Gimme Some Oven

Chewy Ginger Molasses Cookies

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.

These Chewy Ginger Molasses Cookies are easy to make, super-soft and chewy, and irresistibly delicious.

Chewy Ginger Molasses Cookies

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

How To Make Molasses Cookies:

To make these homemade molasses cookies, simply:

  1. Whisk together dry ingredients. Flour, soda, ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and salt.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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. :)
  5. Preheat oven. Heat oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat, and set aside.
  6. 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.
  7. 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.
  8. Serve. Serve warm and enjoy, or store in a sealed container for up to 4 days. Or freeze for up to 3 months.

Ginger Molasses Cookie Recipe

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.

Chewy Ginger Molasses Cookie Recipe

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:

Print
clock clock iconcutlery cutlery iconflag flag iconfolder folder iconinstagram instagram iconpinterest pinterest iconfacebook facebook iconprint print iconsquares squares iconheart heart iconheart solid heart solid icon
Chewy Ginger Molasses Cookies

Chewy Ginger Molasses Cookies

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 4.8 from 614 reviews
  • 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

Scale
  • 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, softened to room temperature (not melted*)
  • 1 cup granulated (white) sugar
  • 1 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup unsulphured molasses
  • 2 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 salt

Instructions

  1. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, soda, cinnamon, cloves, ginger and salt. Set aside.
  2. 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.
  3. Transfer the dough to an airtight container and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or until the dough is completely chilled.
  4. Preheat oven to 350°F.  Line a sheet pan with parchment paper; set aside.
  5. 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.
  6. 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.
  7. Serve warm and enjoy, or store in a sealed container for up to 4 days.  Or freeze for up to 3 months.


Notes

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 contains affiliate links.

Share this Post

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe rating 5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

1,475 comments on “Chewy Ginger Molasses Cookies”

1 14 15 16 17 18 23
  1. Just made these tonight! They’re delicious but mine didn’t flatten into a cookie, it came out a dome. I don’t understand what happened here, any advice??






  2. These are delicious! My husband and I can’t get enough of them. Great with milk or coffee. It is a huge recipe though (unless maybe I made the cookies too small), so I would halve it unless you’re planning on freezing them or giving them away.






  3. YOU NEED TO SLIGHTLY MELT THE BUTTER.

    I’ve made this 3 times and the cookies do not flatten in the oven with room-temperature butter. I melted the butter slightly so some of the butter was melted (for like 25 seconds) and the cookies came out PERFECT like the pictures in the recipe.






  4. Hands down the best molasses cookie recipe ever!! Thank you!






  5. I made these cookies for the first time they turned out really good. I actually made them for my husband he’s pretty picky but he said they was really good. But like to ask is it normal for the batter to be sticky I had a hard time rolling them .I did leave them in the refrigerator for 2 hours. Have any ideas. Thanks Sharon

  6. Can you freeze the dough for make-ahead holiday cookies? It would take up less space in the freezer than freezing the already baked cookies. Thanks

    • Yep. Any cookie dough that isn’t reliant on egg whites for volume (e.g. meringues or macarons) can be frozen for up to 3 months.

  7. You might want to correct total time. If I need to refrigerate for 2 hours, the total time is not 45 min.

    • The cookies don’t spread. I flattened the balls of dough a little. Thank god there’s a ton of dough, so I’ll try again and flatten the next round more. The cookies have a delicious flavor and the recipe makes a lot of cookies!






  8. Hi, I also would like to know the correct temp to bake these babies at! Is it 350F per written recipe, or 375F per video version? I prefer a flatter, chewier cookie rather than a fluffy, soft cookie, in case that’s what makes the difference.
    If you’re someone who’s tried this recipe and is posting their results here, can you please include the temperature you baked at, and the time? This recipe makes a huge amount of cookies, so I want to get it right, and I notice others who have posted have had mixed results – this temp confusion may be why!
    Thanks in advance! – Lethe

    • I used a convection oven set at 325 degrees. Second rack from the bottom.
      Cookies were done in 8 minutes. However, the cookies were chewy (like the name).

    • I baked mine in a convection oven on bottom rack at 350 for 10 minutes. I refrigerated the dough for 2 hours. I used a scoop to get the same size cookies. And they flattened perfectly after letting them sit for 5 or 10 minutes after removing them from the oven. They were perfectly delicious!






  9. These are delicious as they are but also when sandwiched together with cream cheese.






  10. Why does the recipe say bake at 350 and the video says 375?

  11. This looks a lot like the recipe my mom used, so I’m going to be trying this. Easily my favorite kind of cookie in the world– thank you for sharing!

  12. I haven’t made these cookies yet I gave a five star anyway because all your recipes are great. Thank you for sharing. I have learned a lot from reading your tips.






  13. These taste delicious! I did have trouble with the cookies not spreading, though. They did, however, come out cakey, and chewy!

    I halved the recipe and still finished with 43 cookies that were rolled into 1-inch balls. They spread to about 2-inches. I wish they spread more as they were quite thick unlike what is seen in the video.

    I baked these in two batches; once at 350F which needed about 30 minutes, and second at 375F which needed about 15 minutes.

  14. I love this recipe and I’m very confused by the contradiction between weight and volume measure of the flour. You make a point of saying that you updated the floor weight in grams in 2020 to 639 grams, but the volume was left at 4 1/2 cups. Using the standard conversion of 120 grams per cup of flour, that’s only 540 grams!? I split the difference and make batches with 600 grams. Come out well. I add a half cup of finely diced crystallized ginger, and sometimes freshly grated ginger too. Never too gingery for me.






  15. I think I’ve made these cookies a hundred times. Popular with friends, the best!






    • My question is, why can you only save the uncooked dough in the freezer for three months. I’ve read you can use it up to a year later. Thanks!






  16. Delicious! Fairly simple to make and they turned out great. Only thing is on my first batch I went up a size on the scooper because they came out smaller than the picture. But it didn’t change the consistency which was nice. Made about 3 batches of 12 cookies .. going to freeze the rest!






  17. Very tasty, but the cookies are VERY fluffy. I was hoping for a chewy cookie per the recipe title. Followed directions.






  18. Came out delicious! Only problem is that they didn’t spread & flatten, like other comments said.






  19. These are incredible! They are hands down a family favorite from lockdown. I add some chopped candied and crystallized ginger as well as increasing the ground ginger. They ship really well too.






    • I’ve made this recipe several times and it’s always been delicious. However, I don’t chill the dough except briefly when Im in between scooping cookies and waiting for a tray to be done because when I did chill the dough the cookies didn’t flatten and we’re puffy like many have said. If I baked them about room temp, they flattened and cracked beautiful and are chewy delicious cookies. So skip the chilling if you want the cookies in the pictures. Nice and chewy!






    • These turned out to be a mess and we had to throw away. They were so flat no matter what we tried. But they tasted SO good. I wish there were more troubleshooting instructions.

  20. Thanks for sharing this! I was just writing a comment as well in regards to contradiction and came across your comment.

  21. Same complaint with mine they’re more of a Dame shape they don’t flatten out like a traditional cookie . I would not make these again I thought the recipe was horrible






  22. Not sure why there are so many mixed reviews on this recipe. We’ve made it dozens of times and they always turn out perfectly thick and chewy! 😍






  23. These are so far the best ginger cookies I have ever made soft chewy delish. I used fresh ginger instead of powdered just double the amount of ginger for fresh ginger






  24. Please delete this comment! We will be baking your cookies tomorrow. This review was meant for another web site. Thank you.

  25. I made these this evening, what a lovely experience finding this recipe that mostly resembled one I had in the past.
    Found these cookies to be nice. A few things about the recipe it seems.
    Your oven makes a difference if it is Convection or a Standard oven, along with the calebration of temperature. I noticed that the results are quite different depending on what you have.
    I baked both versions at 350°. When baked in the convection oven the timing seemed shorter 8 mins for a chewy cookie and 12 mins for a crisp Ginger Snap sort of feel. When cooking in the standard oven, I notice two things. The timing on the cookies was longer 10-12 mins for chewy and 15 mins for the crisp texture. I also found that they seemed to dome in the standard oven whereas in the convection they were more flat and crinkly on top.
    I made both versions for some folks like chewy soft cookies, while others like myself prefer a cookie with a snap to it.
    Overall the taste and texture was quite nice. I did add candied ginger to mine and boosted the ginger powder, after all can you ever have too much ginger in a molasses cookie?
    Once I get feedback on how others liked them, then is when I will decide to put it into a regular rotation for the fall and winter.

  26. Double the spices on this recipe. you’ll thank me later;)






  27. The ratio of spices is way off, too much white sugar, not enough molasses. At 350 degrees the cookies required 13-15 minutes. Recipe should be halved. Results looked good after I increased oven temperature, but tasteless. I used high quality spices, and even doubled the ginger – couldn’t even taste cinnamon, much less clove. I can not recommend this recipe without significant changes.






  28. More like 11 minutes for me. Yummy’

  29. Mine didn’t Crack and taste buttery but still great

  30. Delicious cookie, tasty and classic! Really happy to find this no-fuss recipe! Does anyone think it could be frozen as raw, flattened, already sugared dough? It would be so easy to get the cookies ready to bake, and freeze them on a tray, and then bag the frozen raw cookies to be thawed and baked.






  31. They were delicious, the first one I tried was like a dome looking shape was trying to test it out, so for the others I flatten the ball a bit! Sorry I’m a noob to baking and I just want to ask I feel the cookie is a tad sweet and I was wondering can I cut down on the sugar, but I’m not sure would it effect the texture of the cookie? Thank you so much!

  32. Well these turned out perfectly thick and chewy for me. 🤷🏻‍♀️ everyone loved them!

  33. Whoops, I meant to leave a review. 5 stars!






  34. I love all these recipes that the FIRST thing is to pre-heat your oven, then at the end says to refrigerate for two hours or over nite. Is it really necessary to pre-heat your oven that long.

  35. This is hands-down the best molasses cookie recipe I’ve found. I made another batch yesterday with the following deviations from the recipe: 1/2 c dark brown sugar and 1/2 c light brown sugar (a little darker cookie), I added 1/4 tsp. Cayenne pepper to the spices and used 540 grams of flour as indicated on the first version of this recipe. I think weighing the flour is important. No problem with the cookies rising too high with this amount of flour. I baked one sheet at a time on the second rack from the bottom of a convection oven set to 325 degrees. They were consistently done in 8 minutes. Cool and frost with a swirl of creamy buttercream frosting (if desired) and then freeze.






  36. These cookies are amazing!!!






    • It truly is the”Best Molasses Cookies”. Thanksgiving & just put my last pan in. I made exactly to recipe, like always. Cookies are flat & crackled. These cookies are always a hit., so many compliments. I got double the amount of cookies. This is an A+ recipe.

  37. why would i preheat the oven then let this dough sit for 2 hours….

  38. Perfect recipe! My husband is a cookie lover and these are his absolute favorite! Letting the cookies cool 4-5 mins on the hot pan is the magic touch! Thanks for a great cookie recipe

  39. for anyone who is having problems with flatting of the cookies just don’t chill them for so long and that will help a lot.
    l






  40. These cookies are AMAZING. I baked them for a Friendsgiving and everyone was asking for the recipe. I followed the other commenter’s advice and slightly melted the butter and my cookies turned out exactly like the pictures. I did double the spices for extra gingery spicy cookies. Thank you for the recipe! These are going to be my go-to holiday cookies






  41. This recipe is a gift. I bake all of the time and this is the only recipe that people routinely ask me for. It is a staple for all family gatherings and friend events because everyone loves these cookies so much. I cannot recommend this recipe enough.






  42. Made as directed except for chill time (~45 mins) and I also flattened lightly with a fork. Baked for 8 mins and straight to the cooking rack. Turned out great!






  43. Turned out amazing!! They came out perfectly and tasted so good :) Just had to bake for a few mins longer with my oven (12-13mins).






  44. These truly are the best ginger molasses cookies I’ve ever made. This replaced my old recipe and is down as a favorite recipe. Thank you!






  45. My families fave. Tastes better than the Archway molasses cookies from awhile back.






  46. Absolutely delicious! We stayed pretty true to the recipe (added a little more ginger) and baked at 350 for 9 minutes. We didn’t have the issue that many commenters have made about the cookies being dome-shaped or not spreading. Out of necessity not related to the recipe, we let the dough chill for a lot longer than 2 hours, but I think the trick is not to over handle the dough— use a cookie scoop and gently roll around in the sugar without trying to reshape. The cookies will get those nice cracks on top as they cook.






  47. The recipe is amazing. I changed it up a little bit and added extra ginger and all spice. Works great. However. The dough is really thick and dense. It burned out two hand mixers. I ended up just mixing it all by hand. After refrigeration, it’s pretty hard. So it broke two cookie scoopers. End result.

    Mix by hand and then utensil free on parchment paper or in the bowl and then i put on the cookie sheets and refrigerate. Much easier.

    I literally make these multiple times in pumpkin spice months. It’s now my official holiday cookie.

    Much love.






  48. This is a superb recipe. I did follow the exact recipe directions….however I did press the cookie dough balls ever so slightly before baking and added a extra minute and a half for baking. Really delicious soft but ever so lightly crunchy on the very outside of the cookies. Incredibly tasty just the way the recipe intended (and the way my family likes) Bravo!

  49. I made these cookies last year for Christmas and they were INCREDIBLE! My all time favorite.
    I decided to make them the other night, but they completely melted into one big blob. Can you tell me what I did wrong? I went by the recipe with the same ingredients as last year too.






  50. I love this recipe and have used it several times now as you have written, but what I am curious about, is can it be rolled out and cut into shapes and decorated as well? Would love a recipe that is chewy but can decorate.