Aromatic Five Spice Ginger Cookies are chewy, soft and super tasty! Enjoy as is, turn into an ice cream sandwich or break up and add to your favourite ice cream dish!
Five Spice Ginger Cookies
Admittedly I spend way to much money in a coffee shop that sells ginger molasses cookies. Buying both the coffee and the cookies. To save money I decided to make these cookies at home so I could have them any time I wanted, only I added a twist.
Five spice powder offers an additional flavour profile to this cookie and one, once you’ve tried it, you will fall in love with.
What is Five-Spice Powder
This flavourful spice mixture is a combination of five different spices very popular in Asian cooking encompassing sweet, sour, bitter, salty and umami.
Spices used typically are star anise, cinnamon, peppercorns, cloves and fennel seeds. You can make your own blend or find it at your local spice store or grocery store.
Other uses for five-spice powder include as a rub for grilled or braised meats, fish or shrimp, sprinkled on freshly cooked french fries, and essentially anywhere else you would use a spice combination. We love it on whole grilled chicken. Here’s a few other recipes we’ve used this spice in.
The Inspiration
I was invited to participate again in the 3rd Annual Calgary Food Bloggers Bake Sale with proceeds going to The Calgary Foundation’s Flood Rebuilding Fund.
Needed to come up with a fun cookie recipe to sell at the bake sale. I was going to chocolate dip these cookies to make them different, then decided to pump up the spice level. Much to our delight the taste testers offered rave reviews.
PRO TIPS:
- Always use fresh spices. They have a shelf life so if it’s been a couple years, you should consider updating your spices.
- Make sure your butter is soft, not melting, not fridge hard, but soft.
- You can make these cookies smaller, but we prefer a monster sized bite.
- When the cookies come out they will feel soft. Leave them on the sheet and rack to cool so they can firm up.
Here’s a few other popular cookie recipes you should try!
- Bacon Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
- Chips and Bits Cookies
- Carrot Lentil Whoopie Pies
- Swedish Dainties
If you made this recipe tag Wanda Baker on Instagram and hashtag it #bakersbeans or #wandabaker

Ingredients
- 2 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp five spice powder
- ½ tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 tsp ground cloves
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ tsp kosher salt
- ¾ cup butter, softened
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ½ cup white sugar
- 1 egg, room temp
- 1 tbsp water
- 1/3 cup fancy molasses
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/3 cup candied ginger chopped small
- ½ cup white sugar for rolling
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- In a bowl sift ginger, baking soda, five spice powder, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, flour and salt. Mix to combine.
- In a second bowl beat butter with sugars until creamy. Add egg and vanilla, beating some more. Add water and molasses mixing until everything is combined and smooth.
- Stir dry ingredients into wet ingredients. Add chopped crystallized ginger and mix until combined. Mixture may be sticky. At this point you can put in refrigerator to chill for 10 minutes for easier handling. Or if you're like me and didn't have time for chilling get right to work.
- Pour extra white sugar onto a platter or pie dish. Set aside.
- Shape dough into balls. I made the balls about 2-3 inches or big enough to fit into a 1/4 cup measure. Roll in white sugar until completely coated.
- I put four at a time on my cookie sheets, so they need to be spaced at least 2 inches for expansion. Flatten slightly with back of pan or flat cup.
- Bake large cookies for 14 minutes rotating pans half way through. Cool slightly in pan before removing to rack to let cool completely.
- If making cookies smaller adjust your baking time to 8-10 minutes.
These ginger cookies look absolutely amazing. There’s no such thing as a ginger cookie with too much heat, in my opinion! Oh yum. I make a good candied ginger, which would really make these cookies pop. I can’t wait to try your recipe!
Thank you for stopping by! For a first time ginger cookie maker, I’m really pleased with how chewy and flavourful they are. Let me know what you think when you make them!
Made these today and can’t believe how chewy and flavourful they are! Going to make another batch soon!