last updated on October 29, 2026
I am screaming with excitement for these gingerbread coffee cake cookies. If you’ve tried my Gilmore Girls coffee cake cookies, this is a essentially just a Christmas-fied version that you are going to love. The base is a soft gingerbread dough with molasses, ginger, and cinnamon, then it is topped with lots of streusel and a simple glaze.
ingredients needed for gingerbread coffee cake cookies
gingerbread dough
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/3 cup molasses
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 3 cups flour (360 grams)
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
streusel
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup flour (120 grams)
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- pinch of salt
icing
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tsp milk
- splash of vanilla
other recipes you will love
- gilmore girls coffee cake cookies
- christmas sprinkles cookies
- cinnamon oatmeal cookies
- pecan pie cookies
gingerbread coffee cake cookies
[PREP] 30 minutes
[COOK] 10 minutes
[TOTAL] 40 minutes
Ingredients
gingerbread dough
- 1 cup butter softened
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/3 cup molasses
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 3 cups flour 360 grams
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
streusel
- 1/2 cup butter softened
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup flour 120 grams
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- pinch of salt
icing
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tsp milk
- splash of vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Make the cookies: Add the softened butter and brown sugar to a bowl and use a stand mixer or hand mixer to mix for 3-4 minutes, until the mixture is lighter and fluffy.
- Add the egg, molasses, and vanilla and mix until fully combined.
- Add the flour, cinnamon, ginger, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Mix until just combined.
- In another bowl, add all the ingredients for the streusel: softened butter, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, and salt. Use a stand mixer or hand mixer to combine until a dough forms. The dough should stick together when squeezed in a ball, but should crumble when you run it between your fingers.
- Use a large cookie scoop to scoop the gingerbread dough onto a cookie sheet. Using the backside of the cookie scoop, make an indent on the top of the dough. Sprinkle a few tablespoons of the streusel on the top of the cookie, into the indent.
- Transfer the cookies to the oven and bake for 8-10 minutes. Let the cookies cool on the cookie sheet for 10 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- While the cookies cool, make the icing. Add the powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla to a bowl. Whisk until smooth. If the icing is thicker than you want, add more milk. If it is too runny, add more powdered sugar.
- When the cookies are cooled, drizzle each cookie with icing. Enjoy!
Delicious and not overpowering “gingerbread”, I used gluten free flour and it was good! The streusel didn’t really “crumble”, but that might have been my flour. I just kind of broke up the streusel halfway through the baking time to give it a better texture and appearance. I got way more than 15 cookies and they were still very large so I needed extra icing.
yay i’m so glad you enjoyed these!! yes, i would guess the streusel not crumbling was because of the gluten free flour.
Loved these cookies, thanks for sharing the recipe!
so glad you enjoyed these!
Soooo incredible!! I’m a huge baker and I swear these are some of the best cookies I’ve ever made. Thanks for sharing!!
i’m honored!!! so glad you loved these!
I personally don’t like ginger bread, but I’ve made these using your cinnamon roll cookie dough recipe with streusel and cream cheese glaze and they are to die for! Making them for the second time this week! ?
oh that sounds amazing! what a yummy combo! so glad you love them <3
Will the dough be good if refrigerated overnight?
yes, you can refrigerate overnight! i would recommend scooping out the dough, adding the streusel on top, then transferring to the fridge. then you can just pop them right in the oven the next day!
Just made these last night for a holiday party and they were such a hit! Even people who don’t usually like gingerbread said they loved them. I was worried about the dough at first because it seemed stickier than I’m used to but they baked just fine without any extra flour; popping the it in the fridge for a bit helped make it easier to scoop. Can’t wait to try more of your recipes! 🙂
hi!! so glad you enjoyed these!! and so glad you converted some gingerbread haters, haha.
Hi! I plan on making these tomorrow and was wondering if I make the cookies smaller how would it affect the cooking time? I was thinking of instead of making 15 big cookies like the recipe calls for splitting the dough in half to make 30 cookies. Would that be okay and should I bake them for less time? Thank you!!
hi! yes, you can totally do that. i’d just start checking the cookies 3-4 minutes earlier and take them out with the edges are just starting to set and the streusel is slightly brown. hope you love these!
i made these for a christmas cookie exchange! i ended up with 24 cookies (i didn’t measure the dough or use a scoop, i just eyeballed them!) they came out so good. i was a bit worried at first because the dough smelled ONLY like molasses—but i then found out that that’s normal for baking with molasses and the flavor cooks off for the most part. and then you’re left with such a delicious and festive tasting cookie. last year i made the gilmore girls cookies for the cookie exchange, so i will let everyone be the judge of which one the like better!! i personally love them both and all of your cookie recipes are to die for, so thank you so much??????
I truly can’t speak highly enough of this recipe! My family has a very competitive cookie competition every year and this recipe helped me take home the crown this year! The recipe is easy to follow, the end product is delicious, and they stay chewy and moist for days! The only comment I got from people was that it could have a little more gingerbread flavor but all that meant is that gingerbread haters were also able to enjoy them! Thank you so much for the amazing recipe!
yay so glad you enjoyed these!! and so glad these won you the cookie competition!!!!
Hello, is this salted or unsalted butter and ginger seasoning or fresh ginger? Thanks so much
hi! you can use salted or unsalted. i use salted but it doesn’t make much of a difference.
Hi! Can I freeze these?
yes! if you want to freeze the dough, i’d assemble the cookie dough with the streusel topping, then put the cookies on a plate and into the fridge for an hour. once they’re hard, you’ll be able to easily transfer them to an airtight bag in the freezer. then you can bake straight from the freezer! you may need to add 1-2 minutes to the bake time.
Okay, I gave these cookies a 5 star because they taste soooo good. The frosting isn’t even necessary because they’re good enough without. However, I don’t know what I did wrong because they spread really bad. I can hardly pick them up without them braking. I blame myself because they don’t look like that in the recipe pictures. I’ve been racking my brain trying to figure out what went wrong. I even refrigerated half the dough over night to make the butter in it cold. They look like flat brown cookies with wet cat food on top sadly. We’re still chowing them down, but I’m bummed with what they look like. Do you have any suggestions with what I did wrong?
hi! frequently spreading issues have to do with flour. are you sure you added enough? if it has the full 3 cups then they shouldn’t spread too much! let me know if you have any other thoughts / questions! happy to help figure this out with you!
These are AMAZING!! Even people who don’t like gingerbread cookies love these. The only thing I do different is melt white chocolate and use that for the drizzle instead of the powdered sugar glaze.
yay so glad you love these!!! and omg adding white chocolate on top sounds sooo good
I want to bake them for Christmas and am wondering if I could freeze them after I bake them.
yes, they will freeze just fine! just pack them in an airtight container and they’ll stay good for 2 months.
How do I separate the butter? The recipe didnt note to do that in the ingredients or instructions. Is it half cup in the batter and half cup in the streusel?
hi! the ingredients for the cookies and the streusel have listed how much butter each needs. the cookie needs 1 cup, the streusel 1/2 cup.
Just made these and they’re AMAZING! I have leftover streusel and was thinking of using it for when i make these again for Christmas next week. Would it be best to freeze the streusel or how would you recommend the best method of keeping the leftover streusel until then?
Thank you!
hi! if you’re using the rest of it next week, i’d just put it in an airtight container and keep it in the fridge!
My daughter & I made these cookies & absolutely loved them!! Would they be able to be made gluten free? I wasn’t sure if gluten free measure-for-measure flour would be an acceptable substitute. Thank you for your help!!
hi! yes, if you want to make these gluten free, i’d recommend using the same measurement of a 1:1 gluten free flour.