Big Soft Ginger Cookies

These cookies are delicious!! They are also easy to make but you need to let the mix sit for a good 40-50 minutes before rolling into cookie form, otherwise you'll just be playing with a big gooey mess. I wish I knew that before I got my hands in it.

WARNING...DANGER AHEAD...do not make these cookies unless you are on an all cookie diet. You have been warned.

Wow! These are the best cookies ever! They came out looking great - tasted even better! Like others, I also put the dough into the freezer for about 30 minutes. It makes a HUGE difference. I baked mine for 10 minutes - they still stayed moist. I am planning to give these cookies as gifts for Christmas. Thanks for the great recipe! **Unfortunately, these cookies didn't last long enough to give away as gifts. So I made another batch - this time I used fresh grated ginger, and instead of water for the liquid, I used Brandy-Orange Liqueur. What a difference! A nice taste for the holidays. Next time, I'll try Grand Marnier, Cointreau, Spiced Rum, etc....the possibilities are endless! Thanks again for the great recipe!

I made these cookies and followed the recipe exactly. My cookies tasted delicious but were flat. I re-made this recipe the next day, using 5 T of brown sugar instead of molasses and added no water. The cookies were able to be formed into balls immediately after mixing, no refrigeration necessary as other reviews have said. My second batch came out big, soft, and looking just like the picture.

I made these cookies for a cookie exchange. They were a big hit and people wouldn't stop eating them. My husband probably ate three dozen by himself. When rolling them into balls, spray cooking spray on your hands to keep them from sticking.

This recipe delivers...soft, fantastic ginger cookies. This is my first attempt ever at making ginger cookies and I am so happy with this recipe that it is already in my collection of favorites. I wanted to add...I froze a few and then put a scoop of vanilla ice cream between two for the most incredible ice cream cookie sandwich. They remind me of the ones found during the holidays in the shape of gingerbread men...I think Perry's makes them. I modified it a bit by using 2 1/2 c. flour to help with the stickiness of the dough-placing it in the refrigerator for an hour or the freezer for 15 min. also helps. I also increased the spices slightly, used 1 1/2 tsp of baking soda, added 1 TBSP vanilla and used brown sugar instead of white. I also used 6 TBSP butter and 6 TBSP of light butter because I didn't realize I was out of regular butter until I started the recipe. These are so good that you won't even need that air tight container LOL...Thank you Amy for this great recipe!

I just finished making these for Thanksgiving. I followed the directions exactly and they came out perfect. I did put the batter in the fridge for one hour, doing that made them easier to work with. O.k., the only complaint I have (and it is totally a taste preference)was that rolling them in sugar was a little overkill for me. They tasted very sweet (but really good). The sugar leaves an after taste. Hopefully by tomorrow the flavors will have mellowed out a little. I will make these again and will nix the rolling in the sugar. Update: On Thankgiving and the next day after these tasted better than when I first made them. I did have some comments on them being slightly sweet. I might just sprinkle some sugar on top rather than rolling the balls in sugar because these cookies are sooo good! Oh, and try putting some cool whip between two cookies, this makes a yummy cookie sandwich!

Yes, these are good and turn out perfectly, but I don't think they're as extraordinary as other reviewers seem to. This is a basic gingersnap recipe, found in nearly every cookbook, so there's nothing unique about it. For best flavor use butter, and chill your dough till semi-firm, about an hour, to make handling easier and to prevent them from spreading too much. I made mine a little bigger using a small ice cream scoop so they all turned out the same size, and "underbaked" them a bit to ensure a soft cookie. An easy cookie to make--perfect for the novice baker!

These cookies are absolutely delicious! I follow the recipe exactly as stated - and got exactly the results stated. This is by far the best recipe for cookies I have found on this site. If you haven't made these yet - make them - and add them to the top of your favorites list! On half of my cookies, I drizzled them with orange glaze to really bring out that ginger flavor. I just melted 1/2 cup of butter in a sauce pan, mixed in a cup of powdered sugar with 1/4 teaspoon grated orange rind and thinned it down with orange juice until it was the right consistency to drizzle (about 4 teaspoons of orange juice)

I am an avid baker and have been baking for many many years. I make over 4,000 cookies at Christmas time....and wanted to let everyone know that these cookies are definitely worth making and adding to your recipe collection. I made them the other night for my son to take away to wrestling camp, and they were eating them as quickly as I could make them. I had to shoo everyone out of the kitchen so I could finish. They were even eating the dough before I could get them baked! To overcome the problem of the dough being too soft to roll, all you have to do is refrigerate the dough for a few hours. I had no problem rolling them once the dough was chilled. I used all butter instead of margarine. Hope this helps.

SCRUMPTIOUS! I glazed them with the "Sugar Cookie Glaze" drizzled over the top flavored with orange extract to compliment the ginger nicely, and lightly sprinkled with cinnamon... Great recipe Thank you *Won 3rd place in a big dessert competition... not too shaby when it went up against favs...like cheesecake and such... I don't think I've ever received so many compliments on a cookie. The glaze definately made it heavenly though...

EXCELLENT. I love these cookies so much that this has become my all-purpose cookie recipe. If you leave out the spices, add an extra teaspoon of vanilla, and substitute pancake syrup (or corn syrup) for the molasses, you can use this recipe for anything. I've made lemon (add the zest of one lemon), chocolate chip (add 2 cups chocolate chips), and sugar cookies (sub half water, half corn syrup for molasses and add 2 tsp. vanilla) using this recipe with great success.

Simply the best soft ginger cookie I've ever tasted. I put dough in tightly covered container and refrigerated overnight. I believe the secret to making these perfect cookies is to be sure and flatten the dough balls before baking and bake just 8 minutes as suggested, even though cookies will not look "done". I also used orange juice as the liquid. This is now our favorite ginger cookie recipe! I also plan on putting 2 cookies together with my whoopie pie filling to create another treat we all enjoy.

My cookies came out melt-in-you-mouth awesome. I also did not have the sticky batter problem. I used a hand mixer to beat the sugar, butter, egg, and water until creamy. Maybe that was why. I did not alter a thing and found the recipe perfect. (I have eaten two while writing this). Also, I used 1/2 white and 1/2 brown sugar and the taste is out of this world!

I followed the recipe, but cut the cookies into gingerbread men. The men were difficult to get onto the baking sheet after cutting them because the batter is very, very sticky! The cookies were very delicious, although they weren't as soft as I expected. So if you plan on cutting them into gingerbread men and want them to remain soft, make sure your men are pretty thick-maybe 1/3 inch instead of 1/4. I cooked them for about 8 minutes and they came out perfectly.

Wonderful cookies! Before I made these, I read probably 1/2 the reviews and tips. I decided to make it with extra ginger.. simply divine! I saw in a few reviews that they added more flour, or they omitted the water (liquid) altogether.. I don't recommend this. You can add 1 Tbsp of liquid to any cookie recipe if you want it to be softer/chewier. This is the trick for any cookie recipe. Another tip, I took out the very first batch exactly at 10 mins, but they were falling apart as I was transferring it to the rack, so I carefully put them back on the baking sheet and waited for the batch that was in the oven to finish baking (14 mins is best for me) then I placed it back in the oven and it rose up again and after 5 mins it was perfect. For the extra sugar sprinkling, I dipped the bottom of the dough ball in sugar; placed it on the sheet, then I dipped my fingers in the sugar and flattened the tops halfway. I also found that you must cool completely before you put in a jar or they will fall apart and mush up. Thank you for this awesome recipe!

REVIEW #2 - First review is below. New alterations: Used all KA WW flour, 1/2C butter, 3T water (to make up for the first 2 changes) 2 rounded T ginger, 3/4t black pepper. Measured 1T balls. Rolled in sugar/ginger. Baked 14 min on a cold stone. They had big, deep cracks across the top, (first batch cooked 9 min & they looked done, but the middle was super raw, and didn't finish firming up on the stone) would be less time on a metal pan. Cooled 5min on stone. WONDERFUL! Didn't spread much (due to less butter), but rose up nice and fluffy. The tops fell while cooling, and were nice and flat - just like the other photos. Ooooh... my pregnant tummy approves! REVIEW #1 - I made these for a friend of mine who is pregnant. I was trying to replicate a super-spicy ginger cookie that actually helps with her morning sickness!! I ADDED 5 t. of EXTRA ginger and 3/4 t. fresh black pepper to make them spicy enough. They are AMAZING!! I made them tiny, because she needs tiny snacks throughout the day. They are soft in the middle and slightly crisp on the outside. I rolled them in 1/2C sugar mixed with 2t. ginger. Excellent recipe!!

I've never made Ginger cookies so thought I'd give it a try. I made 2 batches this wknd. They are awesome! I did a few changes based on preference and others reviews: fresh orange juice instead of water, brown sugar instead of white, 1/2 butter & 1/2 butter flavored crisco instead margarine, nutmeg instead of cloves. Chilled dough and pressed with fork. Cooked for 7 min. They are PERFECT. I also made icecream sandwiches with them and wrapped in foil. Filled the freezer. Soooooo Goooood! Thanks for a great recipe :+) UPDATE: made these many times, this time with all butter flavored crisco, all brown sugar and same subs as before. Rolled small balls in cinnamon sugar and placed on parchment paper, didn't flatten them out, cooked for 8 minutes. They are perfect size and taste awesome!

This is not the easiest recipe and almost scary to make. It does not look like it will come together but it does. The batter is sticky but the cookies would not come out as fabulous if it wasn't. I just pour sugar in a bowl for the coating process and even coated the bottom of the pub glass I used to smash them down with. I made this for work and everyone loved them. Messy recipe with wonderful results.

This is a great ginger cookie recipe. They are soft and delicious. The only thing I did different was use butter instead of margarine.

These cookies were absoluetly awesome! They were super easy, and everyone who had them LOVED them! They came out looking great with very little effort... I would really suggest you try making these delicious cookies! Have fun.

Very Good. These cookies are like soft gingersnaps! =P *TIP* Be sure to make them plenty small, because they flatten out a lot. (I used a stick of butter instead of the margarine) These are extremely sweet. I would decrease the amount of sugar to 3/4 cup at least, but I love the flavor of the molasses. These are a nice change from your typical chocolate chip cookie ~ and SO GOOD! (Great for the holidays!!) *TIP* Be careful not to overbake these!!! Unless you want *crunchy* ginger cookies! It is very easy to overbake them and make them crunchy. I had one batch come out soft (my preference) and the other batch come out crispy.

These cookies are absolutely delicious. I did have to bake them for the full 10 minutes. The person before me that suggested you drop spoonfuls of the dough in the sugar and roll it into balls there is correct. That is what I did. Thank you for posting this. They fairly flew off the platter. :-)

Ditto to all the other rave reviews. Found this recipe on AR several years ago and have been making these wonderful cookies since. There is no need to add additional flour to this recipe. If your dough is too soft or sticky to roll, put it in the fridge til it firms up. Use the bottom of a glass to flatten slightly. Perfect every time.

These are great!!! I used 1/4 c shortening and 1/2 c butter instead of the margarine. I also used 1/2 c white sugar and 1/2 c light brown sugar instead of 1 c white sugar. The dough is soft and hard to work with, but the cookies still come out round and taste great.

Well, I feel rather sheepish given the glowing reviews and the fact that I consider myself to be rather good in the kitchen. My cookies came out hard – just like regular ginger snaps. I followed the recipe exactly and baked the first batch for 10 min and the second for 8. However, I think I do know what the issue was. All the reviews stated that the dough was very sticky and hard to work with – mine was just perfect to work with. I live at a rather high elevation of 1083 metres (3556 feet) and the climate is very dry. Next time I’ll add more water or OJ and look at the consitency more closely.

these are fantastic! Crispy outside and soft inside. Worth the time and effect! A couple tips *use real butter *do not over soften the butter, that will help with them not spreading so much and the dough won't be nearly as soft. *place dough in freezer for 20 minutes *bake exactly 8 minutes (they will look underbaked, don't worry) *lastly, let them cool on the pan for 5 minutes. If you remove them too soon they will fall apart. *Them let them cool on a paper sack. The sack will trap any excess butter to make sure they aren't too greasy.

WOW THE BEST ginger cookie I've had in my life-- my husband's too!

***Edit*** If you have trouble with the dough being too sticky to roll, spray a little cooking spray on one hand, rub both hands together and you should have no problem rolling the dough into balls. What a great ginger cookie recipe. In my opinion, it has just the right combination of ginger, cinnamon and cloves. These cookies will puff up in the oven and make you think the end result is going to be a big soft (cake-like) cookie. Not so! After the proper length of baking time (mine needed the full 10 minutes) they will flatten, crinkle up a bit and end up being soft and chewy. There's no need to flatten these on your cookie sheets before baking as they do that on their own without any help.

I love these cookies. I do make a few changes though - I always add some cardamom to the batter, for a little extra spice. I also keep the batter in the fridge unless I'm actually scooping out cookies. I don't flatten them, either. They come out fluffy and perfect, every time.

First time making them for a group of friends and they were a success. Very soft and tasty.

This recipe is like the one that my dear grandfather used to make, and I could never get enough of his cookies:) Old fashioned, wonderful taste and chewy. I have been searching for a recipe like this and have finally found it. I plan on making these as christmas gifts and attaching the recipe to the tin. I too used the orange juice instead of the water. I used real organic butter, organic flour, sugar and pastured egg. I also used my saigon cinnamon for a very unique taste:) I believe in using the best quality spices, as it does make a huge difference. Enjoy these while you can, as they will not last long around your home.

YUMMITY-YUM. I ate a WHOLE batch in one day!!!!!!

After reading reviews I thought I would chime in with some advice about flat cookies. -use bread or unbleached flour. -use parchment paper -ALWAYS USE COLD DOUGH -NO dough on warm or hot cookie sheets -Using baking soda/powder that isn't fresh can make your cookies flunk, as can peeking at them by opening oven door repeatedly. -DO NOT over-mix in the creaming process. The friction WILL cause too much heat and flunk the cookies while baking. -If dough feels too "gooshy", add flour until it feels "springier". -During creaming, butter/margarine MUST BE COLD. -Adding even a "tad" too much of baking soda will flunk them. -And last...if doubling, tripling etc the recipe, you MUST measure ingredients by WEIGHT, not simply by doubling or tripling the original ingredients. VERY IMPORTANT. Fresh, well measured and cold ingredients will help all cookies to be better tasting and better looking. Hope this helped a little.

Vegan version was very good. Used palm shortening for margarine and flax seed for egg. Kids loved them.

Awesome cookie! A touch sweet for me, I'd cut down the sugar a tad next time. And I'm going to try icing them with cream cheese frosting next time too.

I didn't like ginger cookies until I tried these! Just the right amount of sweet and spice. The tip to slightly flatten the balls of dough is great, they end up looking store-bought but taste homemade.

These didn't look all that appealing, but the taste was fabulous! If you like ginger cookies, you'll LOVE this recipe!

I make mine with about 1 Tbl of fresh ginger, grated fine. Super gingery and so very good.

Ok I am seriously MAD. I don't get it. I am an experienced...GOOD cook. I have never had cookies fail like this. What is the deal? These cookies turned out terrible! The batter was unbelievably yummy, but it was very difficult to make the dough into balls even after chilling it in the fridge for 20 min and putting flour on my hands before every cookie. I know that I followed the recipe exactly. Before the time was even up, at like 7 min, these cookies were not done on top and burnt on the bottom and stuck to the cookie sheet! My oven doesn't overcook things usually? They were flat as heck...so those that said they needed to totally flatten them, I don't understand. The margarine I used was not melted, but the consistency/look of the finished cookies looked like it..bubbly, flat looking. I'm THINKING this recipe should have called for real butter? Sigh.

I followed the directions (not the ingredients) perfectly (butter instead of margarine, half brown sugar and half white, orange juice instead of water and did not use salt) and these came out perfect! I didn't even need to squish them at all before baking. They flattened to the perfect thickness and were soft and delicious. I'm not even a big fan of ginger cookies, but I ate two third of the batch I made :-)

Delish. My tip: store extras in the freezer, and for a snack, put a slab of vanilla ice cream between two cookies for an ice cream sandwich. Yum!

Much better success when I used butter instead of margerine.

This was the best ginger cookie I've ever had! Perfectly soft and tasty. The dough was a little sticky to work with and I almost added more flour, but I used spoons to make the balls and roll them in the sugar. It worked great and I'm glad I didn't add the extra flour because they turned out perfect! Next time, I may put the dough in the fridge for a bit to make it easier to work with, but the spoons worked really well.

DO NOT DOUBLE THEY COME OUT LIKE WATER AND IT DOES NOT GIVE YOU THE PROPER WAY TO ADD EVERYTHING.IT ONLY WILL TELL YOU TO ADD ONE CUP OF SUGAR TO THE MARGARINE WHEN YOU SHOULD ADD BOTH...THE ONLY WAY TO DO THESE WHEN DOUBLE IS TO REFRIGERATE THE DOUGH OVERNIGHT

Outstanding! I actually make these cookies quite small (about the size of a silver dollar) and bake them for only five minutes. They are ideal to serve with a pumpkin-cream cheese dip. These wonderful cookies have now become a favorite with me as well as many friends. Thanks for sharing this fabulous recipe.

I've been making this recipe at holiday time for the past two years--always with rave reviews. They are delicious and stay moist for a few days. I usually bake them as much as a month ahead of the holidays and freeze them, first wrapping them in press-and-seal wrap, then putting them in a freezer bag. Let them defrost on your counter and they taste like they did the first day!

I have made this recipe for years at Christmas. I do not add the water to the dough making easier to handle. For an extra treat I frost them with a lemon frosting. My family loves these. Frosting: 2 c. powdered sugar, 1/2 c. butter, softened, 3 T lemon juice

Awesome cookie! We eat a lot of gingersnaps in this house and this is the best yet.

I made these cookies tonight because I was in the mood to bake cookies and didn't have chocolate chips or oatmeal in the house to make my usual cookies. I am so glad I stumbled upon this recipe!!!! I followed the recipe exactly, except I used butter instead of margarine. These are my new favorite cookie! I made 2 dozen and I swear 4 of us ate 15 cookies already and it's only been a couple of hours since I took them out of the oven! They have the PERFECT texture, soft and chewy on the inside with a nice crisp edge. The flavor is phenomenal! I might even add a little extra spice next time to really spice it up. My dough was sticky and I was a little concerned about it at first, but they turned out beautiful! I didn't quite roll them into balls because of the stickiness, but that didn't seem to matter. They do spread a lot so make sure you leave plenty of room between each cookie. I'm putting this recipe in my book of all time favorites that I'm putting together for when my children are grown.

Boy, these 5 star ratings are getting kind of boring!! LOL! Honestly, these deserve all "the best" ratings! I have to admit that I did substitute brown sugar for the white (thought they would be even more moist), but other than that, stayed with the recipe. I felt the spices were right on and they turned out nice and spicy. Would highly recommend these!

TIP: Instead of margarine, try 1/2 cup butter. Also, decrease the amount of sugar to 3/4 cup. Throw in a few extra tablespoons of flour. I just made these 3 adjustments to the posted recipe and my cookies look exactly like the picture. Not flat at all. They are fabulous!

Like a lot of people, I used orange juice instead of water. Unlike another reviewer, I did NOT have to flatten them. They flattened like pancakes. Maybe it has to do with the altitude... When I did slightly flatten them, they turned out like gingersnaps you would buy at the store. (Only soft) :) If you freeze the dough it makes it VERY easy to handle. They are so delicious! Ok, I have to update this. I made them again. The first time I made them with crisco instead of margarine. They came out flat and chewy. DELICIOUS. The second time, I tried it with margarine and they COMPLETELY stuck to the airbake cookie sheet. Something I've NEVER experienced. BUT they came out puffy and VERY SOFT. (Just broken from scraping them off the sheet) Also, I tried them with the crisco and a little bit of brown sugar because I ran out of white, and they were TOO SWEET. Stick with the white sugar. I put the sugar cookie glaze on them with orange extract, but I definitely think they're better on their own. ALSO, the dough was MUCH more manageable with CRISCO rather than margarine - which to ME, is WORTH it. Hope this helps someone!

This was the worst cookie I've ever tried to make. The cookies didn't rise at all, and I even cooked it for 15 min and it was still not done. Maybe instead of baking soda, it should be baking powder? I'm not going to try the recipe again to find out. I am changing my stars to a 4. I only had to add about another 3/4 of a cup of flour and they turned out fine.

I made these cookies for christmas last year as gifts to co-workers and although I'm not a big fan of gingerbreadman cookies, I got rave reviews. A lot of my co-workers requested this recipe. A "must have" if you like gingerbread cookies.

Clearly something went wrong here. While my cookies tasted great, they were as flat as can be, greasy, and floppy (not set). All of these negative factors outweigh the good flavor. I reviewed the directions, and I don't see that I did anything wrong. I want thick, soft cookies with crackles on top like I see in the photos!

I am a pastry chef at a college. Since me make over 1400 cookies a day for students, I was looking for a recipe that would really "wow" them. My bakers and I re-calculated the recipe to about 740 cookies. We ran them through our cookie machine and they dropped beautifully. We sugared them and baked them in our large oven. We received more compliments on this cookie than any other we've done. THe taste, texture and shelf life of this cooke are great! We even ran out of some molasses and substituted the rest with Sorhgum syrup and they still were really tasty. We will definitely put this on our rotating menu.

Amazing!! The spice blend is perfect, and the cookies are soft and chewy. (except the last batch that I forgot to turn on the timer, they are more like ginger snaps, and they are delicious too:)

These cookies stay fresh and soft for over a week in the cookie jar. Great to eat with a warm cup of tea.

I did not try yet this recipe, but i am getting ready for christmas so I will give it a try this week. My lovely son adores cutting cookies and decorating them. I am thinking of adding more flour to the dough so we can cut stars, cars and so on. Did anyone tried it using this recipe? Reading the reviews , I am absolute sure that they will be fantastic, though i will be using dark honey(forest honey)instead of the molasses. So, please, if anyone has an idea on how to turn this dough into a shapeable dough, mostly my son will appreciatte it(lol) Thx

These are absolutely the best cookies! Chill the dough for at least an hour and it will not be so sticky. I also doubled up on the spices, used butter instead of margarine and melted the butter. This gives the desired flat look with the cracks instead of a puffy cookie.

YUMMO! Best cookie ever! I used butter because that is all I had. I rolled into balls, then rolled into sugar and then slightly flattened with a cup. They spread and were very thin. So the next ones I left in balls and they were PERFECT! So soft, and moist! I used the "Sugar Cookie Glaze" from here and drizzled over. Just delicious!

My mom loved these and she said that she might make them again in the 19 days that I am back at school for, between Thanksgiving break and semester break

I should have added the extra flour that some reviewers did. The cookies came out flat, but they were still good. My 2 yr old niece could not stop eating these. I changed the sugar coating to cinnamon sugar mixture and it tasted much better. Overall, a nice-tasting cookie.

Excellent cookies to give to friends and family for the holidays. Everyone love's them!

I made gingerbread men from this recipe and they were delicious and stayed soft for two weeks!

Made the cookies tonight as a double batch for a cookie exchange. I wasn't sure I'd have time to finish them as many reviewers recommended chilling the dough to roll it, but as it turns out I didn't need that step at all and they turned out perfectly. I think next time I'll drizzle them with icing. Anyway, I added OJ concentrate because I didn't want to bother mixing the orange juice. I didn't roll the cookies in sugar but even without it they were really quite good, and I cooked them for 8 minutes with great results. Seriously, the recipe was super easy and this evening I scrolled through the zero and one star comments to figure out why people didn't like it - I'm stunned. Don't worry too much about this recipe, they are easy and yummy cookies without any fancy steps. Oh, and if you worry about the molasses flavor (as one reviewer stated ruined her cookies, which I thought was funny because it's such a key ingredient), make sure to buy the MILD flavored molasses. The dark molasses is very strong, but most people can tolerate the mild in cookies and other baked goods.

This was a mild gingerbread. I prefer mine a little spicier. I will add more spice and molasses next time.

These are the best Ginger cookies I've ever made!

There is no way to describe how perfect these cookies are. Everyone who had them raved about them. I used orange juice as some other reviewers had suggested. I doubled the recipe and I do think I would have halved the cloves if they were for personal use, but I am not big on their flavor. I drizzled a mix of powdered sugar, milk and almond extract over them after they cooled. I will definitely be adding these to my holiday baking list!!!

I just whipped up these cookies... the last batch is in the oven now... They are GREAT!!! I took another "rater's" advice, and let it sit for about 45 minutes, prior to baking. And they are soft fluffy!!!! I also used butter instead of margarine, and added an additional 1/4 cup of flour (since there's many reviews mentioning it's 'wetness' and i didnt have time to refrigerate).... this gave it the perfect consistency to work with, without sacrificing the texture of this cookie. I also did not have any cloves, so I replaced that with 1/8 tsp nutmeg and 1/8 tsp of pumpkin spice. And for good measure (and because i love ginger) I also threw in 1/4 cup of finely chopped candied ginger. These cookies are perfect!!!! Sooooo yummy! I didnt have any oranges kicking around (to replace the water) but next time i'm going to give that a shot as others have!

used applesauce instead of margarine and whole wheat flour instead of regular flour....still amazing!!

Well, what more can I add to the already fabulous reviews - but these definitely are "Big, Soft, and full of wonderful Ginger flavor". I did sub orange juice for the water and the dough was a bit difficult at first, but chilled it and after that it was A LOT easier to work with... Overall, a great cookie for Christmas!

Amazing and so soft & chewy! I made them with whole wheat all purpose flour (trying to be healthier) and they came out great!

I was looking for a nice, thick, chewy, crackle-topped molasses cookie (like the one pictured).. unfortunately, I followed the directions to the letter and what I got out of this recipe was a large, puddle-like cookie that had a crunchy ring around the edge and a squashy, greasy center. I got the same result out of my second batch, thinking that maybe I'd done something wrong. Won't be making these again.

these disappeared quickly! i added freshly grated candied ginger and nutmeg and rolled in turbinado sugar. mmmmmm...

Wonderful flavor and easy to make, perfect recipe for a cookie. Chilled dough much easier to handle. A keeper in my house.

This is a simple recipe that produces BEAUTIFUL looking cookies! This has been super popular with friends and family. I've had many ask me to make them again, or for the recipe. Thank you for sharing! This will be the only Ginger Cookie recipe I use in the future.

These were awesome!!! My family loved them. I used my Pampered Chef cookie scoop and had 34 cookies, you may want to double the bach. You won't be disappointed. The only changes I made were to add 1/4 cup more flour and baked them for about 12 minutes until cookies started to crackle. They turned out perfect, very soft and chewy.

We love chocolate so it was strange that I even tried these cookies. Everyone in the family is glad I did! I used coarse sanding sugar on the outside. Delicious!

Loved the texture....followed the instructions exactly but "heaped" the measures when adding the spices. Wish I would have added more. They were really good, but I wanted just a bit more ginger-y taste.

sugar had to be added after baking cuz it got absorbed during baking. i baked for a little less than 8 minutes. very soft!!!!

AWESOME!!! So easy, (as long as you remember to refrigerate the dough) so fast and very tasty!!!

I was surprised to realize I have not reviewed these yet. I've made these cookies many, many times, and they always come out perfectly. The spices are just right, and the cookie is neither flat nor puffy - it's big and chewy. A real favorite of everyone who tries them!

WOW these are good! Nothing more to say!

Very good! Received great comments on these cookies. My only problem now will be deciding whether to make these cookies, the gingerbread biscotti recipe from this site, or the Spicy Gingerbread men. I love them all!

Great Cookie...wonderfully moist (I detest crunchy cookies). I did, however find that the dough was a bit too soft to roll into balls after mixing, so I popped the bowl into the freezer for a good 15 minutes, and it was perfect for rolling. It didn't matter if I made them flat before baking, as I forgot to do so for the first batch and then did so with the rest, and they all were uniform...couldn't tell the difference. Overall, easy and tasty!

soft & chewy, very easy to make

I wish I could give more stars!!! These are the BEST COOKIES EVER! Usually I'm all abut chocolate, but when I made these I skipped eating the chocolate treats to fill up on these! Making them now for the second time...this time I'm making a double batch!

Amazing cookies. Everyone begs for more! Sometimes I dip half of the cooled cookie in white chocolate and let harden. They are excellent!

A revision of my original review: add an extra 1/4 C. flour and chill for easy rolling and cutting. I added allspice and nutmeg for extra spice, and as previously mentioned, this also worked well with all butter instead of margarine.

Best I have ever baked or bought. Thank you.

Fantastic!! First time I made Gingerbread cookies. These are easy to make and come out perfect. I will be making these year round.

Great Recipe -- Will keep this one for my holiday baking for years to come! Perfect Ginger/Molasses cookie! Thank you!

Good flavor...needs more flour. Great with coffee!

These were great - tasted just like my grandmother's. Chilling the dough is important or else they will spread and get really thin while baking!

I had been searching for a recipe my god mother gave to me, which I lost. THIS IS IT!!!!! Yummy x10000!

I baked these for my husband and he loved them. Excellent cookies. I flatten them a little before baking.

This is almost the same recipe that was given to me by a friend. Her cookies are amazing. Her recipe has no water or white sugar. With that in mind I did not add water. Dough was easy to work with without refrigerating. Used about 1/8 cup dough for each cookie. Didnot press down. Baked 8 minutes. Nice and moist, looked similar to the cookies in the picture.