White Chocolate Dipped Ginger Cookies
Easy to make, beautiful, festive, and delicious, these White Chocolate Dipped Ginger Cookies are a holiday tradition I adore. Add sprinkles or edible glitter for a simple yet fancy finishing touch!

Baking extravaganza? Browse all my favorite Christmas cookie recipes here!
Pretty and pretty simple.
These cookies meet the mark for a treat that is easy to make but punches heavy in the taste, texture, and beauty departments. Ginger molasses cookies with plenty of rich, wintery spices get rolled in sugar for a sparkling exterior, then partially dipped in white chocolate or almond bark for a pretty and delicious contrasting edge. These are a gorgeous and low-stress addition to your holiday cookie tray, tin, or box!
Lucky me, my step-son’s girlfriend has blessed us with a tin of these cookies every Christmas for several years in a row. Being that I am my household’s biggest fan of white chocolate, I can be counted on to gobble up more than my fair share. 🙂 This year I decided to try making my own and began experimenting with our favorite chewy ginger molasses cookies as a base, the goal being to keep the same flavor but make them a touch more crisp in order to hold up well to the white chocolate.
Butter vs. shortening vs. vegetable oil in cookies
The ginger molasses cookies I swear by use shortening — good old fashioned Crisco — which is literally the only recipe for which I keep it around. In the name of science, I tested several versions of that cookie using butter instead: keeping everything else the same, adding more flour, using just an egg yolk, etc. Every single one had great flavor but spread out and sunk to a thin, flat cookie after being baked and cooled.
Finally curiosity won out and I wrote to my step-son’s girlfriend in search of her family’s recipe, which is a 2001 era cut-out from The Baltimore Sun. (Hi, Alexis, and thank you again!!) Imagine my laugh when I found it’s nearly identical to the original shortening recipe, just with a slightly different ratio of spices, and vegetable oil as the fat. I admit I was skeptical until reading a lengthy comparison of fats in cookie baking published by The Kitchn, which claimed vegetable oil produced a superior chocolate chip cookie in their tests. I can no longer find that link, unfortunately, but will add it if I stumble across it again.
Lo and behold, indeed, using vegetable oil produced a cookie with height, substance, and a texture that was enjoyably chewy yet crisp and sturdy enough to hold its own against the white chocolate layers. Problem solved.

Pro Tip
For the ultimate convenience and uniformly-sized cookies, use a cookie scoop to portion out dough. This medium-sized scoop is a workhorse because it’s a great size for muffins, cupcake batter, and meatballs as well!
Make Ahead and Freezing Instructions
If you’re trying to get a head start on holiday baking or just ensure you have easy cookies in the freezer to bake on a rainy day, these are a great option!
- Baking in batches: If for any reason you need to pause and resume baking another day, the dough can be kept in the fridge overnight and simply returned to room temperature before shaping and baking.
- To freeze dough balls before baking (preferred method): Make the dough as directed, scoop mounds onto a parchment-lined baking sheet or plate, and place in the freezer, uncovered, for about an hour. Do not roll in sugar yet! After an hour, combine the frozen cookie dough balls in an airtight container or zip-top plastic bag. Freeze for up to 3 months. When ready to bake, remove cookies from the freezer, roll in sugar, and place directly onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, and bake as directed, adding just 2-3 minutes to the baking time.
- To freeze after baking: Let baked cookies cool fully, then stack in an airtight container, separating individual cookies with wax paper. Do not freeze the white chocolate coating. Defrost un-dipped cookies at room temperature as needed and dip/decorate as desired.
Storage
Once dipped, these cookies keep very well at room temperature for at least 3-4 days. Store in a box with a tightly-fitting lid or a zip-top bag.
More Easy Christmas Cookies
- Peppermint Bark Cookies
- Sprinkle Sugar Cookies
- Chocolate Chip Toffee Shortbread
- Classic Chocolate Crinkles
- Peanut Butter Blossoms
- Christmas M&M Blondies
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White Chocolate Dipped Ginger Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup granulated sugar plus more for rolling
- 3/4 cup vegetable oil or any neutral-flavored cooking oil, or shortening, see note
- 1 large egg
- 1/4 cup molasses
- 10 ounces white chocolate melts or almond bark
- sprinkles optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and salt. Set aside.2 cups all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons baking soda, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1 teaspoon ground ginger, 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves, 1/2 teaspoon salt
- Combine 1 cup sugar with the vegetable oil using an electric mixer on medium-high speed. Add the egg and molasses, and beat again until well-combined. Add flour mixture, and mix on low speed just until incorporated.1 cup granulated sugar, 3/4 cup vegetable oil, 1 large egg, 1/4 cup molasses
- Scoop the dough into balls about 1-inch in diameter, and roll each gently between your palms to smooth it out. Place a small amount of sugar in a small, shallow dish. Roll each ball in the sugar before placing on the baking sheets.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes, then allow to cool on the sheets for about 10 minutes before removing to wire racks. Lay out a sheet of wax paper or parchment for the cookies to set after dipping.
- Melt the white chocolate or almond bark following package instructions, typically by microwaving in 1-minute bursts on 50% power until it is smooth and easy to stir. (I like to do this in a liquid measuring cup, because it's tall but wide enough to easily dip the cookies inside.) Dip each cookie partway into the chocolate, let the excess drizzle off, then lay flat on the wax paper or parchment to set. If adding sprinkles, do so right away, before the chocolate begins to set.10 ounces white chocolate melts or almond bark, sprinkles
- Once chocolate has hardened, about an hour at room temperature, the cookies can be stacked and stored, tightly-covered, at room temperature for about 4 days. Enjoy!
Notes
- You can sub shortening for the vegetable oil, and this will yield a slightly softer, chewier cookie. It will still hold shape and withstand the white chocolate.
- Cookies will keep well at room temperature for about 4 days. The dough balls can be frozen, as well. Bake them straight from frozen just as directed, adding just 1-2 minutes to the bake time.