Name: Ginger Sparkle Cookies
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 12 min
Total time: 22 min
Ingredients: 1 cup sugar; 3/4 cup shortening; 1/4 cup molasses; 1 egg; 2 cups all purpose flour; 1 1/2 tsp baking soda; 1/2 tsp salt; 1 tsp cinnamon; 1/2 tsp cloves; 1/4 tsp nutmeg; 1 1/2 tsp ginger; 1/2 – 1 cup sugar on the side for rolling the cookies

Ginger sparkle cookies are a delicious and much beloved family recipe. This recipe creates chewy cookies with the scrumptious warmth of ginger, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg along with just the right amount of sweetness. Perfect for fall, Christmas and the holidays.

I hope you enjoy this recipe! ❤️ If you give it a try, please let me know how it turned out for you in the comments section at the bottom of the page or share a pic of your om noms on Instagram and tag @dishesanddustbunnies! ❤️

Get the Recipe at the bottom of the page!

Ginger Sparkle Cookies - the dough on the baking sheet before baking — The cookie batter, formed into balls, rolled in sugar and placed on the baking sheet, ready to go into the oven.

The history of ginger sparkle cookies

This recipe for ginger sparkle cookies is very special indeed! It's been a much beloved family recipe for a very very long time. My great Grammie Alice would make these in large batches for the family for Christmas time and other special occasions. Great Grammie taught my grandmother how to make them just right so that her son (my grandfather) could have his cookies just as he liked. ❤️

Some of my favourite and most cherished memories are of Christmas time and being able to choose from the many cookies and treats that my grandmother laid out after we had dinner. Ginger sparkle cookies were a favourite!

One of the challenging things about making this recipe was that I wanted them to turn out exactly how I remember them from my childhood. While the ingredients and amounts are the same as my family recipe, I wanted to make mine a little larger! Even with the size difference, they turned out exactly as I remember them, and I'm so glad for that!

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as my family has!

How to make Ginger Sparkle Cookies

Making ginger sparkle cookies is super easy! Here's a basic overview of how it's done – you can find the full recipe at the bottom of this. 🙂

Start by preheating your oven to 350°F. In a mixing bowl or a stand mixer, cream together sugar, shortening and molasses, then mix in the egg. In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients; flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ground cloves, nutmeg and ginger. Next, combine the dry ingredients with the wet.

Next, using your hands, roll the batter into small balls (about 1 tbsp in size), then roll them in sugar. Place them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper (spaced about 2 inches apart). Give each a little gentle pat on the top, then bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes. Allow to cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes, then transfer to cooling rack.

Keep in mind that not all the cookies will fit on one baking sheet, so you'll have to bake each sheet one at a time. So that the temperature is right, please make sure to only place one baking sheet in the oven at a time.

Get the Recipe at the bottom of the page!

Possible Variations

The original family recipe for ginger sparkle cookies created quite small ones. I chose to make them a little bigger than I had as a child, and they still turned out great! Feel free to make them small or a little bigger, depending on your preferences.

Also, before baking, the dough for these cookies are rolled in granulated sugar to create the sparkle of the cookies. I like to give a nice even coating of sugar on these, but feel free t adjust the amount depending on your preferences.