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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 lovethese 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.
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:
These Chewy Ginger Molasses Cookies are easy to make, super-soft and chewy, and irresistibly delicious. Feel free to halve this recipe if you would like a smaller batch!
Ingredients
Scale
1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, softened to room temperature (not melted*)
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.
Baking soda amount: Because this question comes up occasionally in the comment section — yes, this amount is correct. The recipe needs 4 teaspoons of baking soda to rise properly.
Peuple – I just used white sugar for this recipe, but let me know if you experiment with adding in any brown (either light or dark). I’m always up for trying to use less white sugar…but this was my family’s classic recipe. :)
Just made these – was certian I had a jar of molasses, but it was a spare jar of golden syrup, used it anyway and the cookies were lovely, I am sure they would be even nicer with molasses.
Will definitely be trying these tonight!!!
Also, I just wanted to say I love your blog – I’m a musician too! We music-nerds have to stick together! ;-)
I think you should rename these cookies “The Best Cookies, EVER” because they are fantastic. I make them for everyone now. They are a big hit. Thanks for the recipe and thanks for the blog:)
I made these cookies tonight and they were very good! I’ve had the recipe booked for probably about a year and I’ve been craving ginger cookies all week. I was glad to find a use for my molasses. I halved the recipe and it still made 33!
I made these last night and they are fantastic as expected! My freezer is already stuffed full of Christmas cookies that I’ve been baking for weeks, but I figured one more couldn’t heart, right?
Just made these tonight with my 3 girls and everyone LOVED them… even my daughter who typically only wants chocolate desserts. Definitely a keeper!!! Thanks so much!
This recipe is incredible! It is the only new cookie recipe I added to my holiday baking list, and it is a keeper. I’m currently making a second batch because the first one disappeared so quickly. A friend already asked me for the recipe. Thanks so much for sharing!
I made these last night. Used 2x ginger because I’m an idiot and didn’t read the amount correctly but they were still good. Also added one bag of white chocolate chips. My scooper made balls that were just a smidge above 1″ and it made us 40 cookies. I’ve been searching for a good, chewy receive like this-thanks!
OMGeepers, I’m in love! The perfect balance of sweet ginger and salt. Why am I just now discovering you my dear? I made these and added cardamom, fresh ginger, orange extract, and omitted cloves. They turned out a bit flatter than the ones in your pics but still oh so yummy with the perfect chewy-crunch this cookie girl could have ever dreamed of. The world is now a better place because of this recipe.
Mine are turning out really flat, and while they are cracking, they don’t look as “fluffy” as your pics! Did I overmix the batter, maybe? Either way, they taste fantastic! I’ll figure out what I did wrong, but this is going in the normal rotation of cookie recipes!
I made these for Christmas but didn’t have any molasses so instead I subbed half honey half maple syrup. They were delicious and chewy – my sister ate a dozen between dinner and breakfast the next morning. She made me make another batch as soon as the first one ran out!
I just made these and they were absolutely perfect! Wonderful recipe. Although I do have to say, I halved the recipe and it still made 4 dozen! Not a problem though, I could eat them all in a couple of days (I won’t).
I made these today – I halved the recipe and used brown sugar, and made 28 cookies total (124 calories each, if anyone’s wondering). They are AMAZING. Without a doubt the best ginger cookies I’ve ever had! I love the crunchy outside and the super-soft, chewy jnside. Just what a cookie should be! Thank you so much for this recipe!
I just made a half batch of these and they are delicious! I used light brown sugar instead of granulated because that’s how my mom always made them. I figure the only real differences it will make is adding a light bit more molasses flavor and a bit more moisture. I also added an additional 1/4 c. of flour to help counteract the wetness of the sugar. I hand mixed them because I was too lazy to lug out the big mixer and they came together just fine. I also upped the ginger to a full tsp. for a half batch because I love ginger. I tested different times for each tray and decided I liked the batches baked for 8 mins best, followed by 9, and then at 10 mins they got a little too crispy for my liking (I was really craving a soft chewy cookie). A half batch made 27 cookies for me using a cookie scoop flattened against the side of the bowl. Thanks!
BE WARNED! These cookies are addictive! The recipe made far more than stated, so I froze half of them. A waste of time as I had to take them out after a few days!
I found that the flavour of the biscuits were even better after a couple of days and freezing them didn’t affect the taste at all.
I was wondering if i could aubstitute the cloves for something else? If not it’s okay I will see if I can get to the store sometime soon God willing ! I am so excited totry these cookies. They look absolutely delicious! God willing tonight!
Hi Malika! I do think the cloves are a pretty key ingredient in this recipe, but if you really don’t care for them, you could just leave them out and increase some of the other spices, or use nutmeg instead. I hope you enjoy!
Hi there! Just made these today. I followed everything written in your recipe and they turn out great. I love ginger so this is a keeper. I will try eating them with vanilla ice cream since they just got out the oven. Thank you for this recipe. I really enjoyed them.
Hayley @ Gimme Some Oven —
Hey Arlene! We’re so happy you enjoyed these, and enjoying these fresh out of the oven, with vanilla ice cream sounds like an excellent plan! :)
Oh yum! These turned out just as I hoped they would, thank you. Next time i’d like to increase the molasses flavour as I love it so much, do you think this would be a problem to replace more of the sugar with molasses? (perhaps i’d need to up the flour too).
Hayley @ Gimme Some Oven —
Thank you Kathleen, we’re so happy you enjoyed them! And we think you could probably replace more of the sugar with molasses, it just might make for a wetter, stickier dough, so you might need to add more flour.
I just wanted to comment and tell you that I am really enjoying your blog and I think your pictures are fantastic. :) Thanks!
This recipe looks awesome! It would be perfect for our Christmas Cookie Countdown too! We would love for you to submit it! :)
I love ginger cookies the recipe I use is similar but I put crystallized ginger chips in ours
lovely pictures on your blog!
I’ll confess, I stole a couple of those between the crew call room and the control room. M R Guuuuuuud.
yum they look really chewy!
Just wondering if you use brown sugar (light or dark) or normal white sugar?
thanks!
Peuple – I just used white sugar for this recipe, but let me know if you experiment with adding in any brown (either light or dark). I’m always up for trying to use less white sugar…but this was my family’s classic recipe. :)
Just made these – was certian I had a jar of molasses, but it was a spare jar of golden syrup, used it anyway and the cookies were lovely, I am sure they would be even nicer with molasses.
Will definitely be trying these tonight!!!
Also, I just wanted to say I love your blog – I’m a musician too! We music-nerds have to stick together! ;-)
They were a hit with my whole family! The dough was too wet though. I needed to add more flour and sugar to get it just right. =)
Just made these! They turned out wonderful! thank you. p.s. this makes a ton of cookies!
I think you should rename these cookies “The Best Cookies, EVER” because they are fantastic. I make them for everyone now. They are a big hit. Thanks for the recipe and thanks for the blog:)
I made these cookies tonight and they were very good! I’ve had the recipe booked for probably about a year and I’ve been craving ginger cookies all week. I was glad to find a use for my molasses. I halved the recipe and it still made 33!
These are straight from oven heaven! I just told my husband they are the best tasting cookies I’ve ever made! Thanks so much for sharing!!!
cloves?
do you think it’s a bad idea to try and make these without a mixer?
i lol-ed at the thought of the recipe card… mine would be wrinkly and dirty by now
Holy honkers, these look lovely! I just love a classic ginger and molasses cookie.
Those cookies look so picture perfect. Almost too pretty to eat! ….ALMOST
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe! Your cookies look not only delicious, but perfect! I really want to try this recipe.
The next time I go to the store, I will be picking up the couple of items I don’t have, and I’m making this!
Thanks again for sharing. Yum, yum! :-)
Beth
These look so chewy and wonderful!!!
These cookies look delicious, Ali! Adding this to my Christmas cookie list. :)
I am so excited to try this recipe out!! It looks like the right amount of chewiness and yummy-ness all in one cookie~
These look AMAZING! Your photography is as gorgeous as always. Have them on my must try list!
I still have a recipe box from Mom, too. I don’t see my life without it! Great cookies – I’d take a chewy ginger cookie over a gingersnap any day!
I have a small (or not so small) obsession with chewy ginger cookies. And they have to be chewy… or mostly chewy. These look absolutely perfect.
I made these last night and they are fantastic as expected! My freezer is already stuffed full of Christmas cookies that I’ve been baking for weeks, but I figured one more couldn’t heart, right?
Just made these tonight with my 3 girls and everyone LOVED them… even my daughter who typically only wants chocolate desserts. Definitely a keeper!!! Thanks so much!
Those cookies look AMAZING.
Yum yum yum!! You never failed me.
We tried your recipe here https://www.gimmesomeoven.com/slow-cooker-chex-mix-recipe/#comments
Thanks for sharing your awesome recipes!
This recipe is incredible! It is the only new cookie recipe I added to my holiday baking list, and it is a keeper. I’m currently making a second batch because the first one disappeared so quickly. A friend already asked me for the recipe. Thanks so much for sharing!
loved this recipe!! those are some sticky buggers if you don’t use flour to roll them
What a great recipe! I just made these today, and I have to say they’ll definitely be a repeat recipe. Thanks for sharing!
I now know what people mean by food porn. Mmmm… I am so making these in the morning.
I just wanted to know if the ginger you use is fresh grated ginger or some powdered ginger.
Powdered (ground) ginger. :)
I made these last night. Used 2x ginger because I’m an idiot and didn’t read the amount correctly but they were still good. Also added one bag of white chocolate chips. My scooper made balls that were just a smidge above 1″ and it made us 40 cookies. I’ve been searching for a good, chewy receive like this-thanks!
OMGeepers, I’m in love! The perfect balance of sweet ginger and salt. Why am I just now discovering you my dear? I made these and added cardamom, fresh ginger, orange extract, and omitted cloves. They turned out a bit flatter than the ones in your pics but still oh so yummy with the perfect chewy-crunch this cookie girl could have ever dreamed of. The world is now a better place because of this recipe.
Mine are turning out really flat, and while they are cracking, they don’t look as “fluffy” as your pics! Did I overmix the batter, maybe? Either way, they taste fantastic! I’ll figure out what I did wrong, but this is going in the normal rotation of cookie recipes!
I made these for Christmas but didn’t have any molasses so instead I subbed half honey half maple syrup. They were delicious and chewy – my sister ate a dozen between dinner and breakfast the next morning. She made me make another batch as soon as the first one ran out!
I just made these and they were absolutely perfect! Wonderful recipe. Although I do have to say, I halved the recipe and it still made 4 dozen! Not a problem though, I could eat them all in a couple of days (I won’t).
Cookies are very very good, but the yield is way off. This made 5 dozen 3-inch cookies…
I made these today – I halved the recipe and used brown sugar, and made 28 cookies total (124 calories each, if anyone’s wondering). They are AMAZING. Without a doubt the best ginger cookies I’ve ever had! I love the crunchy outside and the super-soft, chewy jnside. Just what a cookie should be! Thank you so much for this recipe!
Thanks so much Nicole, I really appreciate that, and am glad you loved them! : )
I just made a half batch of these and they are delicious! I used light brown sugar instead of granulated because that’s how my mom always made them. I figure the only real differences it will make is adding a light bit more molasses flavor and a bit more moisture. I also added an additional 1/4 c. of flour to help counteract the wetness of the sugar. I hand mixed them because I was too lazy to lug out the big mixer and they came together just fine. I also upped the ginger to a full tsp. for a half batch because I love ginger. I tested different times for each tray and decided I liked the batches baked for 8 mins best, followed by 9, and then at 10 mins they got a little too crispy for my liking (I was really craving a soft chewy cookie). A half batch made 27 cookies for me using a cookie scoop flattened against the side of the bowl. Thanks!
Hey Molly, I’m glad these worked out for you, they’re one of my all-time favorites!
These cookies were delicious. I altered the recipe a little by adding a tsp vanilla and a 1.5 Tbsp bourbon. Yum. :)
Mmmmmbourbon. Can’t go wrong there! :)
BE WARNED! These cookies are addictive! The recipe made far more than stated, so I froze half of them. A waste of time as I had to take them out after a few days!
I found that the flavour of the biscuits were even better after a couple of days and freezing them didn’t affect the taste at all.
Excellent biscuits!
Thanks Debbie, happy you liked both of those! : D
These cookies turned out incredibly good. And I’m not a great cook.
Thank you, Kimberley! : )
I was wondering if i could aubstitute the cloves for something else? If not it’s okay I will see if I can get to the store sometime soon God willing ! I am so excited totry these cookies. They look absolutely delicious! God willing tonight!
Thanks in advance!!! Yummyyy!
Hi Malika! I do think the cloves are a pretty key ingredient in this recipe, but if you really don’t care for them, you could just leave them out and increase some of the other spices, or use nutmeg instead. I hope you enjoy!
Hi there! Just made these today. I followed everything written in your recipe and they turn out great. I love ginger so this is a keeper. I will try eating them with vanilla ice cream since they just got out the oven. Thank you for this recipe. I really enjoyed them.
Hey Arlene! We’re so happy you enjoyed these, and enjoying these fresh out of the oven, with vanilla ice cream sounds like an excellent plan! :)
My cookies didn’t look like these, but taste great.
That’s okay! We always say taste trumps looks. :) Thanks for giving the recipe a try!
Oh yum! These turned out just as I hoped they would, thank you. Next time i’d like to increase the molasses flavour as I love it so much, do you think this would be a problem to replace more of the sugar with molasses? (perhaps i’d need to up the flour too).
Thank you Kathleen, we’re so happy you enjoyed them! And we think you could probably replace more of the sugar with molasses, it just might make for a wetter, stickier dough, so you might need to add more flour.