Every October and November during high school, all of the members of our marching band loaded instruments, uniforms, and piles of homework onto five big charter buses each Saturday morning. We left the campus by 5 am and returned after midnight to spend the entire day competing in a band review. With a parade in the morning, a field show at night, and occasionally a few orchestra performances during the day, we barely had time to rest!
Championships, our final competition of the season, fell on the Saturday right before Thanksgiving. We spent hours perfecting every note and stride during the preceding week to try to bring home the special trophy, which stood almost 5 feet tall.
As the “unofficial” head section leader of the flutes during my senior year, I organized little goodie bags to pass out every weekend. I normally brought something small like a homemade muffin and orange juice, but for Championships, the three other flute section leaders and I planned something even better.
I invited them, plus two of our really close flute friends, over to my house the Friday afternoon before, and we baked more than a hundred cookies for our section. With at least four different flavors of cookie dough to mix up, we ran out of bowls and used the Tupperware top of a cake carrier to stir together the last batch of chocolate chip!
Because Championships fell so close to Thanksgiving and the holiday season, we all agreed that a spiced cookie felt necessary, so we baked gingersnaps. Soft in the middle, crunchy on the outsides, and coated in glittery sugar. They disappeared from everyone’s goodie bags by 7 am, but it took a whole lot more time to shape and flatten them to bake the night before!
These healthy soft baked ginger cookies are an even easier and healthier version of those! No rolling or flattening the dough, and no messy sugar coating either. These are made with entirely wholesome clean eating ingredients, yet they still have that same festive and cozy spice flavor that you know and love!
These are recipe #4 in this holiday season’s “Cookie Week” on Amy’s Healthy Baking! First we made rainbow chocolate chip cookies, then eggnog snickerdoodles, followed by peppermint mocha cookies. The final recipe is another true holiday classic!
KEY INGREDIENTS TO MAKE HEALTHY SOFT BAKED GINGER COOKIES
Time to talk about what you’ll need to make these healthy soft baked ginger cookies! Since you probably have common baking staples like vanilla, baking powder, and salt in your cupboards already, we’ll stick with the more interesting ingredients.
Spices. In order to create the iconic flavor of gingerbread — whether cookies, loves, or even gingersnaps! — you need two important ingredients. The first is obvious… Ginger! It provides that classic “zing” of bright spicy flavor. I love how fun and festive it tastes during the holiday season!
To round out the spice profile and add a cozy background warmth, you’ll also mix in a bit of cinnamon. If you can find it, I highly recommend Saigon cinnamon! This is the one I use. It has a slightly stronger, sweeter, and richer flavor compared to regular cinnamon. I’m obsessed!
Molasses. The second important gingerbread ingredient? Molasses! It’s an unrefined sweetener with a similar thick and viscous consistency as honey, and it has a really deep and rich flavor.
For these cookies, you’ll need regular unsulphured molasses — not blackstrap! The latter tastes rather bitter, yet the former is much sweeter in comparison. Molasses brings a warmth to the cookies that’s absolutely irresistible and nearly impossible to replicate, so don’t skip it!
Hint: Although many people only use molasses during the holiday season for gingerbread treats, my family and I actually mix it into our homemade whole wheat bread rolls. So good!
Sweetener. To brighten the sweetness of these healthy ginger cookies, you’ll also add honey. Yes, you do need to use both molasses and honey! I don’t recommend substituting one for the other. The balance of both yields the best flavor!
Unsalted butter. Just a bit! Unlike many traditional recipes that call for ½ cup or more, you merely need 2 tablespoons to make this one. That helps keep your healthy ginger cookies low calorie and low fat!
And to make these even easier and faster to make, you’ll melt the butter. No waiting around for it to soften… And I found that using melted butter yields a softer and chewier texture too. It’s a win-win!
Tip: Coconut oil works perfectly too, if you’d like to make your healthy soft baked ginger cookies dairy-free!
Egg. Fairly predictable, I’m sure! The egg binds together the other ingredients.
Flour. To make these soft baked ginger cookies healthier, I opted for whole wheat flour. It has added fiber and micronutrients compared to all-purpose flour. The ginger and molasses completely mask any sort of “wheat-y” flavor, so these cookies don’t taste “healthy” at all — just extra cozy and comforting!
Tip: If you’d like to make your healthy soft baked ginger cookies gluten-free, then see the Notes section of the recipe. I’ve included how to do so there!
HOW TO MAKE HEALTHY SOFT BAKED GINGER COOKIES
Time to talk about how to make the best healthy ginger cookies! The cookie dough itself is really quick and easy to make. Once you’ve mixed everything together, these tips should ensure that your batch of cookies turns out perfectly soft, chewy, and full of festive flavor!
Chill. Because of the molasses and honey, this cookie dough is wet… Very wet. When you first mix it up, you’re going to call me crazy. It looks more like thick muffin batter than cookie dough!
So chilling is mandatory! Chilling helps stiffen the cookie dough so it won’t spread as much while in the oven. Do NOT skip this step! If you did, your cookies would completely flatten out into one massive blob on the baking sheet. It’s amazing what a difference a stint in the refrigerator can make!
Drop + shape. After chilling, the cookie dough will still be sticky — but no longer wet and runny! — so pretty pretty please, don’t even try to use your hands. Instead, grab a spoon and spatula to drop it into rounded mounds on your baking sheet.
You can also use the spatula to shape the mounds of cookie dough to be taller than they are wide. This will further prevent spreading and create thicker cookies. (I love using a mini spatula to shape cookie dough! It’s so handy — and one of my favorite kitchen tools. I own at least a dozen of them!)
Hint: Do not flatten these either! As long as all of the ingredients were measured correctly, they would turn into one big cookie blob on the baking sheet.
Bake. Keep an eye on these cookies! (Or if you’re anything like me, you’ll be tempted to sit in front of the oven and watch them the entire time…) They’re ready to come out of the oven when the centers still look and feel a little underdone.
That’s right — don’t wait until they’re completely firm! That leads to cakey or bready cookies. Pull them out a bit sooner, when the centers are still a teensy bit squishy, and then let your cookies cool on the warm baking sheet. The residual heat will cook those centers all the way through, without drying out the cookies. This is my #1 trick for the perfect soft-baked cookie texture!
These cookies filled my house with the smells of Christmas… Warm, cozy, and oh so festive! So bake a batch of these as fuel for your holiday shopping or as a treat to nibble on while covering gifts in wrapping paper and bows. I’m sure Santa wouldn’t mind enjoying a few of these cookies on Christmas Eve either!
And when you make your own, remember to snap a picture and share it on Instagram using #amyshealthybaking and tagging @amyshealthybaking IN the photo itself! (That guarantees I’ll see your picture! 🙂 ) I’d love to see your healthy soft baked ginger cookies!
Healthy Soft Baked Ginger Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups (150g) whole wheat flour or gluten-free* flour (measured like this)
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 ½ tsp ground ginger
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp salt
- 2 tbsp (28g) unsalted butter or coconut oil, melted
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ cup (60mL) molasses (not blackstrap!)
- 5 tbsp (75mL) honey
Instructions
- Whisk together the flour, baking powder, ginger, cinnamon, and salt in a medium bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the butter or coconut oil, egg, and vanilla. Stir in the molasses and honey. Add in the flour mixture, stirring until just incorporated. Chill the cookie dough for 30 minutes, or up to 2 hours. (If chilling longer than 2 hours, cover the cookie dough with plastic wrap – and see Notes!)
- Preheat the oven to 325°F, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- Using a spoon and spatula, drop the cookie dough into 15 rounded scoops onto the prepared baking sheet. Bake at 325°F for 12-15 minutes. Cool on the pan for at least 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.
Notes
View Nutrition Information + Weight Watchers Points
You may also like Amy’s other recipes…
♡ The Ultimate Healthy Cut-Out Gingerbread Cookies
♡ Healthy Gingerbread Oatmeal Cookies
♡ Healthy Gingerbread Snickerdoodles (Gingerdoodles)
♡ Healthy Classic Gingerbread
♡ Healthy Gingerbread Oatmeal Muffins
♡ Healthy Gingerbread Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies
…and the rest of Amy’s healthy gingerbread-flavored recipes, healthy holiday cookie recipes, and all of her healthy holiday recipes!
Such fabulous soft ginger cookies!! I could go for a few of these right about now! 🙂
Thanks Jocelyn! 🙂 I’d love to share them with you!
Hi Amy I decided to try this again, hopefully it will turn out as the pictures show! However this time I’m only left with whole meal flour, does that work the same or should I get whole wheat flour?
You’re so sweet to try my cookie recipe for a third time Sylvia! I haven’t tried this recipe with whole meal flour, but I’m afraid it might be more absorbent than whole wheat, which may result in drier cookies that don’t spread as much like in your previous batches. If you don’t mind buying whole wheat flour, I’d really recommend it because I know the cookies will turn out with that!
Hi,
Would love to give those cookies a try :). I am a little confused. How many eggs do you use for this recipe?
Looking forward to hear from you soon 🙂
Janneke
Just one egg Janneke! I hope you enjoy the cookies!
Hello, when I searched pinterest for a healthy ginger cookie, yours was the first to pop up! My batch of 10 just came out of the oven, they tasted amazing! I rolled the dough out and used my cookie cutter to make the traditional ginger man shape. I didn’t have any molasses, so instead I just used 1/4 of honey in the entire batch. Next time I will be using less baking powder, because I can taste it just a wee bit. Thank you so much for this recipe, it will be used a lot this Christmas season.
I’m so glad you enjoyed the cookies Gracie! I hope you have a wonderful holiday season! 🙂
I used coconut flour, it must be way more absorbent because it didn’t turn out. Just became dry in the ball form and crumbled when I touched it. Lol. I will definitely be trying it with wheat flour next time.
Yes, coconut flour behaves very differently than other flours! It’s much more absorbent, like you guessed, so I do not recommend substituting it into a recipe unless it’s specifically called for in the ingredients list. I hope you enjoy the cookies with whole wheat flour Krissy!
this only made 6 cookies for me :S how many did other ppl get?
The recipe yielded a full 15 cookies for me! 🙂 I hope you enjoyed them Jess!
Can I use regular flour?
Yes, all-purpose flour will work. I’m excited to hear what you think of the cookies Kristin!
Love this recipe!! I’m going to make these this week! What would you suggest to use as a substitute for molasses?
As I wrote in the text of my blog post, I really don’t recommend substituting anything for the molasses because its what gives these cookies their iconic gingerbread-like flavor. It’s shelf-stable and keeps for ages, so if you can find it at the grocery store (it’s typically very inexpensive too!), then I highly suggest picking some up. In a pinch, additional honey may be substituted, but the cookies won’t taste the same. I’m excited to hear what you think of them Kym!
Fantastic cookies
third recipe that I tried, thank you!
I substituted white grape juice, 1/4 cup for honey and it tastes great- just what we had
and we added 4 walnuts crushed
I’m so glad you enjoyed the cookies Linda! That means a lot to me that you’ve been enjoying many of my recipes! 🙂
Hello.do you tink it is possible to shape the dough into cookies and then chill them before baking?
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Vanessa! This cookie dough is incredibly wet and sticky when you initially mix it up, and it’s still too sticky to share with your hands after chilling in Step 1. (You’ll want to use a spoon and spatula to drop it onto the baking sheet!) If you have room to put the entire baking sheet into your refrigerator once you’ve dropped the cookie dough onto it, then yes, you can chill the cookie dough like that! 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you think of the cookies!