Soft and chewy on the inside and slightly crispy around the edges, these ginger biscuits or cookies are rather scrumptious. Quick and easy to make, you'll be baking them on repeat.
We're a family of huge ginger biscuits lovers (especially in the run up to Christmas).
Throughout December we tend to alternate between these gorgeously chewy stem ginger cookies and my melt in the mouth ginger shortbread cookies with an occasional almond pastry mince pie for good measure. It's nice to have a choice after all.
If, however, proper crunchy ginger nut or ginger snap biscuit is more your thing, these rascals are very easy to turn from chewy and into crunchy without any hassle at all!
They really are perfect ginger cookies which can be enjoyed well beyond Christmas festivities!
Also check out my Gingerbread Cake for another festive bake full of delightful stem ginger. Or if you'd rather go no-bake, this Vegan Biscoff Cheesecake is definitely worth a sin.
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✔️ Why you'll love this recipe
- Quick and easy festive cookie recipe.
- Beautifully chewy on the inside with slightly crispy edges, they're oh so moreish.
- Bake slightly longer for that ginger nut style biscuit if chewy is not your thing.
- Perfect for dunking (if you know you know)!
- Sweet and gently fiery at the same time just as good ginger biscuit should be.
- They're vegan although you wouldn't have guessed.
📝 Ingredients
Here's what you will need to make my Chewy Ginger Biscuits:
Plain (All-Purpose) Flour - This is the flour most of us have in our cupboards, but if you happen to have some self-raising flour handy you can use it here instead (just don't forget to leave out baking powder).
Baking Powder - Only add when using plain (all-purpose) flour.
Baking Soda - Helps with chewiness and for cookies to spread when in the oven.
Caster Sugar - Helps to get those crunchy edges. You could use granulated sugar here instead.
Brown Sugar - Adds moisture and helps with chewiness.
Golden Syrup - Familiar and easily accessible to my readers in the UK, it might be tricky to get hold of somewhere else in the world.
The best substitutes would be honey (if you're not vegan), agave syrup, or light molasses. Corn syrup should also work. They all have slightly different flavour profiles although not enough to affect these cookies too much.
***Quick Tip*** You could also use black treacle (dark molasses) in place of golden syrup but your biscuits will be much darker in appearance and their flavour will be slightly different although still nice and gingery.
Vegan Block Butter - I like using salted vegan butter for that extra flavour but you can use unsalted if you want and add a pinch of salt to your dry mix (or not).
Neutral Oil or Light Olive Oil
Ground Ginger - It goes without saying that ginger cookies must have ginger in them.
Ground Cinnamon - My favourite spice of all hence I used it here as well. You can substitute it with mixed spice (same amount), touch of nutmeg and ground cloves (¼ teaspoon of each will do) or use ground ginger on its own.
Stem Ginger - For me it's a star of the show with its sweet and spicy flavour profile. It adds some gentle heat and makes these biscuits simply the best.
However, if you are not a fan you can simply leave it out, these biccies will still be delicious.
🔪 Instructions
Ingredient quantities & detailed instructions to be found in recipe card at the bottom of the post.
Preheat the oven to 170°C(Fan)/340F/Gas Mark 5.
In a large bowl mix together plain (all-purpose) flour, baking powder, baking soda, ground ginger and ground cinnamon.
***Quick Tip*** I like using small whisk to mix dry ingredients but you could sieve them all into a bowl instead.
Put butter, both types of sugar, golden syrup and oil in a medium saucepan and warm it up on a medium low heat (stirring gently with a spatula) until butter melts and you get a smooth mixture.
Pour butter mixture over the flour, add chopped stem ginger (f using) and start mixing it with a silicone spatula or a spoon.
Towards the end of mixing, use your hand to bring the dough together into rough oval/ball shape.
Line couple of baking trays with some baking paper.
Divide biscuit dough into approximately 20 equal balls (roughly size of a walnut) and place them on prepared baking sheets making sure you leave enough room for biscuits to spread.
Flatten each biscuit gently with your hand and bake in preheated oven for 10-15 minutes, depending on desired crispness.
***Quick Tip*** For chewy on the inside and slightly crispy around the edges ginger biscuits - bake for 10 minutes. If you prefer them on a crispy side, more like ginger nuts or ginger snaps bake for 13-15 minutes.
Ginger cookies will be quite soft when you take them out of the oven hence it's important to let them rest on the baking tray for 5-10 minutes before transferring them onto wire rack to cool completely.
🥡 Storing
Store: Ginger biscuits keep really well and should last in the biscuit tin for up to a week (good luck with that though).
The longer they're stored the softer they'll get although if you do baked them longer for that crispy ginger snap effect they should stay crispy for 3-4 days.
Freeze: You can freeze biscuits (once completely cool) in a single layer on a baking sheet that fits in your freezer. Once frozen solid simply transfer them into freezer friendly ziplock style bag for easy storage.
Alternatively, freeze them in a freezer safe container separated with some baking paper to prevent them from sticking.
Freeze for up to 3 months.
Defrost: Take desired amount of cookies out of the freezer and leave them out on the plate or a cutting board on the kitchen counter. They'll defrost in couple of hours.
💭 Pro Tips
For best results use digital scale when measuring out ingredients for baking.
When measuring out golden syrup or its substitute, use grams or ounces function on your scale.
Use oven thermometer to ensure the correct temperature of your oven.
Don't be too heavy handed when flattening the biscuits, all they need is gentle squash or you can even leave them as they are for chunkier cookies.
Make sure to leave some room on the baking tray for the biscuits to spread.
Ginger cookies will be quite soft when out of the oven so it's important to let them sit on the baking tray until set before moving onto wire rack to cool completely.
Bake for 10 minutes if you want chewy on the inside and slightly crispy around the edges cookies or 13-15 minutes for ginger snaps style, crispy biscuits.
Ingredients we use differ so if you find the dough to be quite dry you can always add a little bit of soya or oat milk (teaspoon at a time) to help it come together.
The less deviation from the recipe the better results!
❓FAQ
Yes you can. Freeze little balls of dough which you can bake straight from frozen or alternatively, defrost the dough in the fridge overnight.
If baking from frozen you will need to allow for extra baking time.
Yes, you can keep pre-made dough in the fridge for couple of days. Dough might be a bit stiff when you take it out of the fridge so feel free to let it come to room temperature before baking.
Have you tried my Chewy Ginger Biscuits?
Please consider giving it ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating in recipe card below and share your views or tips in the comments.
📋 Recipe
Chewy Ginger Biscuits
Equipment
Ingredients
- 300 g plain (all-purpose) flour see notes
- 3 teaspoon baking powder only use with plain flour, see notes
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon see notes
- 85 g caster or granulated sugar
- 85 g brown sugar
- 100 g vegan block butter see notes
- 1 tablespoon neutral oil or light olive oil
- 70 g golden syrup see notes
- 75 g stem ginger in syrup finely chopped, see notes
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 170°C(Fan)/340F/Gas Mark 5.In a large bowl mix together plain (all-purpose) flour, baking powder, baking soda, ground ginger and ground cinnamon.***Quick Tip*** I like using small whisk to mix dry ingredients but you could sieve them all into a bowl instead.300 g plain (all-purpose) flour, 3 teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 4 teaspoon ground ginger, 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Put butter, both types of sugar, golden syrup and oil in a medium saucepan and warm it up on a medium low heat (stirring gently with a spatula) until butter melts and you get a smooth mixture.85 g caster or granulated sugar, 85 g brown sugar, 100 g vegan block butter, 1 tablespoon neutral oil or light olive oil, 70 g golden syrup
- Pour butter mixture over the flour, add chopped stem ginger (f using) and start mixing it with a silicone spatula or a spoon. Towards the end of mixing, use your hand to bring the dough together into rough oval/ball shape.75 g stem ginger in syrup
- Line couple of baking trays with some baking paper.Divide biscuit dough into approximately 20 equal balls (roughly size of a walnut) and place them on prepared baking sheets making sure you leave enough room for biscuits to spread. Flatten each biscuit gently with your hand and bake in preheated oven for 10-15 minutes, depending on desired crispness.***Quick Tip*** For chewy on the inside and slightly crispy around the edges ginger biscuits - bake for 10 minutes. If you prefer them on a crispy side, more like ginger nuts or ginger snaps bake for 13-15 minutes.
- Ginger cookies will be quite soft when you take them out of the oven hence it's important to let them rest on the baking tray for 5-10 minutes before transferring them onto wire rack to cool completely.
- Enjoy!
Notes
- Nutritional information is approximate, per biscuit (based on 20 biscuits) and should be treated as a rough guideline only.
- Self-raising flour can be used in place of plain (all-purpose) flour.
- If using self-raising flour, don't add baking powder.
- If you don't like cinnamon, you can swap it for same amount of mixed spice or ¼ teaspoon each of ground nutmeg and cloves. You can also leave it out without any substitution.
- I like using salted vegan butter, but if yours is unsalted you can add small pinch of salt to your dry mix (optional).
- Golden syrup can be substituted with honey (if not vegan), agave syrup, light molasses or corn syrup. Dark molasses or dark treacle could also be used but they will change the flavour and colour of ginger biscuits. Feel free to try.
- Stem ginger in these biscuits is completely optional although I would highly recommend it. Feel free to reduce quantity or leave it out completely, cookies will still be delicious.
- Sore in the air tight container for up to a week or freeze for up to 3 months. For more details see 🥡 Storing
Carter says
Never have I ever baked and the outcome be good. Well, today I baked and that all changed. Jo - this recipe will most likely become THE recipe for any biscuit I ever bake, ever again, not just ginger. These ginger biscuits were simply phenomenal, and I’m no baker. But I certainly feel like one now. Thank you very much.
joskitchenlarder says
Thank you so much Carter for your kind words. I'm super happy to hear that you've enjoyed the biscuits so much. Feedback like this is why I do what I do. 😊
lisaiscooking says
I love a crackle-top cookie, and these look delicious!
joskitchenlarder says
Thank you so much!🙂
Edward.H says
Hi Jo,
Your Ginger biscuits are absolutely brilliant! We loved them so much, that we baked another batch for the family to enjoy on Christmas day.
Thank you!
joskitchenlarder says
Hi Edward and thank you for such a lovely comment. I'm so pleased to hear that biscuits went down so well.🙂