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
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 0 About 42-46 cookies 1x
Description
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
- 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
Flour amount: Please note that different sites across the internet use a wide range of weights for 1 cup of flour. I use 142g for this recipe, so 4.5 cups = 639g.
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. (This recipe yields a very large batch of cookies.)
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Here is an update to an earlier comment:
Baking the dough balls from frozen was a success. I just left them in the oven a few more munutes. They were perfectly chewy with a slight snap. My guests ate all of them. I am at present making a second batch for another group get together. These are honestly the best ginger cookies I have made.
Thank you so much for sharing Marina – we’re thrilled that freezing these helped, and that they were a hit! :D
Is it suppose to be 1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) of butter, or 1 1/2 sticks of butter? I used 3 sticks of butter and the dough melted all over my oven. eek! Not sure what I did wrong :(
Oh no! Yes, it is supposed to be 1 1/2 cups of butter (3 sticks), but that shouldn’t have happened. Did you chill the dough right after making it, and then again, after you portioned the dough balls?
Hi I was wondering if the cookies will still turn out if I don’t chill them?
Hi Kaitlyn! We definitely recommend chilling these, as it helps the dough firm up and be easier to work with. Also, it should help keep these from spreading too much in the oven. We really do recommend chilling the dough before rolling. After you have placed your dough balls on the cookie sheet, pop the entire cookie sheet with the dough in the refrigerator for an extra 10-15 minutes before baking. We hope you enjoy these!
What are the odds that this could be a cookie cutter recipe? I’m obsessed with it and would love to do cut outs with the little one.
Wanted to mention that I’m so addicted to these that I freeze them to try to deter myself from eating a dozen a day. So in the end I just end up eating a few frozen cookies at a time because I can’t even wait long enough for them to come to room temperature.
Aww, we’re so happy you enjoy them Katy! Unfortunately though we don’t think these could be rolled and cut out. It’s just such a thick, wet batter. This recipe is fairly comparable though!
Salted or unsalted butter?
We use unsalted, but if you only have salted, you can definitely use it (just don’t add salt to the dough, like the recipe calls for). We hope you enjoy!
What if I don’t have a stand mixer?
No worries, a hand-held mixer will work just fine! You will need some sort of a mixer though. We hope you enjoy these!
I really want to try this recipe but I do not have a stand up mixer. Could I use a hand held mixer and it come out the same?
Hi Rebecca, no worries, you should definitely be able to use a hand mixer – we hope you enjoy! :)
These have become a Christmas staple for me! I always bake a batch before I head up to my boyfriend’s family’s house for Christmas (in fact, he loved them so much, I baked some and frosted them with pink royal icing for “Valentine’s Day” cookies!). The recipe makes a ton, too, so there is always plenty to share. If you’re on the hunt for the perfect ginger cookie recipe, this is it!
Thanks CJ, we’re so happy to hear these were a hit (we bet they were lovely with that pink icing too)! Thanks for your sweet words on the recipe. :)
Looks amazing – can’t wait to try! I have a few questions – did you use salted or unsalted butter? And did you use cooking molasses for the molasses? Thanks so much, I’m so excited to try these.
Thanks Sarah, we hope you enjoy these! We use unsalted butter for these. We’re not sure what you mean by cooking molasses, but we use unsulphured. :)
Could I add some vanilla extract or is that going to mess things up?
You should be able to add a little vanilla to this Nicole, maybe 1/2 teaspoon. Just make sure to chill the dough both times, like the recipe instructs. We hope you enjoy these! : )