Ginger Sparkles

I believe the original name of this recipe refers to these cookies as “big soft ginger cookies”, but I prefer to call them ginger sparkles. Their thin, sugary coating makes them glitter in the light, making them not only beautiful, but delicious!

These cookies taste and smell divine! They are my favourite cookies to bake around the holidays, as they are dead simple to make and they fill your house with the most incredible, spicy, ginger fragrance.

I’ve been making these cookies for over a decade, and can’t recall where I retrieved the initial recipe from. Although I can say I haven‘t once been tempted to stray from this recipe in favour of another, since I can’t imagine these cookies possibly being any better.

butter and sugar in mixing bowl

To start out, you sift all your dry ingredients together, including a delightful combination of ginger, cinnamon and cloves. Then you cream together the butter and sugar until it’s nice and fluffy.

butter and sugar mixed together

Next, beat in the eggs, followed by a little bit of water and a dark stream of molasses, which gives these cookies an amazing depth of flavour.

pouring molasses into bowl of butter and sugar

Stir in your dry ingredients until just combined. The dough will be very thick and heavy, but quite soft.

cookie dough all mixed up

Roll the dough into little one inch balls, and then roll them in granulated sugar. When they bake, the inside of the cookie will be soft and chewy, while the sugar will form an ultra thin, sweet, crispy layer on the outside.

a dough ball, rolling in sugar

Place the dough balls on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes on the centre rack. Be careful not to over bake them! The cookies will puff up slightly during baking and deflate just a little as they cool. They will also be quite soft right out of the oven, so let them cool on the cookie tray for a few minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack.

a tray of unbaked cookie dough balls

The best way to check if the cookies are done is to lift one with a flat spatula and inspect the bottom. They should start to turn a slightly darker shade of brown as they bake.

tray of baked ginger cookies

Admire how beautiful and sparkly these little cookies look while you can, because as soon as they’ve cooled down, you won’t be able to resist eating them all as quickly as possible!

a pile of ginger sparkle cookies


 

Ginger Sparkles

Soft, ginger spiced cookies with a barely crisp sugary coating.
Prep Time15 minutes
Cook Time8 minutes
Total Time23 minutes
Course: Dessert
Keyword: cookie
Servings: 50 small cookies

Ingredients

  • 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 2 tsp ground ginger
  • 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp cloves
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 3/4 cup butter (softened)
  • 1 cup granulated sugar (plus extra for rolling)
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 tbsp water
  • 1/4 cup molasses

Instructions

  • Pre-heat your oven to 350°F.
  • In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves and salt.
  • In a separate bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until flight and fluffy.
  • Add the egg to the butter mixture, and beat until combined.
  • Stir in the water and molasses.
  • Gradually add the dry ingredients, stirring until just combined.
  • Roll the dough into 1" balls, and then roll them in granulated sugar to coat them.
  • Place on a parchment lined baking sheet 2 to 3 inches apart.
  • Bake for 8-10 minutes. (Be careful not to over bake them to avoid hard cookies! They will firm up slightly once they have completely cooled.)

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