With their sparkly, crinkly tops and super soft chew, these chocolate ginger sparkle cookies are as delicious to eat as they are beautiful to behold. Dip these spiced cocoa molasses cookies in dark chocolate, and finish each with finely chopped crystallized ginger for extra flavor.
One reader, Kayla, commented: “I pretty much exclusively bake with Sally’s recipes, and WOW, this one is an absolute home run. The warm spices with the molasses and chocolate is an amazing flavor combination I have never had. The texture is spot-on as well… I made these as a test run this evening for a Christmas gathering, and I will definitely be taking them to my holiday dinner! โ โ โ โ โ “
This cookie recipe was, quite simply, a JOY to create. It only took a couple of test batches to get it right, and how often does that happen? (The answer is: not nearly often enough.) The flavors of chocolate, ginger, and molasses come together so perfectlyโan underrated flavor trio!
Why You’ll Love These Chocolate Ginger Sparkle Cookies
- So soft & chewyโand stay that way for days
- Chocolate & ginger pair beautifully, just like these chocolate gingerbread sandwich cookies, for a slightly sophisticated flavor profile. A unique addition to any platter of Christmas cookies!
- Flavorful warm spices balance the sweet
- An elevated twist on classic ginger soft molasses cookies
- Dip in melted dark chocolate for a truly luxe cookie
- Roll in sugar + finish with crystallized ginger for double the sparkle!
This is a classic drop cookie dough that comes together with basic ingredients. Pick up a few holiday baking spices like ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and clovesโall ingredients you need for a batch of gingerbread oatmeal cookies, too!
Here Are the Ingredients You Need & Why
- Flour: All-purpose flour provides the main structure in this cookie dough.
- Cocoa Powder: We’re adding just enough cocoa powder to the dough to give it a chocolatey flavor, while still letting the other flavors come through. Don’t expect a fudgy chocolate flavor like a batch of chocolate crinkle cookies; it’s mild here.
- Baking Soda: A touch of extra baking soda helps the cookies puff up in the oven, then fall and develop that crinkly texture when they cool. Don’t worry if yours don’t crinkleโyou can see in the photos that they all look a little different.
- Spices: This careful blend of ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves is exactly what every molasses cookie needs! Fresh grated ginger is too strong for these cookiesโin testing, we found that its sharp flavor overpowered the chocolate.
- Salt: To balance the sweetness.
- Butter: Creamed butter forms the base of these soft cookies. If you’re a beginner baker, here’s more on how to cream butter and sugar properly.
- Dark Brown Sugar: Brown sugar is what helps produce the softest cookie ever. You can use light or dark brown sugar, but I like using dark for the extra molasses flavor it provides.
- Molasses: Make sure you’re using a dark molasses, aka โrobustโ molasses, but avoid blackstrap, which is too intense.
- Egg: For structure and richness.
- Vanilla Extract: Feel free to use homemade vanilla extract in these cookies.
- Granulated Sugar: To coat the dough balls before baking. Sweetness and sparkle!
- Chocolate: Melt chocolate once the cookies are cool, and dip or drizzle to take the chocolate-ginger flavor to the next level.
Plus, an optional garnish: Finely chop candied ginger for a dazzling (and flavorful!) finishing touch. I love using crystallized ginger in baking for that unexpected sweet-yet-spicy flavor, like in these lemon ginger cookies and this ginger pear galette.
Step-by-Step Photos
Like many cookie doughs prepared with molasses (looking at you, gingerbread cookies) this is a sticky dough mixture and must chill in the refrigerator before you shape it into balls:
It solidifies after a 2-hour nap in the refrigerator, and a cookie scoop makes portioning the dough really easy. Use about 1.5 Tablespoons of dough per cookie, roll into a ball, and then coat generously in granulated sugar just as if you were making a batch of peanut butter blossoms or gingerbread blossoms.
Arrange 9โ12 cookie dough balls on a lined baking sheet. If you’re shopping for new baking supplies, I use and love these baking sheets.
The cookies will puff up in the oven from all the baking soda, and then fall as they cool. The rising and falling helps create those beautiful crinkles. Some will have more cracks than others.
Don’t Forget the Chocolate Dip!
These neapolitan cookies and pinwheel cookies will tell you… a chocolate dip is the best finishing touch.
The best chocolate for dipping is the โbaking chocolateโ bars found in the baking aisle of the grocery store. I typically use Bakers or Ghirardelli brands, either semi-sweet or dark. Do not use chocolate chips because they contain stabilizers, which prevent them from melting into the correct consistency.
Make sure the cookies have fully cooled before you dip them into the melted chocolate. I had extra chocolate, so I drizzled the rest on top. Sprinkle the finely chopped crystallized ginger onto the chocolate-dipped cookies while the chocolate is still melty, then let dry.
Once the chocolate has set, the cookies can be stacked, stored, transported, or gifted.
Can I use white chocolate instead? Absolutely! White chocolate is another delicious pairing with ginger, like in these soft white chocolate chip molasses cookies.
3 Success Tips for Perfect Chocolate Ginger Cookies
- Use proper room temperature butter. Cold or melted butter can’t cream properly.
- Chill the dough for at least 2 hours. Unless you want over-spread gingery puddles.
- Melt pure chocolate, not chocolate chips. Save those for chocolate chip cookies!
This recipe is part of my annual cookie countdown called Sally’s Cookie Palooza. It’s the biggest, most delicious event of the year! Browse dozens of cookie recipes over on the Sally’s Cookie Palooza page.
Chocolate Ginger Cookies
- Prep Time: 2 hours, 30 minutes (includes chilling)
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours
- Yield: 24
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Perfectly spiced cocoa ginger molasses cookies come together with basic baking ingredients, and taste even better after a dip in melted chocolate. The cookies will puff up in the oven from the baking soda, and then fall as they cool. Some will have more crinkles and cracks than others.
Ingredients
- 2ย cups (250g)ย all-purpose flourย (spooned & leveled)
- 1/4 cup (22g)ย natural unsweetenedย cocoa powder
- 1 and 1/4 teaspoonsย baking soda
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4ย teaspoon salt
- 3/4ย cup (12 Tbsp; 170g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 3/4ย cup (150g) packed light or dark brown sugar (I recommend dark)
- 1/3 cup (80ml) unsulphured or dark molasses (do not use blackstrap; I prefer Grandma’s brand)
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/3ย cup (67g)ย granulated sugar, for rolling
For Dipping:
- 4โ6 ounces (113โ170g) semi-sweet or dark chocolate, finely chopped (see note)
- optional: 2 Tablespoons (30g) finely chopped crystallized ginger
Instructions
- Whisk the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and salt together in a medium bowl until combined. Set aside.
- In a large bowl using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and brown sugar together on high speed until creamy and combined, about 3 minutes. (Hereโs a helpful tutorial if you need guidance onย how to cream butter and sugar.) Add the molasses, egg, and vanilla extract and beat until combined, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl and beat again as needed to combine. The mixture may look a bit curdled; that’s ok.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix on low until combined. Dough will be thick and sticky. Cover dough tightly and chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours and up to 3 days. Chilling is imperative for this sticky cookie dough.
- Preheat oven to 350ยฐF (177ยฐC). Line large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
- Remove cookie dough from the refrigerator. If the cookie dough chilled longer than 2 hours, let it sit at room temperature for 10 minutes. The cookies may not spread in the oven if the dough is that cold. Roll cookie dough into balls, about 1.5 Tablespoons (30g) of dough each (I use this medium cookie scoop). Roll each in granulated sugar and arrange 3 inches apart on the baking sheets.
- Bake cookies for 12 minutes or until edges appear set.
- Remove from the oven and allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Dip in chocolate: When the cookies are cooled, melt the chopped chocolate, either in a double boiler or use the microwave. Microwave in 20-second increments, stirring after each until completely melted. Dip half of each cooled cookie into the chocolate, and use any leftover chocolate to drizzle on top, if desired. Sprinkle chopped crystallized ginger on chocolate.
- Allow chocolate to completely set at room temperature or in the refrigerator.
- Cover leftover cookies tightly and store at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: You can make the cookie dough and chill it in the refrigerator for up to 2โ3 days. Baked cookies, cooled but undipped, freeze well for up to 3 months. (For best taste and texture, chocolate dip should be fresh!) Follow recipe through step 7 before freezing. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature before continuing with step 8. Unbaked cookie dough balls (before rolling in sugar) will freeze well for up to 3 months. Let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes, preheat the oven, then roll in granulated sugar. Bake as directed. Read my tips and tricks on how to freeze cookie dough.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Glass Mixing Bowl | Whisk | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Medium Cookie Scoop | Baking Sheets |ย Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Paper | Cooling Rack | Double Boiler or Glass Measuring Cup (for dipping)
- Molasses: I use and recommend unsulphured or dark molasses. (I like Grandmaโs brand. The kind I use is labeled โoriginalโ molasses.) Blackstrap molasses is extremely bitter and not ideal in this recipe.
- Chocolate: The best chocolate for dipping is the โbaking chocolateโ bars found in the baking aisle of the grocery store. I typically use Bakers or Ghirardelli brands, either semi-sweet or dark. Do not use chocolate chips because they contain stabilizers, which prevent them from melting into the correct consistency. 4 ounces is enough for a light dip and 6 ounces is plenty for a dip and a little drizzle on top, too. You can use white chocolate if desired instead.
- Be sure to check out my top 5 cookie baking tips AND these are my 10 must-have cookie baking tools.
Reader Comments and Reviews
Iโve been using your recipes for 6 years now and they never fail to get me compliments! This was the first time I tried this one and my friends thought I bought the cookies from a professional because of how good they looked and how tasty they were hahaha
I was going to write a drawn out thing but all I need to say is…this cookie is spectacular. My absolute favourite. From the flavour combo to recipe instruction to pleasure in baking them to chocolate dip to my excitement to share them. The perfect cookie in my view. Shared recipe with family and friends this morning. Yaaaay!!!
This is literally my favorite cookie of all time. They are so great. We buy the crystallized ginger at an Asian grocery. I am using the same bag as last year, and it is still perfectly fine.
Sally,
I know in your new book you say you don’t recommend doubling recipes; however, can you double this recipe? I’ll be making A LOT of cookies this month!
Thanks!
Hi Jean, cookie recipes usually double well!
I just doubled it. It worked great!
I made two batches of these. My first round came out puffy but they were still soft and flavorful. My second batch I weighed the flour and it was around 1.5 cups measured. They were flatter but I still pressed them down to get the shape in Sallyโs photos. I decorated them just as she showed. The flavor is fantastic!! The chocolate complements the gingerbread flavor so well. These are a keeper!
I’m so excited to make these for our family Christmas in Germany. We’ll be flying with them and I doubt I’ll be able to add the melted chocolate decoration there. What would happen if I froE them with the chocolate on already?
I love your recipes!
If I wanted this to be more chocolaty, could I replace some all purpose flour with equal weight of cocoa powder?
Perhaps use 66 grams of cocoa powder (instead of 22 grams) and reduce all purpose flour by 44 grams?
Thank you.
Hi Bee, cocoa powder can be a bit tricky and isn’t always a 1:1 swap with flour. You can try adding more and reducing the flour, but it may take some trial and error in order to get the desired taste and keep the overall results of the cookies the same.
Iโve made these a number of times and everyone raves about them!
This recipe looks awesome, but I have a question before I try them:
My family likes crisp rather than soft cookies. What can I do to make these cookies more crisp?
Thanks! Cindy
Hi Cynthia! For a slightly crisper cookie, you could try flattening the dough balls before placing in the oven. This will help initiate more spread for a thinner cookie. You could also extend the bake time by just a few minutes, but be careful not to burn them. Let us know what you try!
Just wondering about crystallized gingery..do you make it or buy it already prepared? If so, can you add a link for it? Thanks!
Hi KPC! We purchase crystallized ginger from our local grocery stores. You can also purchase it online: https://amzn.to/4oXIP0V
My cookies didnโt spread & crack they were puffy but soft
Hi Deborra, cookies with too much flour will be puffy. How did you measure the flour? Make sure to spoon and level (instead of scooping) to avoid packing in too much flour into your measuring cups – or use a kitchen scale. You can read more about properly measuring baking ingredients in this post.
Second time making these, never seem to have chocolate bars on hand to melt, oh well, still fabulous. I added crystallized ginger to the batter, close to 1/2 cup. Yummy, then I adore ginger! Where a big hit at the meeting I took them to. Thanks.
This recipe was great! Everyone enjoyed these cookies.
Hi, I would love to make these . They seem similar to dark chocolate stem ginger cookies I had once, but failed to find a recipe.
I just have a few questions:
1. I only have blackstrap Molasses , what should I do different ? Will it help to reduce the molasses and replace it with some honey?
2. Can I add chopped stem ginger in the cookies ? Will that adversely affect it ?
I love the tase of ginger, so a ginger heavy cookie won’t put me off, id welcome it.
Hi Lishell, you could try replacing some of the blackstrap molasses with honey or golden syrup to lighten the flavor a bit, yes. And if you love the sharp flavor of ginger, go for it!
These cookies are delicious! The chocolate and candied ginger is a winner!
These cookies are fantastic!!!
Against the note, I did use Blackstrap brand, but the unsulphured kind, so it didn’t turn out bitter. The cookies still turned out wonderful! Super easy recipe, and not too messy by dipping the cookies halfway. I’ve got to try with Grandma’s brand to compare.
Great recipe – double the recipe and make sure you make nice big balls! I rolled them too small and they were bite size!
I made these last year and loved them! This year the cookies are too soft. What could have gone wrong?
Hi Stacey, is it possible they were slightly underbaked? If you didn’t make any ingredient substitutions to the recipe, another minute or two in the oven might do the trick!
I followed a slightly different recipe for the cookies – 305g flour, no cocoa powder, only 1/2 t baking soda, and 1/2 t salt. I think the main difference, though is I used only and egg yolk. I think this helped make them softer, which was the texture I was going for.
I bake a lot, made these cookies today, followed recipe just as written ,spooned flour room temp butter, etc. Baked for 12 minutes, they never spread, cookies came out puffy and dry. The taste is good, but they canโt be eaten as is. Maybe I can crumble them and use for some kind of topping. Very disappointing as I was hoping to take them to a holiday party.
Hi Malina, may I ask how you measured your flour? When cookies do not spread, it’s usually because there is too much flour soaking up the liquid in the dough. By spooning and leveling, or weighing the flour, you should have just enough flour so the cookies spread nicely. They should not taste dry. Did you scoop the flour into the measuring cup or accidentally use more than what is called for?
These were excellent! Soft and chewy and the melted chocolate takes them up a notch. Thank you for this great recipe!
Definitely a keeper!
My husband requested chocolate ginger cookies. I am a total newbie in the baking world but followed your instructions to the tee. The cookies were perfect. I didnt run into any issues. My husband ate 10 of these immediately. I call that a success!!
So happy to read this, Maddie!
Made this as a pre-christmas gift over the weekend & it was a hit! Super gingery, almost prefer this to gingerbread men cookies.
I absolutely love these cookies! I give them a gifts every year for Christmas.
Question: could I put chocolate chips in the cookies instead of dipping them?? Would that be good do you think?
P.S Live ur recipes Sally <333
Hi Pheobe, You could add about 3/4 โ 1 cup chocolate chips. We would recommend mini chocolate chips, but regular would work too!
Thank you!!!!
DELICIOUS
These cookies are absolutely delicious! Every recipe I have tried is a 5 star.โญ
Thanks so much for sharing your expertise with us.