You’ll forgive me for two cookie recipes in one week, right? It’s just that I’ve gotten a LOT of requests for high altitude gingerbread sugar cookies lately. It’s holiday cookie season, after all. And it’s a chilly day, perfect for huddling in a warm kitchen full of sugar, flour, and winter spices.
This recipe is not for thin, crispy gingersnap-type cookies. These cookies are firm but soft, lightly sweet, and extra-spicy. They’re the kind of gingerbread cookie you’d actually like to eat, as opposed to the kind that look picture-perfect but taste like spiced cardboard.
I am a fan of gingerbread that smacks you in the face with flavor. Otherwise, what’s the point? This recipe features a light molasses base spiked with a whopping tablespoonful of ground ginger and a cadre of spicy complements including cinnamon, cloves, coriander, and nutmeg. Plus a naughty little pinch of black pepper to bring the heat up just a smidge.
Citrus plays nicely with these warm spices, so I added just a whisper of orange zest, which both enhances and brightens the spice.
You do have to take the time to refrigerate the dough, or it will be too sticky to roll out nicely. Avoid the temptation to roll it out early using extra flour to help with the stickiness, or the dough will absorb the extra flour and result in tough cookies. Do let it soften the dough slightly out of the fridge to make for easier rolling. It’ll be stiff at first, but will continue to soften as you go.
Decorating the cookies is, shall we say, a personal choice. As I mentioned in last year’s sugar cookie recipe, my cookie-icing skills plateaued at advanced kindergartner level, and I think they actually devolved this year. Nothing boosts the holiday spirit more than taking a couple hours to make royal icing and sending yourself into a perfectionist rage as you drip globs of it down your cabinets.
But don’t let me deter you! If you want to try your hand at piping, I recommend this recipe for royal icing.
Otherwise, these are absolutely delicious smeared with any kind of frosting, dusted with powdered sugar, dipped in tempered chocolate, or even eaten plain. If, like me, you’re a true spice addict, try them with a cup of hot chai. It’ll make you forget about that icing debacle.
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High Altitude Gingerbread Cookies
- Prep Time: 10 minutes + chilling
- Cook Time: 10 mins
- Total Time: 20 mins + chilling
- Yield: 3–4 dozen cookies, depending on size 1x
- Category: cookies, holiday, desserts
Description
A classic holiday favorite that works at high altitude! These soft, super-spicy High Altitude Gingerbread Cookies are delicious iced or plain.
Ingredients
- 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 TB ground ginger
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- 1/4 tsp ground coriander
- 1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 3/4 cup (12 TB, 1.5 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 3/4 cup (packed) brown sugar
- 1/2 cup unsulphured molasses (not blackstrap)
- 1 large egg plus one yolk, at room temperature
- 1 TB vanilla extract (not imitation)
- 1 tsp freshly grated orange zest
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, ground spices, and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer or in a medium bowl using a hand mixer, cream the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes). Add the egg and yolk, then the molasses; beat on medium speed for a few seconds until incorporated. Stir in the vanilla and orange zest. With the mixer on the lowest speed, add the flour/spice mixture a little at a time until the dough is uniform and is beginning to come together in large clumps.
- The dough will be slightly crumbly at this point. Turn it out onto a counter or large cutting board and knead it a few times with your hands until it begins to come together in a large, soft ball. Divide the dough into two halves and shape each into a ball, then press into a thick disk. Wrap each disk in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours.
- When you’re ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Remove the dough from the fridge and allow to soften slightly. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. On a large, flat surface, place another sheet of parchment paper and sprinkle it lightly with flour. Place the dough on the floured sheet and roll it out to 1/4-inch thickness (if you want crispier cookies, roll the dough a bit thinner). You may have to muscle the dough a bit at first until it softens and becomes more pliable.
- Use cookie cutters to cut out desired shapes and carefully transfer the cookies to the parchment-lined baking sheet (I use a thin, flexible spatula for this). The cookies won’t spread much, so you can place them fairly close together. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes, until they look slightly puffed on top. I take them out at 8 minutes because I like them softer; if you prefer a slightly crispier cookie, leave them in the full 10.
- Allow the cookies to cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to a baking rack. Once they’re completely cool, dust the cookies with powdered sugar, dip in melted chocolate, or decorate with icing and sprinkles.
- Store in an airtight container for up to two weeks.
Notes
… The type of molasses you use matters. Avoid blackstrap molasses, which has a powerfully bitter flavor that’s not ideal in these cookies. Instead, look for the label “original unsulphured” or “light” molasses.
… After cutting out your cookie shapes, feel free to gather up the scraps and roll the dough out again, but resist the temptation to re-roll more than two or three times, or your cookies will be tough.
I love the sound of this recipe, so much spice! I feel exactly the same way about needing that flavor tobsmack you in the face, preferably the mouth area! Bravo! Another winner, for sure!
I recently moved from sea level to 8600 feet (in South America). I’ve been looking for high altitude recipes and this is the second of yours that I’ve used (the first was your pizza dough). Great recipes! I do find, though, that I have to add significantly more flour than you call for. I’m brand new to high-altitude living, so I’m not sure whether it is because I’m 1000 feet below you, or maybe because it rains here just about every day? For this recipe I had to add a full 1.5 cups more of flour, and I find I need to add about 3/4 of a cup more to the pizza dough recipe. Once I add more flour, though, they’re delicious.
Hi Masha, humidity can definitely affect the moisture in a recipe, as can the type of flour you use (protein content can vary). Recipes, especially at high altitude, rarely work seamlessly for every single person. So if the recipes are working well for you with extra flour, keep doing what you’re doing!
I followed this recipe to a T and they came out perfect! Btw, I’ve never made gingerbread cookies before and it was awesome to have such success. Especially at high altitude! (I’m in Colorado Springs, ~6,000 ft elevation)
I look forward to trying more of your high altitude recipes!
Can I leave out the ground coriander? I don’t have any and am not sure I could find any
Hi Sue, if you have cardamom you can substitute an equal amount of that, or leave the coriander out altogether.
Really nice solid recipe. They were pretty mildly spiced to me, so I may play with adding more. At my altitude (just shy of 5,000 ft), the dough as written was a smidge too dry, so I did have to add about a tablespoon of water. But I do live in Utah, so our climate is extremely arid and these adjustments are normal for me. Overall, these made gingerbread eaters out of some of my neighbors who would normally pass, so this recipe is a win! If you are like me and like a really aggressively spiced cookie, you might want to amplify the seasoning some. This recipe was the only one of 4 that I tried for high altitude gingerbread that made a PERFECTLY textured cookie out of the oven spot on with the timing suggested (8 minutes exactly).
Texture is everything with gingerbread, right?? And the spices are absolutely customizable, so go crazy. 🙂
My first batch came out dry. My brown sugar was very dry, that might even been part of the problem. But the cookies were tasty! I’ll try again with either less flour or more moisture somehow.
Hi Angela, you definitely want to use fresh brown sugar as that can significantly affect the moisture in the dough! It’s also nearly impossible to properly measure dried-out brown sugar because it gets so lumpy. Should that ever happen again, you can microwave the hardened sugar with a damp paper towel to soften it up, and then add a tablespoon of water to the dough to help compensate.
Definitely adding this recipe to my holiday baking shortlist – they are soft, perfectly spicy, and the orange zest really makes these cookies pop! I used an egg-free “royal” icing to decorate. Great for the holidays!!
Thanks, Caroline!
Can I refrigerate the dough overnight?
Yes you can!
Turned out great! Perfect amount of spice and worked wonderfully at 7000 ft. (We used the recipe for Chewbacca and Ewok cookies for star wars day today 🤓)
Can this be used to make gingerbread houses? Do I just need to make them thicker?
This recipe can absolutely be used to make gingerbread houses. I would recommend rolling the dough about 1/4” thick and baking thoroughly so they are crisp rather than soft.
Came out perfect! Thank you, Robyn!
These have turned out perfect with no adjustments for me at 5200 feet in WY. Last year was my first time attempting cookies since we moved to a high altitude. This was the recipe I chose to try, and it is now my “forever” gingerbread cookie recipe!
So glad to hear that!
So I haven’t tried this recipe yet but I’m afraid what will happen with the x2 batch because normally your supposed to multiply everything by 2 rather than just a few of the ingredients. Could you explain how it’s supposed to work to me? Thanks!
Hi Jude, sorry about that – that tool gets a little wonky sometimes (it should be working now). If you are doubling the recipe you should indeed double all the ingredients.
Helloes & happy holidays! I just moved to the Denver area 2 days ago (omg!) and am so chuffed to have found your blog! I was hoping to bake these gingerbread cookies tomorrow night, but since I’m so late to the holiday cookie baking game this year, all local grocery stores are out of molasses at this point :/ Do you think honey might be a suitable replacement? I know the flavor profile will change, but I’m hoping honey + amping up the spices a bit might help fill the molasses void 🙂
Jenny, you can use an equal amount of honey and it should work fine. Or, if you want to retain some of the molasses flavor, try using an equal amount of dark brown sugar (which contains some molasses). Good luck!
Honey + extra dark brown sugar it is then! Thank you so, so much. I’m going to bake them tonight and will report back! 🤓 PS- I baked your orange, cardamom, & fig thumbprints last night and they turned out PERFECT! Soooo delicious 😋😋😋
I absolutely LOVE this recipe! I am right at about 4000 feet and this works perfectly for me. They are and soft and chewy. The flavor is incredible. I’ve taken them to many parties and events and everyone always says they are the best gingerbread cookies they’ve ever had! These cookies have turned non gingerbread cookie lovers into full blown fans!