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Gingersnap Cookies

These grain-free gingersnaps are extremely similar to traditional gingersnap cookies made with white flour. They have the perfect crunch to go along with the perfect flavor, and make a great gift to bring along to a holiday party!
45 minutes
15 minutes
Difficulty
Show nutritional information
This is our estimate based on online research.
Calories:108
Fat:6 g
Carbohydrates:12 g
Protein:1 g
Calculated per serving.

Serves: 24

Serves: 24decrease servingsincrease servings

Ingredients


Process

Note, these instructions are written assuming the standard serving size, since you have modified the number of servings, these steps may need to be modified for best results
  1. In a medium sized mixing bowl, whisk together the blanched almond flour, tapioca starch, baking soda, sea salt, ground ginger, ground cinnamon, and allspice.
  2. In a large mixing bowl, or in a standing kitchen mixer, cream the shortening and maple sugar, until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract, and blend again until smooth.
  3. Add the molasses and the egg to the sugar mixture, and blend again until nice and creamy.
  4. Add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture, a little bit at a time, blending after each addition of flour, until you have a well combined cookie dough. The dough should firm enough that it can be rolled into small balls at this point.
  5. Chill the dough for 30 minutes so that it can be even more easily rolled into small balls for baking.
  6. Preheat the oven to bake at 350 degrees. and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  7. Remove the chilled dough from the fridge, and roll into small balls (a little smaller than a walnut in its shell).
  8. At this point you can roll the balls in a light coating of granulated organic cane sugar if desired. They are great without the added sugar as well.
  9. Place the balls of dough onto your parchment lined baking sheet, spaced a couple inches apart. These cookies spread a lot, so give them room.
  10. Bake the cookies at 350, on the middle rack, in the center of the oven, for 15 minutes.
  11. Allow to cool, and enjoy!

Notes

If you don't have the Gingersnap spice blend, here's an alternate spice mix: 2 tsp ground ginger 1 tsp ground cinnamon 1/2 tsp ground allspice These cookies must cook in ball form for them to look like they do in the photo. I added gram measurements for this recipe, because the amount of flour used really affects how the cookies turn out. They don't need to be firm, like needed for cookie dough that you roll out to cut, but they just need to hold their shape in a ball form. If they flatten before baking, then they will spread and flatten much more. They still taste great, they just wont look quite right, and become huge! I find it best to bake these cookies on a light colored baking sheet. A darker baking sheet tends to darken (and almost burn) the bottoms of the cookies, which isn't desirable for a dark molasses cookie. Bake them (if possible), on a light colored baking sheet. We have several baking sheets with a ton of character, which we love, but I used my light colored Chicago Metallic baking sheet for these, because our darker ones made these cookies burn on the bottom. Chilling the dough really helps for making sure these bake in little balls. This is not a gooey, sticky dough, but it’s still soft, so if it’s cold then it just works better. If you are making these cookies in batches, be sure to keep the dough that isn’t being baked at the time chilled, don’t leave it out at room temperature. When you remove the cookies from the oven, allow them to cool on the baking sheet before moving them to a plate or rack. They cool very quickly, and harden as they cool, and then they can be very easily moved. Trim your parchment paper to fit the bottom of your baking sheet if you are using a rimmed baking sheet. If the parchment is lifted at all on the sides or corners, this will disfigure the cookies. Making sure that the parchment is flat will ensure the cookies stay flat while baking, and they will turn out to be the cutest little circles you’ve ever seen.

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RECIPE REVIEWS

  1. December 15, 2014

    Thank you for putting the weight, I love receipts that do this, less room for error! Can’t wait to make these yummy looking guys.

    1. December 16, 2014

      You’re welcome! It’s really essential for baking!!

  2. linwild
    December 15, 2014

    I made these tonight and they taste fabulous! My husband likes soft, chewy gingerbread cookies so I only used one tsp of baking soda and they still turned out flat and crispy. How would you modify the recipe to make thicker, softer cookies? Thanks!

    1. December 16, 2014

      I would probably try adding another egg to the batter. I did see a chewy gingersnap cookie recipe online that used the same amount of baking soda, but had an additional egg added to the batter. Also, reducing the cook time might help. For Alton Browns gingersnaps, he says 12 minutes for a chewy cookie, and 15 for a crispy one. Hope that helps!

  3. Becky
    December 16, 2014

    WOW!!! I don’t make many recipes the day I come across them but I had to make this one. These cookies are FABULOUS!!! They are very crispy but they melt in your mouth. Very, very yummy. I’ve been looking for a good Paleo Gingersnap recipe that’s actually crunchy and until this one, I’d been unsuccessful. And just in time for the holidays. These will definitely be given out as gifts but I might have to make another batch in order to do that 🙂 Happy Holidays!

  4. aritzia
    December 20, 2014

    I’ve made these cookies twice, and both times they never looked like the picture, in fact I used the exact ingredients listed above for both attempts, and the cookies the second time came out so dry Whereas, the first attempt they were moist, but unfortunately neither batches “crinkled.” The taste is nice, but I’m not quite sure what happened. Kinda bummed! But thanks for posting.

  5. eljayjones
    December 24, 2014

    I made these last night – they were going to be our cookies to leave for Santa. They totally flopped. I measured/weighed everything just as listed. They were super batter-like even after an hour of chilling. I added another cup of flour (half almond and half potato) until they were the cookie dough like enough to roll. I baked the first batch for the suggested 15 minutes which was WAY too long. They came out dry, hard, dark and kinda saw-dusty. But they had a nice flavor. So the second batch I baked for 8 minutes and then they were a better consistency and still crunchy after cooling. Still, they just aren’t very good. At all. So much so, I went to the store and bought some ginger snaps for Santa for tonight. Sorry. Honestly, I was surprised they flopped so bad (and I have a lot of experience baking GF and Paleo) because you were so clear and helpful (with so many specific tips) in your post. But there is something wrong with this recipe. Hope you can change it up a bit and maybe I’ll try them again, if you do. Merry Christmas!

  6. eljayjones
    December 24, 2014

    I made these cookies last night. They were going to be for Santa (tonight is Christmas Eve) but they totally flopped. The dough was still “batter-like” after an hour of chilling in the fridge. I added a half cup of almond flour and a half cup of potato starch before the batter was stiff enough to roll. Then when I baked them for the suggested 15 minutes, they came out hard, dark, and saw-dusty in texture. That was way too long to bake. So I adjusted and found that 8 min was enough… although they were still not very good. Honestly, I went to the store today to buy a bag of gingersnaps so that Santa can enjoy his cookies tonight. I have a lot of experience baking GF and Paleo and I felt with all your detail and “tips” on your post that these would really be delicious. They aren’t. I may try to make them again if you fix some things in the recipe though. Good luck. And Merry Christmas!

  7. Ines
    October 20, 2015

    Some of the negative reviews of this recipe had me a little concerned, but I really wanted to make gingersnaps, so I soldiered on… They turned out so well that I went through all the hassle of registering to post this review (something I really hate doing). Yes they’re wonderful cookies, but the thing is, I didn’t follow the recipe particularly closely and they still turned out great. I didn’t weigh my ingredients, I didn’t cream the sugar, etc. (just dumped everything together and mixed) and I baked them too long. I’m not saying this to encourage anyone to not follow directions, I’m just saying they still had the crackly tops and they didn’t burn (I used 2 layers of parchment — don’t know if this made a difference) and, maybe because I baked them too long, they were nice and crispy, too. They really are wonderful cookies, so please don’t hesitate to try them — it’s really not hard to get good results. My husband’s only suggestion was more ginger — they have a good ginger zing to them, but he likes knock your socks of ginger flavor (he eats habaneros for fun).

  8. jules6728
    December 5, 2015

    Good morning! Gingersnap are my favorite cookie and I was so excited to try these… I did “everything right”… weight the ingredients down to the gram… chilled the dough… rolled them into small balls…. baked them on parchment… but they still spread out and ended up being one giant, thin cookie across the whole baking sheet.

    I still have half the dough in the fridge and I’m hoping someone can give me some advice before I bake the second batch. They (“it” as it were in my case LOL) still taste delicious, but I was hoping to share these for Christmas… How do I get the round cookie with crackled tops?

    Thank you in advance!

  9. MrsGPJ
    October 7, 2016

    Regarding the spices used in this recipe, please give the precise amount of ginger, cinnamon & allspice you used, because I don’t have your spice blend and I’d prefer not to guess. Thanks.

    1. November 21, 2016

      The recipe notes have been updated with an alternate spice mix – sorry about that!

  10. azminae
    November 5, 2016

    This was the original gingersnap spice mix:
    2 tsp ground ginger
    1 tsp ground cinnamon
    1/2 tsp ground allspice

  11. Laura
    November 28, 2016

    I made these cookies twice last week. The first time was in preparation to make the crust for the new pumpkin pie recipe on the site, but I didn’t save enough cookies to fit into my 9.5″ glass pie dish, as I only saved 1/2 the batch (as the recipe suggests) and took the rest to work for a cookie day. They tasted good, but, as the recipe states, these cookies do spread! The second time I made them, I used a 1/2 tbsp (1.5 tsp) instead of 1/2 of my 1.5 tbsp cookie scoop (the cookies were 3/4 tbsp / 2 1/4 tsp) to scoop the dough and roll it into balls. That was the perfect size. My cookies still didn’t have the “crinkle” top like pictured, but they were very tasty. Everyone loved them at Thanksgiving!

  12. gfigliom
    October 30, 2017

    I was in the mood for a seasonal treat, so I made these cookies last night. Absolutely LOVE THEM! They came out perfectly crisp, yet melt in your mouth and they even had the perfect gingersnap crinkle on the top. So excited to make these again for family and friends during the holidays! This is the first gingersnap recipe I’ve found that is as good as the real thing.

    Side note: Even more delicious when you enjoy them with some NadaMoo Maple Pecan ice cream sandwiched between!

  13. Charlie Nystel
    November 29, 2021

    These are THE BEST Christmas cookies by far! I have been making them every Christmas for years and everyone loves them. (I give them as gifts)

    I find that creaming the sugar/shortening for the 8 to 10 minutes is essential. I made the mistake once of not reading the instructions through (having made them before) and hurried up the process. They were still tasty but not the desired crispness or chewyness ( depends on how long I bake them).

    I always double the recipe and use a small scoop so I don’t have to roll the dough to form the ball. It makes 72 cookies this way.
    I bake 11 minutes for chewy, 13 minutes for thinner/crispier cookies.

    Thanks for sharing!

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