (room temperature, diced)
- Caster (superfine) sugar - 1 ¾ cup
- Egg - 1
- Molasses - 4 tbsp
- Fresh lemon juice - 1 tsp
Procedure to make Old fashioned Ginger Cookies
- Preheat the oven to 325 F and grease 3 baking sheets.
- Sift the flour, baking soda, and spices into a small bowl and set aside.
- Place the butter and two-thirds of the sugar in the bowl of the mixer and cream together until light and fluffy. Lightly beat in the egg and stir it in.
- Stir in the treacle and the lemon juice. Now add the flour mixture and mix in thoroughly to make a soft dough.

- Shape the dough into 2 cm balls. Roll these balls in the remaining sugar to coat and place them on the prepared baking sheets, spaced around 2 inches apart to allow the dough to spread.


- Bake for about 12 minutes, or until the cookies are just firm to the touch. With a spatula transfer the cookies to a wire rack and cool them completely.
Notes and observations
- Always use fresh spices when making any cookies. Spices left in the spice rack for over a period of time lose their flavor and aroma.
- These cookies need to be baked in batches. It is best not to put more than 2 trays in the oven at a time.
More Ginger Recipes
If you made this recipe and liked it, give a star rating on the recipe card or let me know in the comments below. You could also share it with me on Instagram using #MyCookingJourney and tagging me @sandhya.ramakrishnan. You could follow me and my recipes on Facebook |Instagram | Pinterest | Twitter/X
Recipe

Old fashioned Ginger Cookies
Equipment
- Stand Mixer
Ingredients
- 21/2 cups All purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon Baking soda
- 11/2 teaspoon Ginger ground
- ¼ teaspoon Cinnamon ground
- ¼ teaspoon Cloves ground
- ½ cup Butter room temperature, diced
- 13/4 cup Caster super fine sugar super fine sugar
- 1 Egg
- 4 tablespoon Molasses
- 1 teaspoon Fresh lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 F and grease 3 baking sheets.
- Sift the flour, baking soda and spices into a small bowl and set aside.
- Place the butter and two-thirds of the sugar in the bowl of the mixer and cream together until light and fluffy. Lightly beat in the egg and stir it in.
- Stir in the treacle and the lemon juice. Now add the flour mixture and mix in thoroughly to make soft dough.
- Shape the dough into 2 cm balls. Roll these balls in the remaining sugar to coat and place them on the prepared baking sheets, spaced around 2 inches apart to allow the dough to spread.
- Bake for about 12 minutes, or until the cookies are just firm to touch. With a spatula transfer the cookies to a wire rack and cool completely.



















First time making ginger cookies. They were amazing, crunchy on outside and moist on the inside. A keeper.
Thank you so much Lena. This is one of our favorite cookies to bake for holidays. Glad you liked them.
Really lovely recipe and crispy biscuits which taste really authentic
Thank you! Glad you liked them.
You can never go wrong making ginger cookies, it is so easy to make and definitely delicious. It is also perfect for gifting!
Wow! This cookie looks so delicious, and natural, and has such a minimalist look making it very enticing and tempting! Kids will definitely love this as well as kids at heart! Loved it!
Loved the recipe, and the result.
Easy to follow, and ginger biscuits are delicious. First time I baked these. Thank you!
Thanks a lot for trying the recipe and so glad that you liked it.
Lovedddd these cookies
Thanks a lot! So happy that you liked them. This is my little ones favorite cookie as well.
Any replacement for egg ?
Flax egg
1T flax meal mixed with 3T water
I love a good ginger cookie! Didn’t realize how easy these were. Definitely trying this recipe!
Any substitute for egg ? Thanku 😊
Old fashioned ginger cookies sounds delicious, it is really hard to think about holidays without ginger cookies.
Ginger cookies are one of my favorite Holiday season cookies. I love how yours turned out. They look so delicious. I wish I have one or two right now with my tea.
I absolutely love ginger cookies and these look fabulous! I wish I could reach in and grab one!
The Christms season is on! Ginger cookies are so perfect for this season and I love how the house smells of ginger cookies!
The cookies look and sound delicious!! What a wonderful way to celebrate the holiday season with yummy spicy ginger cookies. Your recipe is a little different than mine. I'm going to try yours instead of mine this year.
I love ginger cookies and these are always the perfect way to set the Christmas mood. Love ginger cookies with warm spices in winter and these look perfect.
These cookies look like everything I want in a fall cookie! I am drooling here.
Yummy! there's a reason these cookies have been favorites for years ... it's because the classic flavor is so perfectly balanced between sweet / spicy, chewy / crunchy.
Ginger cookies are so yummy! I love that you got the crackling and the coating of sugar just perfect on your batch- yum!
You know that it is winter when there are more and more ginger recipes around. This is also the time when I hunt for good ginger recipes. Super excited about your old fashioned ginger cookies!
I think everyone has a ginger cookie in their collection. I know I sure do. In fact, I still make my mom's recipe (from her handwritten notes) during the holidays. These look so delicious.
These just scream holidays to me, too! I love the glittery sugar coating on the outside. Now I want some!
I am so amazed on how perfectly round they all are and uniform I never get my cookies to look this great!
I love these recipes - the ones that are made every year and family looks forward to them! So special. Your little one will have such wonderful memories from these cookies - they look delicious!!
I used to think that ginger cookies would be overpowering, but you're right, they are absolutely not! I haven't had them in ages, and your recipe is inspiring me to make some again
with all the spices, these are the perfect cookies for the holiday season
cookies looking great. I love when cookies spread themselves while baking. Have not yet made any so far with this quality. absolutely delightful cookies must say.
These are flavourful cookies and the crinkle look on them makes them so beautiful. No wonder kids look forward to holidays.
Is there any substitute for molases?
You can use dark corn syrup or jaggery syrup.
They are apt for the holiday season. The cookies look perfect.
None like ginger cookies here, but am the one who would love to munch some. Wish i get a box of this flavourful cookies from you. Prefect holiday season cookies.
Those ginger cookies look delicious - spicy and flavorful. They look perfect to make during the holiday season.
The cookies looks soo delicious. Will make them for Christmas. Thanks for the recipe.
Those Cookies are just adorable. Having Spiced Cookies are always a go for me.
Totally love the crackly look of these cookies! Nice, spiced and sugary...
They look fantastic, Sandhya. My kids loved them a couple of seasons ago when I baked similar ginger flavored cookies.
The cookies look fantastic Snadhya, very nicely done. Somehow the ginger cookies always got missed by me..
These would very easily be one of my favorite cookies too! I can imagine that wonderful tempting aroma - would make me wanna devour these as soon as they emerged from the oven!
Thanks Shashi! Love holidays for bakes like these 🙂
These look like the perfect cookie to leave out for Santa (if I don't eat them all first!!). Beautiful!
Thanks Jessy! That is exactly the reason I make my favorite cookies for Santa 🙂
You know it's Christmas when all these wonderful cookies show up! I love ginger cookies, I think I like them even more than chocolate chip (yikes!). These look great.
Jolina, you spoke my words! I love ginger cookies more than chocolate chip cookies 🙂
These look lovely and would be great for Christmas. I also think they'd be the kind of cookie my children would enjoy making with me.
Thanks Corina! My kids love rolling the cookies with me and it is a great way to involve them in the holiday baking.
Love ginger cookies, these look great!
Thanks Kim!