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 just ran across this recipe and couldn’t resist making them. Absolute perfection! Made exactly as written and they came out exactly as promised. Thank you! My search for the PERFECT molasses cookie is over!
I made these cookies tonight (the full batch). I did the flour by weight. I doubled the spices, except for the cinnamon, like someone recommended. I saw someone said not to handle them too much so I used a 1” cookie scoop which made handling them less much easier. I baked half (@ 350 for 9 minutes) and then froze the other half in little balls so they are ready to bake! I am excited to test out baking them from frozen to see how they turn out. This is my new favourite gingersnap so recipe! Thank you for sharing.
Ah, I wish I saw this comment earlier! I would have loved to double the spice.
Next time :)
Thanks for sharing!
I was impatient and didn’t chill them and they spread (as the recipe says, lol), but I also froze half the batch already formed into balls and rolled into sugar. I baked those right out of the freezer, and the texture was perfect! Just added another minute or two baking time. This recipe is the one I’ve been looking for!!
Also added: a finely grated knob of fresh ginger, 1/3 cup minced crystalized ginger.
Old comments say recipe is incorrect; only 2 tsps baking soda, not 4, and bake at 375, not 350. Which is correct?
Did these come out overly salty for anyone else?? I measured everything to a T, I don’t understand. I did see someone say the baking powder amount may be incorrect? I thought 4 tsp seemed like a lot, but I figured it’s such a large batch. I’m so sad, now I have a huge pile of salty cookies. The texture is absolutely perfect, though.
did you use salted or unsalted butter? The recipe calls for unsalted but I only have salted on hand, and so I will omit the additional salt for this recipe. Hope that helps
Its 1tsp salt in recipe
I made these for my boyfriend and he absolutely love these. When ever I make cookies he request these specifically. This time I doubled up on the spices except the cinnamon to add a bolder flavor. I’m patiently waiting for 2 hrs for our to chill. I have frozen the dough and made it about a month later and it was still good and fresh. These cookies are perfect for the holidays. I will not use any other recipe other than this one. The hardest part is waiting at least 2 hours for the dough to chill. I was wondering if I could just freeze it to speed up the wait time. I guess I will find out the next time I make it. Great recipe!
Made these last night and they’re delicious. I added a little grated ginger to the wet ingredients. I think I would have liked a little more molasses flavor, but maybe if I had used dark brown sugar it would have had that. Used unsalted butter and 4 tsp of baking soda. It ended up making around 70 cookies. My oven is kind of crappy, so I added 10 degrees and cooked each batch for 12 minutes, turning the baking sheet halfway through. The first batch looked done, but they were too soft, almost mushy, so that’s why I added the extra minutes. The rest of the batches were perfect.
These are the best molasses cookies! My family loves them. I follow the recipe to the T except I add 1 tablespoon of orange zest and they are delicious! Thanks for sharing your recipe.
Finally, found the Best crispy Ginger cookie recipe! Hard to wait for the chilling dough..but worth it. Perfect. Thank you very much…. husband loves them too.
I would just like to know if you can make the dough a week ahead of time and freeze it
I did exactly that and they turned out perfect! Just have the dough already rolled into balls with a sugar coating
Is it possible to replace butter with margerine or something for a family member that can’t eat any dairy?
I love this recipe and have made them the right away before, but now want to see if I can do it without butter…
These are amazing however a full batch of 1in cookies makes about 130-140 cookies! I just freeze & eat a few at a time.