Orange Glazed Gingersnaps - Easy Christmas Cookie Recipe (2024)

I’m taking traditional gingersnaps up a notch with my Orange Glazed Gingersnaps recipe! These cookies have a bright, citrusy flavor, and they’re perfect for your cookie trays!

When planning your holiday baking, be sure to add these Orange Glazed Gingersnaps to the list! They make the best Christmas cookies!

What comes to mind when you think of a traditional Christmas cookie recipe? You’re probably thinking about red and green iced cutouts, or maybe even gingerbread men. While these Orange Glazed Gingersnaps don’t boast the traditional Christmas colors, they are full of wonderful spicy winter flavor!

The dough for these cookies is quick and easy to whip up, and the finished product is a melt in your mouth cookie that is soft and delicious. You can’t ask for anything more in a Christmas cookie!

To start making these Orange Glazed Gingersnaps, cream together the butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer at medium speed. If you don’t have a stand mixer, you can use a hand mixer and a large mixing bowl instead. Next, add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.

After the eggs have been mixed in, pour in the vanilla and molasses and stir until combined. Then sprinkle the baking soda, ginger, cinnamon and cloves over the top of the wet ingredients. Stir those dry ingredients into the wet ingredients with a rubber spatula, being sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl when needed.

Finally, add in the flour and mix until combined and a dough forms. After you’ve made the dough, divide it into three equal portions and place each on an 18” long piece of plastic wrap or parchment paper.

Roll the three portions of dough into logs that are approximately 1 ½ inches in diameter. Place the dough into the refrigerator, and refrigerate until they are firm.

While the dough is chilling, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Also, line 3 baking sheets with parchment paper, silicone baking mats, or spray with cooking spray.

Side note- the term gingersnap comes from the “snap” the cookies make when you break them in half. However, I’m more of a soft cookie kind of girl, so this recipe yields a softer cookie. You can bake these at 375 degrees for firm, crisp cookies, or as directed for soft cookies.

Now onto the orange sugar! Add the sugar and orange zest to a shallow bowl. Use your fingers to combine the two until the sugar turns an orange color.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator, and cut it into 1/4 inch slices. Roll each slice in the orange sugar, then place the cookies 1 inch apart on prepared cookie sheets. Place the cookies in the preheated oven for 10 minutes on the center rack of the oven. If you’re baking multiple sheets at a time, rotate them halfway through.

After baking, remove the cookies from the pans and put them on a wire rack to cool. While the cookies are cooling, you can start on the orange glaze! Stir together the powdered sugar and orange juice, and drizzle over cookies when cool.

And there you have it!

Tools you might need to make these ginger snaps:

• As with any dough recipe, I love using my KitchenAid stand mixer. If you haven’t invested in one yet, a regular hand mixer will suffice.
• If you’re doing a lot of holiday baking, a few nice baking sheets are great to have. Especially for cookie recipes that make a few dozen!
• To save time on washing, I love using my silicone baking mats to line my baking sheets. You can also use parchment paper for this, too!

If you enjoyed these Orange Glazed Gingersnaps, check out these other delicious Christmas cookie recipes:

• Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
• Easy Soft and Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies
• Rice Krispies Treats Christmas Cookie Cutouts
• White Chocolate Candy Cane Cookies