Whipped Gingerbread Sugar Scrub
Treat your skin to a holiday treat with this Gingerbread Sugar Scrub recipe! Everything you need is already in your pantry, making it the perfect last-minute gift!
Gingerbread Sugar Scrub
This Gingerbread Sugar Scrub is such an easy and fun DIY beauty recipe and makes a great gift too!
I think it was 6th grade when everyone and their BFF wanted to smell like a vanilla dessert. Bath & Body Works probably had Vanilla Sugar, Vanilla Cupcake, Vanilla Cookie, and Vanilla Ice Cream body sprays all on the same shelf.
And a lot of preteen girls sprayed themselves with it until their parents couldn’t breathe.
But we’re grown up now, and there’s a new sweet scent in town, Gingerbread. I love, LOVE, LOVE gingerbread.
And since I’m older, I’ve moved on from body spray and into the world of great-smelling exfoliators like this here Whipped Gingerbread Sugar Scrub.
This is seriously the best sugar scrub I’ve ever used, and it makes for an awesome last-minute gift for your girlfriends, sisters, or mom!
The best part about this scrub? There’s no need for any crazy essential oils, everything you need is right in your pantry! Awesome, right?
This DIY Gingerbread Sugar Scrub blends spices and moisture-rich coconut oil with sweet exfoliating brown and pure cane sugars into an at-home skincare product that your body is sure to love as much as your nose and wallet!
Really though, you’re going to want to shower twice a day because this scrub smells and feels so good.
It’s great for those dry winter legs and tired feet, and everyone’s going to be totally jealous of how awesome you smell and how great your skin looks!
So whip up a batch, it will only take you a few minutes, and the women in your life will love you forever!
Or, you know, keep it for yourself… you deserve it after all of this holiday craziness.
This will be my last post before Christmas, but before I sign off, I want to wish all of you a wonderful couple of days, whether you’re celebrating or not!
I’m looking forward to a little time away from my day job and the blog to enjoy some family time.
I’ll be making my signature Bourbon & Toffee Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies, Baked Spinach & Artichoke Dip, and my Christmas Punch recipe for the holiday, and I’ll be back on Friday to kick off the final week of the year with some killer cupcakes!
What You’ll Need For This Sugar Scrub Recipe:
Cute Jar – If you’re planning on packaging this recipe up and giving it as gifts, cute jars are an absolute must! These cute little Weck jars are my favorite, but These Kate Aspen Jars are great too!
Spoon – Tie a wooden spoon to the jar, so it’s easier to get the sugar scrub out.
Bakers Twine – I like using twine to dress them up for holiday gift-giving!
Gift Tags – These tags are such an adorable way to mark your scrubs as gifts!
Coconut Oil – There are a lot of different coconut oils out there, you’ll want to use cold-pressed refined coconut oil, this means it doesn’t have a coconut scent or flavor to it.
Gingerbread Fragrance Oil – For a really strong and amazing scent, you’ll want to use a few drops of fragrance oil, I love this fragrance oil set, so many amazing scents, and you can use them to make my Pumpkin Spice Sugar Scrub too!
Let’s Connect!
If you’ve tried this recipe, please let me know how you liked it in the comments below and leave a review. I love hearing from you!
Don’t forget to tag me – @sugarandsoulco – on Instagram and Pinterest with your photos or join our Sugar & Soul Show-offs Community and share them there, where you can join our recipe challenges!
This post was originally published in December 2014 and was updated with new photos in December 2018.
Whipped Gingerbread Sugar Scrub
Ingredients
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup coconut oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground allspice
- 5 to 8 drops gingerbread fragrance oil
Instructions
- Combine sugars and coconut oil in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat with a whisk or paddle attachment until a fluffy paste starts to form.½ cup light brown sugar, ½ cup granulated sugar, ½ cup coconut oil
- Scrape down sides and add in vanilla, spices and fragrance oil. Beat on low until spices work their way into the mix, increase to medium speed and beat for 30 seconds or until light and fluffy.1 teaspoon vanilla extract, ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon, ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg, ½ teaspoon ground ginger, ½ teaspoon ground allspice, 5 to 8 drops gingerbread fragrance oil
- Transfer to a jar and seal with a lid. Dress it up if giving as a gift. Use within a month with hot water and gently exfoliate skin.
Notes
- The original recipe did not call for a fragrance oil, just the spices, but you can add the fragrance oil for an even stronger scent.
Did You Make This Recipe?
Don’t forget to share it with me on Instagram @sugarandsoulco and follow on Tiktok @sugarandsoulco and Pinterest @sugarandsoulco for more!
Thanks for a quick and easy homemade gift for my girlfriends! I doubled the recipe and included the suggested gingerbread fragrance oil. I was able to fill 6, 3oz. jars (not sure if the jars were 3oz to the neck, or to the rim). To fill the jars, I used a ziplock bag as a “makeshift piping bag” – no mess, and I was able to control how much scrub went into each jar! Thank You!
Is there a substitute for coconut oil? Thank you!
I dont have gingerbread extract. Would this be okay to make without? And are there any substitutes that I might have around the house?
If you don’t have the fragrance oil, you can just omit it.
Hey, can I check if I need to melt the coconut oil first please?
You do not need to melt it.
Hi! Really wanted to try this out as a Christmas gift. But just wondering if it expires after a certain time?
Wish you a great day!
-Vibeke, Norway
If you made it now it should be fine until Christmas, just store it in an airtight container in a cool, dry place.
Ok 🙂 so when I give it away, it won’t go bad after a few months as long as its air tight? Just so I don’t get it wrong 🙂
Correct!
This one is my first home-made sugar scrub! I first mixed the sugars and the coconut oil with a fork and as I saw it wasn’t that creamy, I put all in the mixer and add a bit of coconut oil to make to it creamier. It looks great and smells delicious!! However, when I rinced my face, it was all oily, maybe because of the extra coconut oil. But I can say, it cleans well and my face skin is all smooth! Thank you for the recipe!! 😀
Hi Emmanuelle, Your face should feel a bit oily after using the sugar scrub, but it usually absorbs into your skin within 30 minutes and leaves it soft and smooth!
Thank you for these great tips! I would love to try this recipe because it’s so easy to make, just mix brown sugar, cinnamon and coconut oil, ground ginger and that’s it! Also, I love the way you design your jar-very creative!
http://youscrub.com
Yup, that’s it!
Tried this today but no matter how much spice I add, it just smells of coconut…? Any ideas what I can do?
I have to say though that I used a gingerbread spice mix, some vanilla extract and added cinnamon but I’m at about 3tsps of the spice mix now and still smell mostly coconut… 🙁
Hmmm… I’m not sure, the spices always go through nicely when I make it. It would be that the coconut oil is more potent, are you maybe using coconut butter instead of oil?
I made a huge batch of this and put in jars, labelled, with ribbon to give to the teachers for Christmas this year. It smells amazing and works well, I love it! However, mine was a dark brown and wouldn’t whip at all. My coconut oil was thick and should have whipped no problem, but it didn’t. Unfortunately mine looked like poo emojis in jars!
Hi Jen, did you use dark brown sugar instead of light brown sugar? That would make a difference.
can I use this recipe in a youtube video if I give you credit?
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Hi Alex, I would ask that you give a direct link back to this recipe in the video description in YouTube since this is the original source. Thanks!
Have done! Thank you so much for letting me I made it and it smells delious ive linked the video as my website if you want to check x
What happens after 30 days? Could it be used longer?
It can definitely be used longer, probably up to 6 months. The reason the 30 days is recommended is because if you have it in the shower, chances are water will get in it and it could cause bacteria to grow just like in any other warm, wet place. You could break this up into multiple small jars to use when needed/wanted. I usually use this up in a couple of weeks – because I’m addicted to how good it makes my skin feel. If you’re giving it as a gift and wanted to make sure it was still good around Christmas time, you should be fine. Sometimes the coconut oil can harden up a bit, so just pop it in the microwave for 15-30 seconds to soften it up and stir it and you should be good to go!
This wont last any longer than a month i am new to scrubs
Newly experimenting with sugar scrubs and tried this today. The consistency of mine seems much thinner than your photo. Almost runny. Also darker, though I used light brown sugar. I think it may have been the oil, which was not in solid form like crisco consistency, but runnier, but not liquid. The Lou Ann brand I had used for another recipe was much firmer, so I’ll try that next time to see if it makes a difference.
Hi Nikki, I’m sorry to hear it didn’t turn out right. You definitely want the oil to have a thick butter/crisco consistency, that’s what allows it to whip and hold together.
What size jar works best? Is this just enough for one jar or could it be split into two?
You could probably do two 8 oz jam ball jars and it would work great! Don’t fill all the way to the rim, you’ll want to leave a little room between the scrub and the lid.
Did you use regular coconut oil? Or fractionated liquid?
Yes, just regular coconut oil. I’ve never used the fractionated so I’m not sure if it would work as a substitute.
Is a stand mixer necessary for the mixing portion, or will a hand mixer suffice? Thanks you!
A hand mixer will do just fine, just might have to whip it a little longer. You just want it to be nice a fluffy.
Can you pleases tell me how many cups 1 batch of your ginger scrub makes?
About 2 cups, maybe 2 1/2.
I bet this scrub smells incredible! I love how thick and creamy it is. It’s the perfect thing for dry winter skin.