These Chewy Ginger Molasses Cookies are easy to make, super-soft and chewy, and irresistibly delicious.
It seems a bold move to declare an all-time favorite cookie. But after having been on Team Molasses for going on over three decades now, and already whipped up my third batch of molasses dough in a month, I’ve gotta say that I don’t foresee any allegiance shifts happening soon. So with that said, allow me to introduce you to my all-time favorite cookies…
…the most delicious, soft, chewy, gingery, life-changing molasses cookies. ♡♡♡
My love for these molasses cookies is entirely thanks to my mom, who baked fresh batches of cookies for our family pretty much every week when we were growing up. Granted, she was always a bit mystified that her oldest daughter (hi, Mom) never inherited her obsession with all kinds of chocolate cookies, which will forever and always be her all-time faves. But molasses cookies were always a compromise we could both agree on. We both love these cookies.
This time of year, they are still the first recipe to which I always turn for holiday cookie baking. And this year in particular, they’ve been extra fun to share with all of our European friends who — as it turns out — maybe love them even more than we do! Ha, every time that we have served them to our friends, and our Spanish class, our neighbors, everyone goes crazy for them. Which means that we never come home with leftovers. Which just means that we have to keep baking more, naturally. Which requires exactly zero twisting of my arm. More molasses cookies for all!
Anyway, these cookies are clearly a hit. So as part of our week of cookies here on the blog, I thought I would bump this recipe back up to the top of the pile today for some non-chocolate cookie inspiration. I initially shared this recipe on the blog nine years ago. But that said, a number of you have reported over the years that your cookies have spread a bit more than you like. So I’ve been tinkering around with our family recipe this fall, and have made a few small adjustments to the recipe below that should help them to stay nice and thick and chewy, without compromising the flavor of the cookies at all. (Although if your cookies do ever flatten out, I promise they’ll still be delicious.)
So I hope that you enjoy them as much as we do, and if you decide to bake up a batch, I’d love to hear how they go! Enjoy, everyone!
Chewy Ginger Molasses Cookies Recipe | 1-Minute Video
Chewy Ginger Molasses Cookies Ingredients:
To make this chewy ginger molasses cookies recipe, you will need:
- Butter: Completely softened to room temperature (not melted, or else it will not cream properly with the sugars)
- Sugars: I use half granulated (white) sugar, half packed brown sugar, plus extra sugar for rolling the dough balls.
- Molasses: I typically opt for “original” (versus dark) unsulphured molasses.
- Eggs and baking soda: Two soft and chewy cookie staples.
- Flour: I typically use all-purpose flour for this classic recipe, but white whole wheat flour can work too.
- Spices: We will use a mixture of ground ginger, cinnamon and cloves. Feel free to tinker around with the spice proportions to taste.
- Salt: To bring out all of those delicious flavors.
How To Make Molasses Cookies:
To make these homemade molasses cookies, simply:
- Whisk together dry ingredients. Flour, soda, ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and salt.
- Cream together butter and sugars. Using a separate mixing bowl, either with a stand mixer or a hand mixer, cream together the softened butter and sugars on medium-high speed until the mixture is light and fluffy and a pale yellow color, about 2 minutes, scraping down the sides occasionally as needed.
- Mix in the remaining wet and dry ingredients. Mix in the eggs (one at a time) and molasses, and beat on medium-low speed until each is combined. Gradually add in the dry ingredient mixture and beat until it is evenly incorporated.
- Chill the dough. Transfer the dough to an airtight container and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or until the dough is completely chilled. I know — the extra chilling time is substantial, and very tempting to skip. But this particular dough, with all of its butter and molasses, really does need a thorough chilling to prevent the cookies from spreading. Worth the wait, I promise. :)
- Preheat oven. Heat oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat, and set aside.
- Roll the dough balls. Once the dough is chilled and firm, roll the dough into small balls, about 1-inch in diameter. Fill a separate small bowl with sugar, and roll each ball in the sugar until it is completely coated. Place dough balls on the prepared baking sheet.
- Bake. Bake for about 8-10 minutes, until the cookies begin to slightly crack on top. (They will crack more while cooling.) Remove from the oven and let cool for 4-5 minutes. Then transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool completely.
- Serve. Serve warm and enjoy, or store in a sealed container for up to 4 days. Or freeze for up to 3 months.
Possible Variations:
Want to mix things up with your ginger cookies? Feel free to:
- Add in extra ginger: I also really love adding some chopped crystallized ginger to these cookies for added ginger flavor and crunch.
- Frost your cookies: A really light glaze is delicious atop these cookies. Or if you really want to go for it, cream cheese frosting is divine.
More Favorite Cookie Recipes:
Looking for more delicious cookie inspiration? Feel free to check out our full collection of cookie recipes, or any of these other favorite classic cookies:
- Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
- Peanut Butter Cookies
- Gingerbread Cookies
- No-Bake Cookies
- Brown Sugar Cookies
Chewy Ginger Molasses Cookies
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups (340g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 cup (200g) granulated white sugar
- 1 cup (213g) packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup (170g) unsulphured molasses
- 2 large eggs
- 4 1/2 cups (639 grams*) all-purpose flour
- 4 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 tablespoon ground ginger
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, soda, cinnamon, cloves, ginger and salt. Set aside.
- Using a separate mixing bowl, either with a stand mixer or a hand mixer, cream together the softened butter and sugars on medium-high speed until the mixture is light and fluffy and a pale yellow color, about 2 minutes, scraping down the sides occasionally as needed. Mix in the eggs (one at a time) and molasses, and beat on medium-low speed until each is combined. Gradually add in the dry ingredient mixture and beat until it is evenly incorporated.
- Transfer the dough to an airtight container and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or until the dough is completely chilled.
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper; set aside.
- Roll the dough into small balls, about 1-inch in diameter. Fill a separate small bowl with sugar, and roll each ball in the sugar until it is completely coated. Place dough balls on the prepared baking sheet.
- Bake for about 8-10 minutes, until the cookies begin to slightly crack on top. (They will crack more while cooling.) Remove from the oven and let cool for 4-5 minutes. Then transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool completely.
- Serve warm and enjoy, or store in a sealed container for up to 4 days. Or freeze for up to 3 months.
Notes
Did you make this?Let me know how it turned out in the comments below!
This recipe contains affiliate links.
I made these for Christmas (2018) for the first time and they were fantastic! I have tried a number of other ginger/molasses cookies and found them either too thick, too hard, or not enough spice. These are just like we like them: crispy around the edges and chewy in the middle with lots of spice. I did, however, heap my teaspoons and tablespoons when they called for Cinnamon, cloves and ginger. So good and lots of compliments!
These were superb! Will make again and again. Delish!
This is a most delicious gingerbread cookie recipe. Chewy and full of flavor. Thank you for this as I have never enjoyed a gingerbread cookie recipe like this one before.
Love them! Made these after I had to throw out a “bad” recipie for gingerbread cupcakes. Had already made the frosting (cream cheese buttercream with cinnamon) and wanted to salvage something fro my efforts, they are to die for! Chewy, moist, perfect flavor. You saved Christmas!
These cookies are da bomb! I made a batch according to the new recipe (more flour, lower temperature) and they turned out perfect, cracked, chewy and delicious. If you prefer a bit harder cookie (also delicious) just use the older recipe. I am at 2500 feet altitude and found that for my oven, they came out best at 360 degrees and 11 minutes bake time. Some tips: Instead of plain sugar, roll them in turbinado sugar for added crunch and flavor. When fully chilled, this dough is very stiff. You can get away with less chilling time if you don’t mind a thinner cookie, just shorten the bake time a bit. You can also get away with using salted butter but cut the added salt by at least half if you do. The salt you do add should always be non-iodized. I use sea salt from a grinder set to normal table grind or even a bit finer. Large-crystal salts don’t mix as evenly in the dough. These (like all cookies) bake best on commercial grade, heavy half-sheet pans with parchment paper, not thin flimsy cookie sheets. The cookies will still look a little fat and undercooked when they come out. It is very important to rest them on the hot cooking pan, after removing from the oven, for 5 minutes before moving them to a wire rack for cooling. Do not skip this step!
This recipe is a keeper for me!
As an absolute buffoon in the kitchen I have made these twice and they are absolutely AMAZING. freezing is a must step to make them fluffier.
I’ve made a half recipe of these twice this Christmas season. I use gluten free cup4cup flour and it works perfectly. Thank you for a great cookie!
I actually made these as an after thought. My mom made ginger snap cookies at the holidays when I was a kid and lets just say we never ran out of hockey pucks that winter! These ginger molasses cookies, however, are a game changer. I love these cookies, I’ll make them every year, their freaking awesome!
I love this cookie and so did everyone else. I made this recipe for a desert contest at work and won best desert. I really just wanted to eat these molasses cookies and needed an excuse. So chewy and delicious. I really like that the recipe makes a ton of cookies, even if it makes it very challenging with my hand mixer.
So far I have made your baked chicken breast(brined is best). They are amazing. And your butternut soup with coconut milk. Love!
Thank you for all these wonderful recipes. I’m so glad I found you!
Liz
Great recipe. These cookies were a hit at my office cookie exchange!
I made these last minute and didn’t have a chance to refrigerate for 2 hours, but my cookies still came out nicely crackled on top!
I think I had the dough refrigerated for only 15 minutes or so before I used a scoop to portion it out. When rolling the dough in the sugar (Turbinado for a nice, crunchy crystal-y surface!), I tried to work the dough as little as possible in my hands so it didn’t get any softer. The dough balls went into the fridge for 10 minutes while the oven pre-heated, then went into the oven for 10.
I was afraid the dough would spread too much, but they made the perfect little 2-inch cookie with just the right height.
These are everything a molasses cookie should be – chewy with the perfect amount of spice!
Have made these for year, made the new recipe tonight and loved it. They were softer and slightly sweeter. After they come out of the oven I always sprinkle more sugar on top.