These gingerbread latte cookies are incredibly soft and chewy with a crunchy sugar coating and a drizzle of icing. They are full of spiced gingerbread and espresso flavour to elevate these classic holiday cookies!
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Why you'll love this recipe
- Soft and chewy texture. These cookies have the most perfect chewy texture in the middle thanks to the molasses, brown sugar, and slightly underbaked centers.
- Strong gingerbread and coffee flavour. They have everything you love in classic gingerbread cookies and more.
- Sparkly sugar coating. The sugar adds a bit of crunch and looks amazing.
- Simple icing. A drizzle of icing dresses these cookies up but they taste and look just as good without it - it's up to you!
Tools
- Electric hand mixer - A hand mixer will make mixing cookie dough much easier and quicker than doing it by hand. It's a kitchen essential that I'd highly recommend picking up if you bake often.
- 3-tablespoon cookie scoop - These cookies spread quite a bit so you can use a smaller cookie scoop if you'd like. I would recommend using a 3-tablespoon or 4-tablespoon scoop for large cookies or a 2-tablespoon scoop for smaller cookies.
- Baking sheet - You'll need a baking sheet or baking tray to bake your cookies. You likely already have this in your kitchen.
Ingredients
As always, the full recipe card with ingredient amounts and instructions is at the bottom of this post! Keep reading for more details on each ingredient or skip ahead to the recipe.
- All-purpose flour
- Baking soda
- Espresso powder - Espresso powder or instant coffee powder is what gives these gingerbread latte cookies the "latte" or coffee flavour. It's subtle but So good.
- Ground cinnamon - This blend of spices is a must for the classic spiced gingerbread cookie flavour.
- Ground ginger
- Ground cloves
- Ground nutmeg
- Salt
- Unsalted butter - Your butter should be softened to room temperature before you use it.
- Brown sugar
- Granulated sugar
- Molasses - Molasses is the thick, dark syrup used in gingerbread for its flavour, colour, and texture. Use cooking molasses (a blend of blackstrap and fancy molasses), light molasses, or dark molasses. Don't use blackstrap molasses as it's thicker and more bitter than the other kinds.
- Egg - This should also be at room temperature.
- Vanilla extract
- Powdered sugar - You'll just need a bit for the icing. If you're not adding the icing, you can omit this.
- Milk - You just need a tiny bit for the icing. Use any dairy or non-dairy milk.
How to make gingerbread latte cookies
Prep - Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment and set aside.
Dry mixture - In a medium bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, espresso powder, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and salt. Set aside.
Cream butter and sugars - In a large mixing bowl, use an electric hand mixer to beat softened butter on medium speed until it becomes very creamy and pale in colour. Add the granulated sugar and brown sugar and cream together until fluffy.
Wet mixture - Add the molasses, egg, and vanilla extract and beat together until combined.
Add dry to wet mixture - Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix until the cookie dough is just combined.
Scoop cookie dough - Use a 3-tablespoon cookie scooper to scoop the cookie dough and release it on a cutting board lined with a scrap sheet of parchment paper.
Chill - Chill the whole board of cookie dough in the fridge for about 15 minutes, just until the outside is dry to the touch so that they're easier to roll in your hands without sticking.
Roll in sugar: Roll each cookie dough ball in between your hands until they form a perfect ball. Roll each ball in granulated sugar until they're all coated. Place the balls on your lined baking sheet, leaving about 2" in between each ball to allow for spreading.
Bake - Bake cookies for 10-11 minutes or until they're puffy but still very soft. After taking them out of the oven, bang the baking sheet against a wire rack once to release the puffiness and create cracks on the cookies.
Cool - Let them cool on the baking sheet for about 10 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Mix - In a small bowl, stir together powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla extract until it becomes a thick but pourable consistency.
Drizzle - Transfer the icing to a piping bag or use a spoon to drizzle it on top of the cookies.
Storage
These gingerbread latte cookies can be stored in an airtight container or covered in plastic wrap at room temperature for up to 5 days.
Freezing
These cookies can be frozen by placing them in an airtight container, freezer bag, or wrap them well in plastic wrap and freeze for up to 1 month.
Thaw at room temperature for several hours.
Tips for success
- Use room temperature ingredients. This is always important when the recipe calls for creaming butter and sugar together. Softened butter is much easier to work with and makes the best texture of cookies.
- Use a cookie scooper. Using a cookie scoop to portion out your cookie dough ensures all your cookies are the same size. I would recommend having at least two different sizes on hand: a 3 or 4-tablespoon scoop for large cookies and a 1 or 1.5-tablespoon scoop for small cookies like blossom cookies.
- Don't overbake the cookies. These cookies should still be very soft to the touch when you take them out of the oven. The outside of the cookies should be set and dry but they should be puffy and soft. The cookies will continue baking on the baking sheet and the soft middle will set as they cool into a super chewy and satisfying texture.
Frequently asked questions
Yes, the baked cookies can be made ahead of time by 1-2 days or frozen for up to 1 month. The cookie dough can be made ahead of time, rolled into balls, and frozen for up to 1 month. Thaw in the overnight or at room temperature for several hours. Bake from room temperature to ensure they spread properly.
More cookie recipes to try
- Earl Grey Sugar Cookies
- Easy Gingerbread Cookies
- Gingerbread Sandwich Cookies with Ginger Cream Filling
- Hazelnut Linzer Cookies
- Butter Cookie Box (10 cookies from 1 dough)
- Chocolate Blossom Cookies
Recipe
Gingerbread Latte Cookies
Equipment
Ingredients
Cookies
- 250 g all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 tablespoon espresso powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 150 g unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 100 g brown sugar
- 50 g granulated sugar
- 100 g cooking molasses
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
For rolling
- 30 g granulated sugar
Icing (optional)
- 40 g powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon milk, dairy or non-dairy
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
Cookies
- Prep: Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment and set aside.
- Dry mixture: In a medium bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, espresso powder, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and salt. Set aside.
- Cream butter and sugars: In a large mixing bowl, use an electric hand mixer to beat softened butter on medium speed until it becomes very creamy and pale in colour. Add the granulated sugar and brown sugar and cream together until fluffy.
- Wet mixture: Add the molasses, egg, and vanilla extract and beat together until combined.
- Add dry to wet mixture: Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix until the cookie dough is just combined.
- Scoop cookie dough - Use a 3-tablespoon cookie scooper to scoop the cookie dough and release it on a cutting board lined with a scrap sheet of parchment paper.
- Chill - Chill the whole board of cookie dough in the fridge for about 15 minutes, just until the outside is dry to the touch so that they're easier to roll in your hands without sticking.
- Roll in sugar: Roll each cookie dough ball in between your hands until they form a perfect ball. Roll each ball in granulated sugar until they're all coated. Place the balls on your lined baking sheet, leaving about 2" in between each ball to allow for spreading.
- Bake: Bake cookies for 10-11 minutes or until they're puffy but still very soft. After taking them out of the oven, bang the baking sheet against a wire rack once to release the puffiness and create cracks on the cookies.
- Cool: Let them cool on the baking sheet for about 10 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Icing (optional)
- Mix: In a small bowl, stir together powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla extract until it becomes a thick but pourable consistency.
- Drizzle: Transfer the icing to a piping bag or use a spoon to drizzle it on top of the cookies.
KB
The batter was far too thin. I followed the recipe very closely and used a food scale, but even after chilling the dough was sticky to the point of being unworkable. I added over twice the amount of flour called for and it was still very sticky.
Kirstin Buchheit
I loved these! They turned out amazing! I added a little cinnamon to my glaze for extra spice ☺️
Christa
Hi! I've never heard of cooking molasses, would blackstrap or unsulphured work?
Gail Ng
Unsulphured just means it doesn't contain preservatives (i.e. there is unsulphured blackstrap molasses too). You can use any kind of unsulphured light, dark, or fancy molasses! I haven't tested these with blackstrap but I would think it would be too bitter.
monica
Is the Espresso Powder needed? is there another substitute? I cannot find espresso powder 🙁
Gail Ng
You can also use instant coffee powder! Or you can omit it! They'll just be gingerbread cookies instead of gingerbread LATTE cookies but still taste good.
Joyce
Delicious cookies! I usually only eat Disneyland gingerbread cookies and I’ve been looking for a similar recipe. This recipe is better than the $10 Mickey gingerbread cookie.
Petal Ortiz
Tastes exactly like a gingerbread latte the glaze is so good!