The first time I made this ginger cookie recipe was shortly after I started dating Wade. Wade had been munching on our gingerbread house we’d made from a gingerbread house kit, and I began to wonder if he had ever tasted a GOOD ginger dessert before. Like gingerbread house kit is not yummy. At all.

I know the boxes have nutrition facts on them, but that stuff is not meant to be eaten. I wanted to make him some actual DELICIOUS ginger cookies in the hopes that he would realize just how gross the storebought gingerbread houses are.

So, I came back the next day with a brown paper bag full of these cookies, which he loved, of course. Since that day, we’ve made this cookie recipe over and over and over again. They’re soft, delicious, and the flavors are stunning! We love the gingerbread + white chocolate combo.

There is simply not a more perfect Christmas cookie in the whole world… which unfortunately does lead to other problems… namely the fact that these cookies are always disappearing wayyyy too fast every time I make them.

Despite the fact that we still haven’t found a good solution to the mystery of disappearing ginger cookies, we do hope that you all will enjoy this recipe as well (and hopefully you all have better self control when it comes to ginger cookies haha).

Whether you’re eating these yourself, or sharing with friends and family, you will likely LOVE the elegance of this cookie. Though adding the white chocolate drizzle really isn’t that hard (shhh), everyone tends to think it looks amazing! Bonus: it tastes even better than it looks!

WHAT YOU’LL LOVE ABOUT THIS RECIPE

♡ These cookies are soooo SOFT… and they stay soft for several days if you keep them in an airtight container!

♡ Perfect BALANCE of sweetness

♡ You will love the SPICE! Not only is the combination of ginger, cloves, and cinnamon delicious, but so is the addition of a teeny-tiny bit of cayenne pepper!

♡ The ELEGANCE of the white chocolate drizzle! I’ve also seen a lot of other people dip their cookies in white chocolate, which does make for a smoother finish, BUT I think the drizzle results in a better balance between cookie and chocolate, AND it’s a lot easier.

♡ They taste like Christmas! :)

TIPS FOR MAKING THE BEST GINGER COOKIES

1) Don’t forget to roll the cookie dough balls in sugar! That added touch of sweetness really makes these so yummy, not to mention the resulting crystallized sugar coating… YUM

2) Cayenne Pepper - Either you love it or you don’t! It’s totally fine either way! Personally, I think it tastes INCREDIBLE in these cookies, but Wade would probably prefer to leave it out. Whatever your preference is, the cookies will be delicious… but if you don’t think you’ll enjoy having cayenne pepper in your ginger cookies, you should probably leave it out!

3) If you’ve never melted white chocolate for baking before, you may want to look up some detailed instructions so that process goes smoother! It’s super easy - just a few minutes in the microwave, depending on how much chocolate you’re using. Be sure to stir it every 30 seconds or so!

4) PARCHMENT PAPER! I’ve found that the easiest way to prevent messes with the white chocolate drizzle is to lay out the cookies on parchment paper. You can simply throw the paper away when you’re done and the cookies and chocolate don’t stick to it! Makes for super easy clean up.

HOW TO…

Begin by preheating the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large mixing bowl, beat together the butter and sugars until fluffy and well-combined. You’ll want the butter to be fairly soft before you start mixing. I’ve found that 10-15 seconds in the microwave are pretty near perfect if you’re using very cold butter.

Add in the molasses, vanilla, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and cayenne pepper. Beat until well-combined.

Stir in the egg.

Add in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Continue stirring the cookie dough until it starts forming a wet cookie dough ball.

Roll the cookie dough into small balls, depending on how big of cookies you’re looking to make. I generally use the standard cookie dough scoop (1 to 1.5 Tablespoons). Roll the cookie dough balls in a bowl of granulated white sugar, until each cookie dough ball is covered in a thin coating of sugar.

Place cookie dough balls on a cookie sheet. You’ll want to space them well… I usually do 12 cookies to a pan. Wade prefers flat cookies, so I also flatten each cookie with my fingers or with a fork. You don’t want the cookies to be too flat… I generally make them about the thickness of the width of my thumb.

Bake the cookies at 350 degrees F for 10-11 minutes. Cool on a baking sheet and then transfer to parchment paper for the white chocolate drizzle.

Once the cookies are arranged closely together on parchment paper, you can begin to drizzle the melted white chocolate over the top. It honestly just takes a lot of practice to get the drizzle to look nice. I’ll often practice a little bit before I start drizzling cookies. The great news is, that even if your cookies get big globs of white chocolate, they will taste amazing.

Allow the cookies to cool and the white chocolate to harden before removing from the parchment paper. Store in an airtight container until you’re ready to serve these.

Ingredients:

Directions: