Sweet molasses with tangy ginger and bright orange, these chewy chocolate orange ginger cookies are the perfect holiday treat that you’ll crave all year. Made with cashew butter and coconut sugar, the dough is naturally grain-free and comes together in 5 minutes. They are so soft and chewy that family and friends (both grain-free and grain-full) request and love them every year but especially during the holiday season!
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Jump to:
- Why We Love This Recipe
- Recipe Ingredients and Notes
- Substitutions & Variations
- Recipe Testing Notes
- How to Make These Ginger Cookies (with photos & video!)
- Helpful Tips
- Common Questions
- Need a Drink to Dip Your Cookie In?
- Recipe
- Facts and Common Questions
- Want to Save it for Later? Here’s how!
- More Joyful Recipes!
Why We Love This Recipe
Late one night last week I had a hankering for soft ginger cookies. So, I grabbed my trusty chocolate cookie recipe and went to work adapting it with what cashew butter and almond butter we had in the pantry.
Now I should backtrack that I had researched ginger cookies on Google. I just had it set in my head that ginger and orange would be great together but I also had my beloved chocolate chunks in the pantry that literally make anything better. So I needed to make sure these flavors would work together.
My research showed that people have combined ginger and orange and ginger and chocolate but not all 3. Was I crazy?? Only one way to find out and that's try!
As I was placing the batter onto the baking sheet, I had a quick taste test and did a full-on happy wiggle in excitement at how good it was. Then about 5 minutes into them in the oven, Dan peaks up from his phone to ask what I was doing, to which I obviously replied “Nothing”. So I knew I was on to something!
The resulting cookies were soft and chewy but crisp on the outside, with pockets of dark chocolate gold. The only issue was they were slightly overbaked so I set out to test them again. This would turn into testing them 5 more times to get the flavor and texture just right (we have a lot of cookies in the house right now as you can see from the photo).
What ended up is a cookie dough that is shockingly easy to put together (fool-proof really), that doesn't require separating dry ingredients from wet ingredients, and a very fast cookie that only takes 10 minutes to bake. This ginger cookie recipe is so good people assume it must be packed with flour and butter which ranks it #1 in our holiday dessert recipes and top of the list for easy to make recipes!
We hope you love them as much as we do!
Recipe Ingredients and Notes
- Cashew butter: The cashew butter must be creamy and dripping. If it’s not, you may need another egg to make up for the lack of moisture. Target cashew butter is the best for these cookies.
- Ground ginger: This is ideal for cookies because it adds flavor without affecting the texture like fresh ginger or crystallized ginger. But, powdered ginger looses it's flavor after about a year so for really spicy ginger cookies, use newish ground ginger.
Substitutions & Variations
All substitutions are a 1:1 substitute unless otherwise noted.
- Cashew butter: You can use drippy almond butter or dripping peanut butter. But I should note that peanut butter ginger cookies are a completely different flavor.
- Coconut sugar: Coconut sugar has a lower glycemic index than brown sugar or white sugar (meaning it won’t cause you to crash when paired with the protein and fats in the cashew butter) which is why I prefer to use it. You can use brown sugar though instead.
- Orange zest: You can use either the zest from 2 cuties or mandarin oranges or the zest from half of a standard orange.
- Dark chocolate chunks: Please, please, please use chocolate chunks or a chopped-up chocolate bar - more chocolate is always better. Trader Joe’s has ones that are dairy-free and vegan chocolate but not crazy expensive. Otherwise, any chocolate chunks (or chocolate chips if you want a cookie that isn’t as good) will work.
This recipe has not been tested with other substitutions or variations. If you replace or add any ingredients, please let us know how it turned out in the comments below!
Recipe Testing Notes
Throughout our testing of these ginger and orange cookies, we learned what worked and didn't work. Here are the key takeaways!
- Overbaking: I tested this ginger chocolate chip cookie recipe so many times with various bake times from 7 minutes to 15 minutes. 10 minutes is the sweet spot. They will look puffed up and you’ll think they will be lame cake cookies. As you remove them from the oven, they will deflate to create bakery-style chewy ginger cookies.
- The texture of the nut butter: These cookies are grain-free and dairy-free because of cashew butter. Drippy cashew butter provides structure, fat, and moisture and when I tried them with what I would say is dry cashew butter or not very creamy, they required an additional egg to make up for the lack of moisture.
- Measuring properly: At one point I tried to make a double batch of the cookies thinking the 16-ounce jar of cashew butter was a convenient 2 cups. But as you probably know, liquid oz measurements are not the same as cups. So the cookies weren’t right; they were spread out too much and super flat. So don’t be like me, measure with a measuring cup unless the recipe is written in ounces or grams.
How to Make These Ginger Cookies (with photos & video!)
Step one: add everything but the chocolate to a medium bowl and mix (please look at the photos to check consistency!). Preheat the oven.
Step two: add in the chocolate and then scoop about 1-inch balls of dough on a sheet tray lined with parchment paper or a silicon baking mat.
Step three: bake for 9-11 minutes or until the edges are set but the cookies have puffed up, almost looking like cake cookies (please look at the photos for examples).
Step four: let them cool for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack or plate and let cool longer at room temperature or in the fridge to speed it up. The photo below shows the cookies before deflating and after. And if you don't want to wait for baked cookies, try my high protein edible cookie dough.
Watch Mika Make Them
Helpful Tips
- Let them cool in the fridge if possible before eating then set them at room temperature for serving. This allows them to set completely and stay together when eaten. These orange ginger cookies are so tender that without this they can just kind of fall apart.
- Be careful when zesting the orange to not zest too deep that you get the bitter parts of the skin.
- Use a cookie scoop or two spoons to portion out the batter because it is sticky.
- Give the cookies space, about 2-3” in between so they have room to spread and cook evenly.
Common Questions
Can I use white chocolate in these cookies?
Yes, you can use white chocolate chips or a white chocolate drizzle(I tested it with white chocolate, dark chocolate, and milk chocolate) on these orange cookies. The white chocolate is much sweeter so just something to be aware of. It may be good to add orange zest to the white chocolate to act more like an orange glaze.
Can I use candied orange or orange juice in place of orange zest?
I don’t recommend this because candied orange doesn’t add as much flavor as it does texture. To make the cookies really pretty you could top with a chocolate drizzle and a curl of a candied orange peel! Orange juice will not work in the batter because it adds too much moisture.
What is the difference between ginger cookies, ginger snap, and gingerbread?
Ginger snap and gingerbread are crunchy and make good structures for gingerbread houses. They use molasses to completely replace the sugar while chew ginger cookies are soft and still use sugar and some molasses but more to flavor the cookie.
How should I store these cookies?
These cookies are best stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container. They will keep for up to a week. The baked cookies can be frozen for up to 3 months; just let them come to room temperature before eating.
Need a Drink to Dip Your Cookie In?
Recipe
chewy chocolate orange ginger cookies with molasses
Equipment
- 1 mixing bowl
- 1 sheet pan or cookie sheet
Ingredients
Cookie Ingredients
- 1 cup cashew butter (MUST BE DRIPPY NUT BUTTER or almond butter, see notes for what this looks like and if your nut butter is not drippy (aka dry))
- 1 cup coconut sugar (or brown sugar)
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- 2 tablespoon molasses
- zest from half an orange or 2 Mandarin oranges
- ¾ cup dark chocolate chunks (can go up to 1 cup, can use a chopped chocolate bar too)
Before you start!
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Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicon baking mat.
- Add everything except the chocolate to a medium bowl and mix well to combine. See the photo for how the batter should be.
- Fold in the chocolate chunks. Using a cookie scoop or two spoons, scoop the batter into 1" -2" balls onto the baking sheet. Space them 2-3" apart.
- Bake for 10 minutes or until the edges are just set and the center is puffy like the photo below. Let them cool for 2 minutes on the tray then transfer to a wire rack to conitnue cooling until they are set enough to handle (about 8-10 minutes). You can just leave them on the tray but they will take longer to cool and set (about 10-15 minutes to set)
- Then enjoy!
Video
Notes
If it's not drippy, and your batter doesn't look like the photos (is crumbly, etc) then you will need to add another egg to make up for the lack of moisture. The cookies will spread more but they will still be tasty.
Helpful Tips
- Let them cool in the fridge if possible before eating then set them at room temperature for serving. This allows them to set completely and stay together when eaten. These orange ginger cookies are so tender that without this they can just kind of fall apart.
- Be careful when zesting the orange to not zest too deep that you get the bitter parts of the skin.
- Give the cookies space, about 2-3” in between so they have room to spread and cook evenly.
Looking for more information?
Additional substitution information can be found above in the substitution section of this post.
Nutrition Disclaimer
Nutritional information is an estimate and for informational purposes only.
Nutrition
Facts and Common Questions
What are snickerdoodles made of?
Traditionally they are made of flour, butter, and sugar, like most cookies but these are made of nut butter, sugar, and cinnamon!
What is the difference between a Snickerdoodle and a cookie?
Snickerdoodles are typically known for their tangy flavor that comes from cream of tartar. Since these do not have it but have more baking soda (another acid) than a traditional cookie, they still have that classic tangy flavor!
What is Cream of Tartar?
Cream of tartar is the acid discard created when grapes are fermented into wine. It is traditionally used to help recipes rise or to leaven them so if you are wondering why snickerdoodles need cream of tartar, it is to help them rise. It is more acidic than baking soda, thus giving snickerdoodles a distinct tang.
Want to Save it for Later? Here’s how!
These cookies are great to have on hand but due to the high fat content, you’ll need some tips to store them.
Fridge or Room Temperature: Store these cookies in an airtight container or ziplock lying flat. Place a paper towel between each layer to absorb any oil. These will keep for 1 week at room temperature.
Freezer: Store them the same way as noted above. They will keep for 2 months frozen.
More Joyful Recipes!
Try one of these hot drinks to pair with your Snickerdoodle cookies!
Wholly cal, I wish I could explain through words just how amazing these cookies are! Literally fool proof, barely any ingredients and grain free except no one in my house even thought to ask if they were!
These turned out nicely and taste great!
These are amazing! Thanks!
NOT a one a done recipe. Were skeptical about trying this orange addded recipe. Now our favorite chewy molasses cookie recipe!
Ya!! So glad you liked them!!
I made these cookies and I was delighted. It’s amazing to me how they use no flour and I could not tell in eating them. They’re fluffy , smooth and oh so delicious!. I like them without the chocolate for less sweetness but still the delicious ginger flavour. Or add the chocolate for extra richness, sweetness and flavour!
Thanks so much for making them!
I can’t believe that these cookies have no flour in them. It’s surprising. They are so amazingly good. And really the chocolate chunks do make a difference Although I made some of them without for less sugar and they were delicious ginger cookies too. These are very rich in flavor and soft and chewy in texture. A real winner!