These high altitude gingerbread crinkle cookies are soft and chewy, flavored with molasses and warm winter spices, and coated in snowy powdered sugar. This is a cozy Christmas cookie that’s easy to make!
You might also love these recipes for baked gingerbread doughnuts, iced chocolate gingerbread cookies, and maple gingerbread bars.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Easy to Make. The dough comes together quickly and easily with just a bowl, whisk and spatula. You will need to chill the dough for a couple hours, though, to ensure the cookies don’t spread too much.
Soft and Chewy. If you love old fashioned cookies for the holidays, these soft and chewy gingerbread crinkle cookies are a wonderful recipe to add to your Christmas cookie baking list. The dough balls are coated in powdered sugar, and as the cookies bake and expand, they crack and crinkle, revealing the spiced gingerbread cookies under a blanket of snowy powdered sugar.
High Altitude Tested. I develop all the recipes on my site for Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet. If you’re at a lower or higher elevation, please see my FAQs for guidance on adjusting recipes for your altitude.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.
Ingredients
- Flour. All purpose flour gives the cookies structure and strength.
- Baking Powder. Leavening agent, so the cookies puff up as they bake.
- Salt. Balances the sweetness.
- Spices. A blend of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, allspice, cardamom and vanilla adds flavor and warmth.
- Butter. Adds moisture and a rich flavor.
- Sugar. You’ll need dark brown sugar for the cookies, to add sweetness and help them to spread, as well as powdered sugar for coating the cookies.
- Molasses. The molasses add a richer color and a classic gingerbread flavor to complement the spice.
- Eggs. The eggs add moisture, structure and strength.
Instructions
- In a bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and spices, then whisk until evenly distributed.
- Separately, whisk together the melted butter, brown sugar, molasses, eggs and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and use a spatula to stir everything together into a soft dough.
- Cover the bowl, and refrigerate the dough for 2 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Use a medium cookie scoop with a release lever to portion the chilled dough into 20 portions. The dough will be sticky. Roll each portion into a smooth ball between your hands, then coat in the powdered sugar.
- Place the cookies 3 inches apart on the baking sheet. Bake for about 10 minutes, until the cookies have puffed and spread slightly, the edges are set, and the cookies are cracked on top. Let cool on the baking sheet for 1 minute, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common baking questions, so that you can be successful in your own baking!
Frequently Asked Questions
Store the leftover cookies in a single layer in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Surprisingly, no, the powdered sugar does not melt as the cookies are stored.
Yes, you can freeze leftover cookies. Be sure they are completely cooled, since you don’t want any moisture from steam trapped in the container, which will melt the powdered sugar. Freeze cookies in an airtight container for up to 2 months.
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High Altitude Gingerbread Crinkle Cookies
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- Medium Cookie Scoop with Release Lever (approximately 1 1/2 tbsp capacity)
Ingredients
- 1 ⅔ cup all-purpose flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
- ¾ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 1 ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 ¼ tsp ground ginger
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- ¼ tsp ground allspice
- ⅛ tsp ground cardamom
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, melted
- ⅔ cup dark brown sugar, lightly packed
- 1 tbsp original molasses (not blackstrap)
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ cup powdered sugar
Instructions
- In a bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and spices, then whisk until evenly distributed.
- Separately, whisk together the melted butter, brown sugar, molasses, eggs and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and use a spatula to stir everything together into a soft dough.
- Cover the bowl, and refrigerate the dough for 2 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Use a medium cookie scoop with a release lever to portion the chilled dough into 20 portions. The dough will be sticky. Roll each portion into a smooth ball between your hands, then coat in the powdered sugar.
- Place the cookies 3 inches apart on the baking sheet. Bake for about 10 minutes, until the cookies have puffed and spread slightly, the edges are set, and the cookies are cracked on top. Let cool on the baking sheet for 1 minute, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Store the leftover cookies in a single layer in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
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