The Best Ginger Cookies Ever

Hi, Bree. I'm Jozie Rabyor, the woman who originally created this recipe in 1997. I thought you may enjoy a little bit about the background.

Commercially available crystallized ginger was pretty new back then. I found it in a specialty store as a candy, not an ingredient, but it did get me thinking. Google itself was incorporated the year after I created this recipe, so I couldn't do an internet search. I did look in a lot of cookbooks for cookies that used it, but found nothing, so I decided to experiment on my own.

I combined ingredients mentioned in a few other recipes and averaged their amounts. It quickly became obvious that I couldn’t mince the sticky ginger as finely as I wanted to. A light bulb went on, and I dragged my food processor out from its cabinet. The ginger promptly stuck to the blades in a large gluey mass. With crossed fingers, I threw in some sugar and it worked. On a roll now, but not wanting the ginger any more pulverized, I dumped it and the sugar onto waxed paper, then mixed the rest of the sugar and the wet ingredients together before adding the ginger back.

I’d intended here to transfer these wets to my stand mixer, then blend in the drys. I’d never heard of making cookie dough in a food processor. I can’t say what made me decide instead to add the flour and spices to the processor bowl and literally give it a whirl. Laziness, probably, if I’m honest.

The final outcome was sheer beginner's luck. At a friend’s insistence, I sent the recipe to Sunset Magazine. A year later, they included these cookies in their “Readers’ Choice” column. I didn’t think much about the recipe’s life after that, so you can imagine my surprise when another friend called in 2014 to say the magazine had included my experiment in their "25 Best Recipes Ever Published in Sunset" issue. And you’re correct that although their list was limited to one recipe in each of two dozen categories, their editors couldn't decide on a single “best” cookie, so they published two. (I’m blushing now.)

Since then, thanks to the internet, a lot of people have said nice things about this recipe. Thanks for continuing to share it around. Your photos are fabulous and I’m super happy you enjoyed the cookies. Evidently when we take chances in the kitchen, sometimes the angels smile.

Made these cookies this morning and they are so delicious! I don't have a food processor, so I used my blender on the crystalized ginger and sugar step, and used a mixer for the rest. I kind of did things a little out of order. I creamed my butter and sugar, then blended in the molasses and egg, then just added all the dry ingredients. Every oven is different, so I only baked mine 11 minutes. I like the way they came out firm, but still softer than a ginger snap. I only got 25 cookies out of it, so I am sure I made them bigger than a 1" round ball.

I found the crystalized ginger in the produce section of our Walmart. I used unsulfured molasses which gives the cookies that old-fashioned molasses cookie taste, but the ginger is still the star of the recipe!

I would love to try this but I have a bag of crystallized ginger from Costco. Can I use this recipe??? Add more sugar??? Thanks

Hello, is it possible to use fresh ginger instead of crystallized? Thank you!

Thanks, bakedbree I really love the texture of these cookies. I have made a few batches and they have all come out differently. Beginners luck the first batch were perfect, just like your picture . I have experienced the gamut of results from balls to pancakes, but they are always delicious and I got many compliments at the culinary high school where I work. I had to double the recipe so I switched to the kitchen aid from the cuisinart. I think I would let the dough warm up a bit more and I give them a final push into the sanding sugar to flatten them a bit. Great recipe - I'll be back. Thanks.