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!
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They’re very very puffy. I wanted chewy cookies. Super bummed I wasted all these materials and all this time.
My husband loved these as well as myself but was wondering how to make them a little more harder
Made these as written and they were awesome!! Now my dilemma. I wanted to make another batch to give as teachers gifts but today (of course) I only have salted butter. Hie horrible would they be if I used salted butter?
I noticed that your recipe says to bake at 350, but your video says to bake at 375 degrees. Also, most recipes say to use a fork and flatten them, but your recipe doesn’t. Mine are in the oven now. Fingers crossed.
I’ve been making these cookies for at least 6 years! They’re a classic addition to our holiday spread and the whole family asks for them. I just wanted to note that I’ve always used blackstrap molasses and I think it probably amps up that flavor. I always go a bit liberal with the spices as well. Fantastic!
Not a fan of this recipe. It requires pretty significant tweaks to get the flat look and chewy texture promised. As written, this recipe yields a more cake like texture – and a fairly salty/metallic aftertaste. On the plus side, the unbaked dough tastes great!
The metallic aftertaste is coming from too much baking soda. Despite the insistence by the person who published this recipe, two teaspoons of baking soda is sufficient. I’ve made this recipe at least 20 times with 2 teaspoons of baking soda and it comes out beautifully. The cookies are chewy and lovely.
Oh and I believe the flour grams should be 540g. I was wondering why my dough came out so dry.
You can’t bake then. My 12 yo makes these and I’m not sure where the “metallic” taste comes from you get. Best and easiest cookie recipe ever. No fail!
I have made these on repeat, particularly over the holiday season and they are perfect! Huge crowd favorite among my friends and family.
I’ve made these the last 3 years as my go to recipe and my husband begs for them during the Christmas season! I use them in cookie gift exchanges and as Christmas gifts to friends and family!
I weigh out the flour to approx the 639/640g range and use the spices as stated (just add a dash of nutmeg). At minimum I chill for 2 hrs, but have found the dough does crackle better and produce a better cookie when chilled longer.
I use an approx 1 TBSP size cookie scoop, plop into POWDERED SUGAR (not granulated) but don’t roll the sugar all the way in . Depending on cookie size I get about 36-45 cookies per batch and they are flattened, crackled, and chewy!
I preheat the oven to 350 and am using silicone baking mats for even cooking. I’ve tried the 8, 9 and 10 mins range and find I prefer them at the 10 mins doneness, then i let them rest for about 4-5 mins and move them to a wire rack. They spread a little more and get that definite chewiness.
Thank you for this recipe as I’m on my 3rd & 4th batches this season already & they’ve been great!
I specifically search out this recipe when I make these cookies, and I know I’m on the right page when I read the story of momma making these every weekend. :)
I don’t change a single thing in this recipe and they come out absolutely amazing, every time. People absolutely RAVE about them – a true crowd pleaser.
Thank you for sharing this recipe!
Absolutely agree!
THE best!
I got about 8 dozen + out of the recipe
Can I use this recipe to roll out dough for cookie cutters?