Like many great cookie recipes, this one was born by accident. One year while I was making gingerbread men, some careless dough-rolling birthed a man who baked up chubby, thick and cakey, not flat and crisp like his brothers. Surprisingly, this textural mutation of a gingerbread man turned out to be the best one of all. You can call it cookie evolution, the accident that led to the creation of these chewy, molasses-spiked cookies. With their warm, spiced flavor and cake-like softness punctuated by the coarse crunch of sparkly sugar, you might also call them a new holiday tradition.

The dough is a basic gingerbread cookie dough, spiced with a good amount of black pepper. Once made, it needs to firm up in the refrigerator for several hours, but it can also be made up to two days before baking. For maximum cakey thickness, the dough is formed into balls before being dipped in coarse sugar, which adds a pretty sparkle and compelling crunch to the finished cookies.

Although it might be tempting to substitute more butter for the vegetable shortening, the resulting cookies won't have the same puffy softness. Instead, the all-butter version of this recipe sinks down into a flatter, crinkly cookie — still good, but in my opinion, not as much of a stand-out as the version with shortening.

It's been years since my accidental discovery of these thick, cake-like cookies and they've made an appearance in my holiday cookie spread many times. Without fail, whenever they do, someone always approaches me to say, "That one, that gingerbread cake one..." in a tone of voice that says they could have eaten two dozen more. Accident, evolution, gingerbread cookie revelation — whatever you want to call it, this recipe has become a holiday classic for me.

Gingerbread Cake Cookies
Makes about 4 dozen cookies3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup vegetable shortening, at room temperature
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
2/3 cup unsulfured molasses
1 large egg
Turbinado sugar or other coarse sugar
In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, cloves, salt, and black pepper, and set aside.
Using a stand mixer or handheld electric mixer, cream the butter and shortening until smooth and well-combined. Add the brown sugar and beat until fluffy and pale, about 2 minutes. Beat in the molasses and egg. With a spoon, gradually mix in the flour mixture. Divide dough in half and wrap each half in plastic wrap. Refrigerate until firm, about 3 hours, or up to 2 days.
Preheat oven to 325°F. Pour a little of the coarse sugar into a small, shallow bowl. Break off a small piece of dough and form into a ball about 3/4 inches in diameter, or scoop out dough with a small ice cream scoop. Dip the top in the sugar and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough, spacing cookies about 1 inch apart. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until edges of cookies are firm and look dry, rotating baking sheet halfway through baking.
Cool on the baking sheet for 2 minutes, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
Related: How Much Gingerbread Would It Take To Build a Life-Size Gingerbread House?
(Images: Anjali Prasertong)
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Comments (18)
sold! I'm making these. I'm betting they go perfectly with a cup of tea.
Sigh... I like the idea of these, but shortening grosses me out so I'll pass.
These look like my favorite refrigerator cookies - the Ginger Spice ones from Immaculate Baking. I swear, I can eat a whole pan of those things on my own - they're compelling!
Have you tried these with a coconut-oil based shortening? Crisco also freaks my out--I used to use it, but I've sworn it off.
Anyone have luck with other kinds of shortening?
honestly, I ONLY eat soft gingerbread cookies. yours are cakey, mine are more like the bread itself. ever since i was a little girl my grandma baked them for me and i cannot STAND those hard, teethbreaking gingerbread cookies everybody sells and is so proud of. I bake a batch for xmas gifts every year and little by little change everyone's world by introducing them to soft gingerbread cookies, like theyre supposed to be.
a must try with my new Cup 4 Cup flour! thank you!!!
Could this recipe be rolled and cut into gingerbread-people? Or would that change the way they bake up?
@jmccourt: I use Spectrum Organics shortening, which is not hydrogenated. I have not tried it with coconut-oil based shortening. If you do, please let us know how it goes!
@friendlykathleen: Yes, this dough can be rolled and cut. If you want to keep the cakey texture, you'll want to roll them quite thick, which means the shapes themselves won't be very crisp -- more puffy and chubby at the edges, which is cute in its own way.
Using Shortening is a BAD idea: health-wise and the like.
I'll pass
Thank you for this recipe--you simply can't have enough gingerbread/cookie recipes. Is it pointless to list "serving size" for a cookie like this?
I'll test it with coconut oil as a substitute for shortening; Sara the Healthy Home Economist swears by it.
This is very similar to Cook's Illustrated Thick & Chewy Gingerbread recipe which is the BEST recipe ever for gingerbread men (no egg and all butter but other measures are really similar). It makes the best gingerbread. I will be baking dozens of them tomorrow and Friday for our annual cookie decorating party on Saturday. I will definitely try this version for a drop cookie option since sometimes you want the essence of a cookie without all the rolling and cutting. Thanks!
I bought a tub of NON-hydrogenated vegetable shortening at Sprouts (both regular and butter flavor) and it turned out just like Crisco (but better since I knew it was healthier). I don't remember the brand, but it was on a display with the holiday baking items.
Like Anjali, I have Spectrum brand. My almost-four-year-old and I are going to whip up some dough now so we can roll out some ginger-people this afternoon!
Has anyone on here used fresh ginger in ginger bread cookies? I never had but I LOVE fresh ginger.
The photographs are really spectacular. Almost magical even.
I spent the day baking these cookies with my mother. I'd like to report that we are both still alive, despite the shortening, very full and extremely content. The recipe and experience are worth the .24 teaspoons of Crisco per cookie. :)
I must agree! The recipe and experience are worth the shortening! (And my first experience with shortening! ...I've avoided it up to this point in my life.)
Not at all like that hard-crusted-gingerbread you see at Starbucks. Like someone else mentioned, the texture is soft and bread-like on the inside with a slightly-more crunchier outside.
One minor quip. They did not spread very much for me. They mostly stayed in the shape of a scooped cone (from my small ice cream scoop). This may be partially because I packed in the cookie dough to the scoop, but I'm not sure. I'll try this recipe again without stuffing the dough into the ice cream scoop, and see how that goes.
I would prefer to use coconut oil instead of shortening, so if someone is willing to brave it, do share success/failure!