Gingerbread Crinkle Cookies - RecipeMagik (2024)

FAQs

Why don't my crinkle cookies crinkle? ›

Why are my chocolate crinkle cookies flat? If your cookies turn out flat, the dough was either not chilled, or there was too much flour. Place your cookie dough no shorter than 4 hours, and be sure to measure carefully using a food scale or the spoon and level method.

A heavy amount of baking soda interacts with the molasses in this recipe to encourage spread. This allows cracks in the dough to develop where moisture escapes, creating that beautiful crackled appearance and crunchy texture. Ensure your baking soda is fresh and active – learn more about that here.

Again, go heavy on that confectioners' sugar layer. As the cookies bake, the confectioners' sugar coating crinkles and cracks as the cookies take their shape. Hence, the cute crinkle name.

Should gingerbread cookies be hard or soft? Soft gingerbread biscuits are ideal. They ought to be flexible. However, they should still be somewhat elastic, and if you hold them too firmly because you're so excited to eat them, you might even be able to leave your fingerprints on the cookie!

Baking cookies quickly in a hot oven – at 375 degrees F as opposed to a lower temperature – will make for soft results. They'll bake fast instead of sitting and drying out in the oven's hot air. Ever so slightly underbaking your cookies will give you softer results than cooking them the full amount the recipe says.

Not enough leavening (it needs to be strong enough to crack the top once it's set) Using a single-acting baking powder (double acting gives extra rise when it gets heated) Not creaming the fat long enough (creaming cuts little air pockets into the fat, which means the leavening has to do less work)

When the sugar and butter are whipped well, the butter is aerated, which encourages the cookies to crack as they bake. The baking soda that was used may have been a bit stale. Baking soda helps the ginger molasses cookies rise. If you worked with stale baking soda, your cookies may not crack like you expected them to.

“There are some gingerbread recipes that are hard right after baking and need to sit for a few days to soften. Molasses and honey hardens gingerbread, but as the sugar absorbs moisture, it will get softer.”

This is down to the ratio of ingredients in the dough, mainly. There is a high proportion of dry ingredients (i.e. flour, cocoa powder, ground almonds) to liquid ingredients (eggs, butter). This results in a drier dough which stops the cookies from spreading when baked.

Most English-speaking countries call crunchy cookies "biscuits", except for the United States and Canada, where "biscuit" refers to a type of quick bread. Chewier biscuits are sometimes called "cookies" even in the United Kingdom. Some cookies may also be named by their shape, such as date squares or bars.

Can I use baking soda instead of baking powder? ›

Baking powder is made of baking soda plus cream of tartar and cornstarch. Baking powder can be substituted for baking soda by tripling the amount of baking powder. Baking soda can be substituted for baking powder by dividing the amount of baking powder needed by 4 and adding twice that amount of cream of tartar.

Divide the dough into two thick disks and wrap each disk in plastic wrap. Refrigerate until chilled, about 3 hours. (The dough can be prepared up to 2 days ahead.) To roll out the cookies, work with one disk at a time, keeping the other disk refrigerated.

Dough should be soft (not dry or crumbly) but not sticky. If sticky, add a few tablespoons of flour until desired consistency is achieved.

Issues with cracking usually derive from the sugar coating, not enough or expired baking powder or baking soda, or the oven temperature isn't hot enough. Solution: Granulated sugar is more effective at drying the surface than powdered sugar.

You didn't press the batter down before sliding them into the oven. Your cookies will end up chewy when you leave the batter as-is. How can I make my cookies crunchy? Adding more butter to your recipe, baking your cookies longer, and letting them cool on the baking sheet will help give you crunchier cookies.