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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.
This recipe is pretty decent, but when I tasted them at the end I got a strong bitter flavor of baking soda. The 4 tsp might be good for the rise but it kind of ruins the taste of them. Might try again with just 2 tsp.
These cookies are delicious and were a hit for our Christmas Eve dinner. My family and waist watching friends couldn’t take just one! The only change I made was I used Crisco instead of butter, just because I needed to use it up. And, your suggestion of adding crystallized ginger was great! Baking for 9 minutes is perfect and provides a yummy softness. And you’re so right about the 4 tsp of baking soda.. they rose perfectly! Thank you !
Incredible! Easy to follow recipe, but what’s even better is the final product: sweet but delicate, crisp but chewy, subtle but nuanced. This is my new favorite molasses cookie!
I tried this recipe for the first time over the holidays and absolutely loved the. They are soft and chewy with a wonderful flavor. I brought them to our family gathering and they were gone very quickly. Everyone wanted to know what was in them and if they could have the recipe. Highly recommend if you like the flavor of ginger and molasses.
HUGE HIT!! I added about 1/3 of a cup of finely minced crystallized ginger and they were perfect. So moist! They also roll out to good gingerbread men:)
I tried these for the first time last night and I’ll use the rest of the chilled dough tonight to share with friends. These cookies turned out perfectly when I followed the directions closely. I weighed the flour instead of using cups, and I didn’t have powdered ginger, so I used a fresh knob I had laying around from when I made fried rice for lunch. Great recipe! They were chewy, cracked, and delicious.
Waid —
I was looking for an easy recipe to use what I already had in the house and found this. I’m at high altitude 5,000 ft in a dry climate and followed this to the letter and they came out very good. I avoided making any adjustments to see how it went. I think the recipe itself calls for a tad too much soda and I may have over packed the teaspoon scooping it out so there is a slight bitter after taste at least I noticed and the cookies may have cracked a bit early. I baked 9 min @ 350 ° and they may have need just a little more time.
They came out perfect looking. Tasted great, chewy as heck and very good as is. I would just suggest loosely packing your spoon with the backing soda or reducing it just a tad.
This recipe is bulletproof. I even changed some things, and it still came out perfect. They even started cracking on top like they are supposed to. I followed the recipe exactly, then I added 1/2 cup of dried cranberries, 1/2 cup of finely chopped fresh apple, and 1/2 cup of finely chopped walnut. The fruit adds a lot of moisture, so it takes longer to bake them, around 12 minutes. Also, I placed the dough balls directly on my baking pan. I did not use parchment paper. The fruit flavors blended perfectly with the spices.
My husband is a cookie lover. I enjoy baking and then getting his input as to what he thinks of the recipe and what changes I can make to improve it.
Molasses ginger cookies is one kind I hadn’t made until last night. After researching recipes I thought I’d start with yours. When he tried them this morning, his response was that he thinks they are perfect; the texture, spices and appearance! I won’t be making any other molasses ginger recipe!
Thank you for sharing this, I’m sure I’ll be making them for years to come.
I halved the recipe and they turned out amazing! I didn’t have any trouble with them not spreading or getting a crinkle top! I did add some more spice to them and I rolled them in cinnamon sugar.
Quickly became my go to holiday cookie recipe! Works great as a vegan recipe using “flax egg” and veggie butter.
Olivia Round —
I made this as a gluten free cookie: subbed tapioca and brown rice flour mix for the regular flour, and left everything else the same. They’re probably a different texture/taste than the standard recipe, but we don’t know what we’re missing: we love them!!
OMG just made these and I think they are my new favorite cookie! I love the spices and flavor so much! I baked for 8 mins and they are so gooey and delicious. A good contrast with the crunchy sugary edges.
I’m not a baker and I’ve gotten rave reviews on these! I didn’t have ground cloves so I used 1/4 tsp ground cardamom instead. I also messed up and used only 1 1/4 cups butter. My grandfather has limited taste (about 30% remaining) from radiation and LOVED them.
This recipe was actually really good! It’s a lot of dough so if you’re not making a batch for a whole town I suggest you cut it in half! Lol. I did cut down on the baking soda about a 1/2 tsp. And I added an extra tbsp of each spice. They came out perfect! I did Flatten them down a bit before baking as well. 10/10 recommend. If you find that your dough is really sticky and gooey after mixing I did put in fridge for about an hour and a half!
Love this recipe! Wondering why my cookies never look flat like the picture, they always stay thick.
Geoff —
It’s not you; the proportions are all wrong. That much flour with baking soda is going to give you a cakey, thick/puffy cookie. Reduce the flour to 3 cups, increase the molasses to 3/4 cup. (Reduce the baking soda proportionally.) That will give you a flatter, stickier, chewier cookie. If that’s too far the other way for you, try 3.6 cups of flour.
Personal preference: increase all the spices by 50%. Maybe even double the ginger.
Geoff —
Rachel, 3 cups is too little. Use 3.5, keep the molasses at 1/2 cup. But, I would encourage you to increase the spices by 50%. Bake 9 min.
NOT CHEWY. If you want soft, cakey cookies, this recipe is good. If you want chewy cookies with a little bit of “stick,” the proportions are all wrong. Use 3 cups of flour (not 4.5), and use 3/4 cup of molasses (not 1/2). Bake 8 min. That will change the texture.
For more flavor, increase the spices. Double the ginger, and increase the cinnamon and cloves by 50%. Add 2 tsp vanilla to the eggs/molasses.
Geoff —
Correction: 3.5 cups flour, 1/2 cup of molasses. Do add vanilla and increase the spices. Bake 9 min.
The flavor of these came out tasty, but they are not chewy at all and are much more cakey. Next time, I’ll decrease the amount of flour and baking soda
I made a batch of these cookies around the holidays and my family loved them so much they are now requiring me to make them each year! They were so so good. I also made a buttercream icing and we loved putting a layer of that between two cookies for a divine little cookie sandwich.
I only made one batch of the recipe (considered two) and that was more than enough for holidays with the family and for gifting to friends and neighbors. It yielded about 45 cookies for me. They also froze/thawed very well.
My one recommendation is that it gets messy rolling these puppies with your hands. I chilled the dough before rolling and had a lot of success working with half a batch at a time. My cookies didn’t spread quite as much, but I think that’s because I chilled my dough balls after making them until right before they went in the oven.
Hello! First, I want to say thank you for this recipe. Our school cafeteria used this recipe last year to offer an extra special treat to our students picking up meals during distance learning. I was lucky enough to try a few and they were DELICIOUS!
Currently, we have A LOT of rolled oats to use up. Will you kindly recommend how I may be able to incorporate them into this recipe?
These are in the top 3 favorite things I’ve baked for my boyfriend and I return to the recipe time and time again without fail it’s perfect. I even add less sugar 2/3 c brown 2/3 white and they are still perfect and not overly sweet for our tastes. I love that this recipe makes a lot more cookies so I can always share some, and because they go so fast in our house as it is.
Interesting. That seems nearly impossible as the molasses (being an acid, neutralizes the baking soda).
Im guessing you used blackstrap molasses, it is BITTER. Most people do not know theres a difference
This were a big hit. I was short on butter so I used 3/4 cup unsalted butter and 3/4 cup Crisco (instead of all butter) & they still came out perfect–a delicate crunch on the outside yet chewy. I chilled the dough before rolling them into balls, dipped the balls into sugar, and pressed down a bit on each ball of dough after putting it onto the parchment-lined cookie sheet. I ended up baking them 12-13 minutes.
I followed the recipe exactly and baked 10 minutes. The cookies did not flatten at all but stayed in a ball. Are we supposed to press down on the cooking before baking? Is this because of the parchment paper?
We’re a ginger-loving family so I added a handful of both crystallized and stem ginger to my dough. They turned out fantastic! Soft and chewy with a powerful ginger zing. I would definitely recommend. Thanks for the recipe, I will be using it all the time now!
super good! a bit spicy* (see note) and a bit too sweet for my tastes, next time i’d cut the sugar a bit because the molasses is also sweet. the amount of baking soda is just fine, if your baking soda is super fresh u might be able to get away with a bit less.
* i’m allergic to baking soda (oral allergy) so don’t take my word for it haha, it causes a burning sensation sometimes
I’ve made these multiple times because my little girls (4 and 2) love them, and they hold well for weeks in the high cupboard where they can’t reach them. I need to bake a little longer (10-11 minutes cooked on silicone mats at 4500′ elevation though, very chilled dough) and do 1/2 cup turbinado + 1/2 cup white sugar (instead of 1 cup white), which adds a subtle crunch without affecting the chewiness for a richer texture. I would go spicier for just me, but they are perfect for the kids as is.
Warning: As hard as it is to be good, go easy on the dough with that much soda : )
Definitely a good recipe. I found the temperature eas too low and they dont bake fully at 350.. a bit too soft. I get an after taste of baking soda that you don’t get until the end. I find it over powering. Does anyone else notice this?
Melinda —
Same. I got the baking soda after taste as well. I never thought of upping temperatures. I just upped the time to 15 mins because of the sugar, I didn’t want a baked outside
Do I need to flatten them before baking?
I keep seeing recipes that don’t say to flatten cookies, but when I try them they never look like the pictures.
They always come out dome shaped.
Easy. Whip that butter and sugar. Big difference. I used a lot of fresh ginger… thick 2 inch piece finer diced and another 2 inch piece grated including all the juice. 1/4 tsp cloves. The video and recipes show two different baking temps. I used 350 for 10 min. 8 min was too soft. 10 provides a soft yet chewy and stable cookie.
The written recipe includes brown sugar however the video does not.
Also the written recipe states to bake at 350 and the video states 375. I used the brown sugar and baked the cookies at 350 could this be the reason my cookies did not spread?
I LOVE this recipe. They are crispy and chewy, great molasses flavor. They remind me of the molasses cookies I used to love as a kid. I have made them for a lot of folks since finding the recipe here and they all say they are the best molasses cookies they’ve ever had.
The proportions in this recipe are totally off for us – we’ve baked them 2x and they failed ea. time.
4.5 cups of Flour to only 1.5 cups of butter? The cookies come out super flour-y, not flat and moist at all.
Great recipe!!
We live in a high altitude so baking someday can be a challenge.
I had to bake these for 15 mins each batch in order to get a great cookie texture.
Made 1/3 of a batch and they are AMAZING! Didn’t roll in sugar (lazy) and liked that they weren’t too sweet. Sat 2 nights in fridge and let them soften up a bit before baking. Spread great. Cooked about 14 minutes @ 350. Soft, puffy goodness!!
Because of life, the dough chilled overnight in the fridge instead of 2 hours, so to get the spread I wanted, I did mush them down with a drinking glass. Otherwise followed the recipe to a T and they turned out pretty good baked for 10 min. The ginger was very prominent but not so much on the other spices or molasses. Maybe my spices were just old, but next time I’ll probably double everything but the ginger and use dark molasses instead. Maybe just a touch less soda since that bitter flavor kind of crept through a little, but overall this was a good little cookie that I’ll come back to!
I agree with the folks who were disappointed with this recipe. I followed the recipe exactly and found that while the cookies looked good, their texture was cakey, not the chewy I was looking for. Also, there was too much baking soda. I could taste it in the cookies. I loved the combination of spices, but there should have been more of each. I liked the comments about increasing them by 50% or more.
Although this recipe looked very promising, it did not give me what it said it would – a crisp bur chewy cookie. I am very sad.
I was looking for a ginger molasses cookie recipe and this one looked delicious! I reading the comments… many said this was the best they came across, others said too much baking soda after taste, some commented on cake like cookie, not chewy, some added double spices, etc, vanilla, in fact as I was reading the reviews I thought maybe I shouldn’t try this one so I started looking for others but I kept coming back to that one. So I decided to make it and see for myself. I made it identical to the recipe except I’m a vanilla person so I added about a tablespoon vanilla… left them in the bowl put them in the refrigerator for about four hours… sprayed avocado oil on my scooper which was 1 inch, leveled it off, plopped it right in my bowl of sugar, came out very easy, rolled it around to form a better ball in the sugar, put in 350 oven, first batch of 12 nine minutes wasn’t enough I left it in for 11 minutes pulled them out left them on the cookie sheet for five minutes, WHICH IS THE KEY, FIVE MINUTES, After that took them off to Cool after a couple minutes I tasted one it did taste a little cakey, so on the next batch, that was already still in the oven and every bass there after I left in at 12 minutes let them stay on the hot pan for five minutes took them off they were chewy and hands down the best recipe and I will never find another recipe and I will always have this is my go to and I will make this continuously over and over and over again and I’m glad I didn’t listen to the comments abba not make them! I found myself going back getting one, then another, then another… THIS IS A BLUE RIBBKN COOKIE for all the ones that are torn in making them or not! U will lose out if u don’t! Thank u so much for sharing! Also, for those questioning the flower and the grams blah blah blah take a spoon fill up your cup that way with the spoon level it off at one cup do the same for the half cup that’s 4 1/2 cups perfect consistently throughout… Best recipe out there! 🥇🥇🥇🥇
This recipe is pretty decent, but when I tasted them at the end I got a strong bitter flavor of baking soda. The 4 tsp might be good for the rise but it kind of ruins the taste of them. Might try again with just 2 tsp.
Way too much baking soda. They were inedible.
These cookies are delicious and were a hit for our Christmas Eve dinner. My family and waist watching friends couldn’t take just one! The only change I made was I used Crisco instead of butter, just because I needed to use it up. And, your suggestion of adding crystallized ginger was great! Baking for 9 minutes is perfect and provides a yummy softness. And you’re so right about the 4 tsp of baking soda.. they rose perfectly! Thank you !
Incredible! Easy to follow recipe, but what’s even better is the final product: sweet but delicate, crisp but chewy, subtle but nuanced. This is my new favorite molasses cookie!
I tried this recipe for the first time over the holidays and absolutely loved the. They are soft and chewy with a wonderful flavor. I brought them to our family gathering and they were gone very quickly. Everyone wanted to know what was in them and if they could have the recipe. Highly recommend if you like the flavor of ginger and molasses.
HUGE HIT!! I added about 1/3 of a cup of finely minced crystallized ginger and they were perfect. So moist! They also roll out to good gingerbread men:)
I tried these for the first time last night and I’ll use the rest of the chilled dough tonight to share with friends. These cookies turned out perfectly when I followed the directions closely. I weighed the flour instead of using cups, and I didn’t have powdered ginger, so I used a fresh knob I had laying around from when I made fried rice for lunch. Great recipe! They were chewy, cracked, and delicious.
I was looking for an easy recipe to use what I already had in the house and found this. I’m at high altitude 5,000 ft in a dry climate and followed this to the letter and they came out very good. I avoided making any adjustments to see how it went. I think the recipe itself calls for a tad too much soda and I may have over packed the teaspoon scooping it out so there is a slight bitter after taste at least I noticed and the cookies may have cracked a bit early. I baked 9 min @ 350 ° and they may have need just a little more time.
They came out perfect looking. Tasted great, chewy as heck and very good as is. I would just suggest loosely packing your spoon with the backing soda or reducing it just a tad.
Cheers
This recipe is bulletproof. I even changed some things, and it still came out perfect. They even started cracking on top like they are supposed to. I followed the recipe exactly, then I added 1/2 cup of dried cranberries, 1/2 cup of finely chopped fresh apple, and 1/2 cup of finely chopped walnut. The fruit adds a lot of moisture, so it takes longer to bake them, around 12 minutes. Also, I placed the dough balls directly on my baking pan. I did not use parchment paper. The fruit flavors blended perfectly with the spices.
My husband is a cookie lover. I enjoy baking and then getting his input as to what he thinks of the recipe and what changes I can make to improve it.
Molasses ginger cookies is one kind I hadn’t made until last night. After researching recipes I thought I’d start with yours. When he tried them this morning, his response was that he thinks they are perfect; the texture, spices and appearance! I won’t be making any other molasses ginger recipe!
Thank you for sharing this, I’m sure I’ll be making them for years to come.
I halved the recipe and they turned out amazing! I didn’t have any trouble with them not spreading or getting a crinkle top! I did add some more spice to them and I rolled them in cinnamon sugar.
Quickly became my go to holiday cookie recipe! Works great as a vegan recipe using “flax egg” and veggie butter.
I made this as a gluten free cookie: subbed tapioca and brown rice flour mix for the regular flour, and left everything else the same. They’re probably a different texture/taste than the standard recipe, but we don’t know what we’re missing: we love them!!
OMG just made these and I think they are my new favorite cookie! I love the spices and flavor so much! I baked for 8 mins and they are so gooey and delicious. A good contrast with the crunchy sugary edges.
I’m not a baker and I’ve gotten rave reviews on these! I didn’t have ground cloves so I used 1/4 tsp ground cardamom instead. I also messed up and used only 1 1/4 cups butter. My grandfather has limited taste (about 30% remaining) from radiation and LOVED them.
This recipe was actually really good! It’s a lot of dough so if you’re not making a batch for a whole town I suggest you cut it in half! Lol. I did cut down on the baking soda about a 1/2 tsp. And I added an extra tbsp of each spice. They came out perfect! I did Flatten them down a bit before baking as well. 10/10 recommend. If you find that your dough is really sticky and gooey after mixing I did put in fridge for about an hour and a half!
These were some of the best ginger/molasses cookies I have ever made. Delicious and chewy!! Will definitely make these again.
Delicious snack
Love this recipe! Wondering why my cookies never look flat like the picture, they always stay thick.
It’s not you; the proportions are all wrong. That much flour with baking soda is going to give you a cakey, thick/puffy cookie. Reduce the flour to 3 cups, increase the molasses to 3/4 cup. (Reduce the baking soda proportionally.) That will give you a flatter, stickier, chewier cookie. If that’s too far the other way for you, try 3.6 cups of flour.
Personal preference: increase all the spices by 50%. Maybe even double the ginger.
Rachel, 3 cups is too little. Use 3.5, keep the molasses at 1/2 cup. But, I would encourage you to increase the spices by 50%. Bake 9 min.
NOT CHEWY. If you want soft, cakey cookies, this recipe is good. If you want chewy cookies with a little bit of “stick,” the proportions are all wrong. Use 3 cups of flour (not 4.5), and use 3/4 cup of molasses (not 1/2). Bake 8 min. That will change the texture.
For more flavor, increase the spices. Double the ginger, and increase the cinnamon and cloves by 50%. Add 2 tsp vanilla to the eggs/molasses.
Correction: 3.5 cups flour, 1/2 cup of molasses. Do add vanilla and increase the spices. Bake 9 min.
We love these cookies. I am looking for the nutritional information. Can someone provide please?
The flavor of these came out tasty, but they are not chewy at all and are much more cakey. Next time, I’ll decrease the amount of flour and baking soda
Next time I make these, I’m rolling them in turbinado sugar instead. The dough was too dense for my hand mixer so I had to finish mixing it manually.
The perfect chewy ginger molasses cookie
I made a batch of these cookies around the holidays and my family loved them so much they are now requiring me to make them each year! They were so so good. I also made a buttercream icing and we loved putting a layer of that between two cookies for a divine little cookie sandwich.
I only made one batch of the recipe (considered two) and that was more than enough for holidays with the family and for gifting to friends and neighbors. It yielded about 45 cookies for me. They also froze/thawed very well.
My one recommendation is that it gets messy rolling these puppies with your hands. I chilled the dough before rolling and had a lot of success working with half a batch at a time. My cookies didn’t spread quite as much, but I think that’s because I chilled my dough balls after making them until right before they went in the oven.
Hello! First, I want to say thank you for this recipe. Our school cafeteria used this recipe last year to offer an extra special treat to our students picking up meals during distance learning. I was lucky enough to try a few and they were DELICIOUS!
Currently, we have A LOT of rolled oats to use up. Will you kindly recommend how I may be able to incorporate them into this recipe?
These are in the top 3 favorite things I’ve baked for my boyfriend and I return to the recipe time and time again without fail it’s perfect. I even add less sugar 2/3 c brown 2/3 white and they are still perfect and not overly sweet for our tastes. I love that this recipe makes a lot more cookies so I can always share some, and because they go so fast in our house as it is.
Interesting. That seems nearly impossible as the molasses (being an acid, neutralizes the baking soda).
Im guessing you used blackstrap molasses, it is BITTER. Most people do not know theres a difference
This were a big hit. I was short on butter so I used 3/4 cup unsalted butter and 3/4 cup Crisco (instead of all butter) & they still came out perfect–a delicate crunch on the outside yet chewy. I chilled the dough before rolling them into balls, dipped the balls into sugar, and pressed down a bit on each ball of dough after putting it onto the parchment-lined cookie sheet. I ended up baking them 12-13 minutes.
I followed the recipe exactly and baked 10 minutes. The cookies did not flatten at all but stayed in a ball. Are we supposed to press down on the cooking before baking? Is this because of the parchment paper?
Tasty!
Can i substitute self rising flour for all purpose flour in this?
The recipe says bake at 350 degrees but the video says bake at 375. I’m wondering which is correct?
We’re a ginger-loving family so I added a handful of both crystallized and stem ginger to my dough. They turned out fantastic! Soft and chewy with a powerful ginger zing. I would definitely recommend. Thanks for the recipe, I will be using it all the time now!
I caanot get them to flatten out!! That is exactly how i love these kind of cookies…but these are too puffy….what am i doing wrong?????
super good! a bit spicy* (see note) and a bit too sweet for my tastes, next time i’d cut the sugar a bit because the molasses is also sweet. the amount of baking soda is just fine, if your baking soda is super fresh u might be able to get away with a bit less.
* i’m allergic to baking soda (oral allergy) so don’t take my word for it haha, it causes a burning sensation sometimes
I’ve made these multiple times because my little girls (4 and 2) love them, and they hold well for weeks in the high cupboard where they can’t reach them. I need to bake a little longer (10-11 minutes cooked on silicone mats at 4500′ elevation though, very chilled dough) and do 1/2 cup turbinado + 1/2 cup white sugar (instead of 1 cup white), which adds a subtle crunch without affecting the chewiness for a richer texture. I would go spicier for just me, but they are perfect for the kids as is.
Warning: As hard as it is to be good, go easy on the dough with that much soda : )
Definitely a good recipe. I found the temperature eas too low and they dont bake fully at 350.. a bit too soft. I get an after taste of baking soda that you don’t get until the end. I find it over powering. Does anyone else notice this?
Same. I got the baking soda after taste as well. I never thought of upping temperatures. I just upped the time to 15 mins because of the sugar, I didn’t want a baked outside
Love the cookies. Only thing is I thought that 4 1/2 cups flour weighs 540 grams.
Do I need to flatten them before baking?
I keep seeing recipes that don’t say to flatten cookies, but when I try them they never look like the pictures.
They always come out dome shaped.
Easy. Whip that butter and sugar. Big difference. I used a lot of fresh ginger… thick 2 inch piece finer diced and another 2 inch piece grated including all the juice. 1/4 tsp cloves. The video and recipes show two different baking temps. I used 350 for 10 min. 8 min was too soft. 10 provides a soft yet chewy and stable cookie.
I’m going to use bread flour instead of all purpose. I heard it gives cookies chewier texture
The cookies tasted delicious however mine did not spread like the they were suppose to.
I wonder if this happened because I left the dough in the fridge over night??
Please let me know what to do differently.
Thank you,
Lucille
This is an addition to my previous rating.
The written recipe includes brown sugar however the video does not.
Also the written recipe states to bake at 350 and the video states 375. I used the brown sugar and baked the cookies at 350 could this be the reason my cookies did not spread?
Thank you,
Lucille
I LOVE this recipe. They are crispy and chewy, great molasses flavor. They remind me of the molasses cookies I used to love as a kid. I have made them for a lot of folks since finding the recipe here and they all say they are the best molasses cookies they’ve ever had.
Has anyone tried using bloats instead of traditional blitzed up oats instead of flour?
The proportions in this recipe are totally off for us – we’ve baked them 2x and they failed ea. time.
4.5 cups of Flour to only 1.5 cups of butter? The cookies come out super flour-y, not flat and moist at all.
Great recipe!!
We live in a high altitude so baking someday can be a challenge.
I had to bake these for 15 mins each batch in order to get a great cookie texture.
Made 1/3 of a batch and they are AMAZING! Didn’t roll in sugar (lazy) and liked that they weren’t too sweet. Sat 2 nights in fridge and let them soften up a bit before baking. Spread great. Cooked about 14 minutes @ 350. Soft, puffy goodness!!
I followed the recipe exactly and the cookies were perfect. The spread properly and the taste was good.
Because of life, the dough chilled overnight in the fridge instead of 2 hours, so to get the spread I wanted, I did mush them down with a drinking glass. Otherwise followed the recipe to a T and they turned out pretty good baked for 10 min. The ginger was very prominent but not so much on the other spices or molasses. Maybe my spices were just old, but next time I’ll probably double everything but the ginger and use dark molasses instead. Maybe just a touch less soda since that bitter flavor kind of crept through a little, but overall this was a good little cookie that I’ll come back to!
I agree with the folks who were disappointed with this recipe. I followed the recipe exactly and found that while the cookies looked good, their texture was cakey, not the chewy I was looking for. Also, there was too much baking soda. I could taste it in the cookies. I loved the combination of spices, but there should have been more of each. I liked the comments about increasing them by 50% or more.
Although this recipe looked very promising, it did not give me what it said it would – a crisp bur chewy cookie. I am very sad.
I was looking for a ginger molasses cookie recipe and this one looked delicious! I reading the comments… many said this was the best they came across, others said too much baking soda after taste, some commented on cake like cookie, not chewy, some added double spices, etc, vanilla, in fact as I was reading the reviews I thought maybe I shouldn’t try this one so I started looking for others but I kept coming back to that one. So I decided to make it and see for myself. I made it identical to the recipe except I’m a vanilla person so I added about a tablespoon vanilla… left them in the bowl put them in the refrigerator for about four hours… sprayed avocado oil on my scooper which was 1 inch, leveled it off, plopped it right in my bowl of sugar, came out very easy, rolled it around to form a better ball in the sugar, put in 350 oven, first batch of 12 nine minutes wasn’t enough I left it in for 11 minutes pulled them out left them on the cookie sheet for five minutes, WHICH IS THE KEY, FIVE MINUTES, After that took them off to Cool after a couple minutes I tasted one it did taste a little cakey, so on the next batch, that was already still in the oven and every bass there after I left in at 12 minutes let them stay on the hot pan for five minutes took them off they were chewy and hands down the best recipe and I will never find another recipe and I will always have this is my go to and I will make this continuously over and over and over again and I’m glad I didn’t listen to the comments abba not make them! I found myself going back getting one, then another, then another… THIS IS A BLUE RIBBKN COOKIE for all the ones that are torn in making them or not! U will lose out if u don’t! Thank u so much for sharing! Also, for those questioning the flower and the grams blah blah blah take a spoon fill up your cup that way with the spoon level it off at one cup do the same for the half cup that’s 4 1/2 cups perfect consistently throughout… Best recipe out there! 🥇🥇🥇🥇