Frosted Ginger Cookies

These frosted ginger cookies are big, soft, and loaded with spice: a full tablespoon of ground ginger, plus cinnamon, cloves, and molasses in a butter-rich dough. The brown sugar buttercream frosting on top adds a caramel sweetness that plays perfectly against the warm ginger bite.

Molasses is what gives these cookies their deep, dark flavor and chewy texture. It’s hygroscopic, meaning it pulls moisture from the air, which keeps the cookies soft for days instead of going crispy overnight.

The frosting uses brown sugar instead of just powdered sugar, which adds a toffee-like depth. With butter, milk, vanilla, and a pinch of salt, it’s a proper buttercream that sets firm enough to stack the cookies but stays soft enough to bite through cleanly.

Kitchen Tips

• Don’t overbake. Pull them at 8 to 10 minutes when they still look slightly underdone. They firm up as they cool and will be perfectly chewy.
• Make sure the butter is at room temperature before creaming. The dough is heavy with flour and won’t mix properly with cold butter.
• Let the cookies cool completely before frosting. Warm cookies melt the buttercream into a runny mess.
• A tablespoon of ginger sounds like a lot, but the molasses and brown sugar balance it. Trust the recipe.

Variations

• Use caramel extract instead of vanilla in the frosting for an even richer, more caramel-forward topping.
• Add a pinch of black pepper to the dough for a subtle, lingering heat behind the ginger.
• Sandwich two cookies together with the frosting for a ginger cookie sandwich.