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 make these every single year and always have people asking me to make them some. They are seriously THEE best. I had a batch prepared right before I went into labor so I snacked on them throughout our hospital stay haha. Thank you!
I absolutely love this recipe and have been making it for years. However, there is one big discrepancy that always gets me and yields varying results for the cookies, so I’m wondering if I could get clarification on it.
The flour is listed at 4 1/2 C but the metric is listed at 639g
I just don’t understand this. The standard weight of 1 C of flour is 120g. However, when I use the volume measurement but weigh it out using this standard ( for a total of 540g, almost 100g less than listed) they are way too thin. However, when I use the listed metric measurement of 639g, the cookies are way too cakey.
I love this recipe and keep coming back to it, but please can I get some insight. I have never heard of anyone consider 1 C of flour to weigh 140g
Everyone loves this cookie. If you don’t want the hassle of a typical gingerbread cookie, this is the recipe.
Came out wonderfully, surprisingly the 4tsp of baking soda didn’t leave a bitter after taste to the cookies. I added nutmeg and extra ginger because I found the original measurements didn’t add enough flavour for me. I’ve been making these cookies almost every Christmas for a few years now and they turn out perfect every time .
Just had to tell you that I have been making this recipe for years and absolutely love it! Even last year when I was a couple weeks postpartum, I still made them. They are the perfect cookie! This year I’m going to try adding crystallized ginger.
Love these cookies! For the last several years, this recipe has been one of my go to recipes for holiday baking. My son always requests a second batch, so usually I will make the dough, skipping the sugar roll, and freeze so my family can have warm fresh baked cookies when they want them. Just thaw, roll in sugar and bake as directed. Thank you! It truly is one of the best cookies I’ve ever had.
I’ve tried a number of ginger molasses cookie recipes and this one turned out the best for me. I left them in the fridge for 4 days because I didn’t have time to bake them sooner and they were great. I rolled the dough into 1.5 – 2 in. balls, did not roll them in sugar (I don’t like it), pressed them down slightly with a fork (like peanut butter cookies) and baked for 10.5 minutes at 375 degrees (I think my oven runs a little cold). I banged them on the countertop when I took them out and let them cool on the pan for 5 – 10 min. They were crackly on top and so perfectly soft and chewy. Good flavor too. When I rolled them in 1 in. balls, they didn’t have the crackle on top. They were just round and puffy. I did one batch without pressing down on the top and those turned out fine too but were a little more rounded and I left them in the oven for a minute or two longer because the insides were still raw. These cookies stay soft for days and we can’t stop eating them!
These cookies are to die for. I forgot to roll them in sugar and the were still so good! I also used kosher salt instead of table salt. Can you freeze the dough instead of refrigerating??? Maybe roll into balls after chilling and then freeze? HELP
I have frozen half the dough before and cooked at a later date. No problem.
These are delicious!! Problem is you have 350 for oven in written, then in your video you say 375??? Big difference. I tried both ways to see. Should correct it. So which is it?
I would love to know the same thing! I followed the recipe instructions and the cookies came out fluffier and less spread than I prefer aesthetically. Would you suggest less chill time/bigger cookies? I also wonder about if the temperature would make a big difference.
Have a question….. I accidentally used SALTED butter instead of unsalted just finished batter have put it in refrigerator for overnight plan on baking in morning but am afraid they may taste salty?????? Recipe calls for 1 teaspoon salt which I also put in !!!!!! Soooo upset with myself making to take to cookie exchange at church tomorrow Any suggestions ?????
I thought about the same thing. I looked at the sodium content on a single stick of butter. Which is one quarter of the package, 1 lb package that is. Using salted butter basically equals the same as using unsalted and then adding the salt. 😉