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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Made these recently and they were amazing! I used a high quality spelt flour instead of all purpose flour. They were such a hit I’ll be making them again soon!
Thanks for sharing, Amy — we’re so glad you enjoyed them and that you were able to make them with some spelt flour! :)
This is a fantastic recipe. I followed it to a T, and the cookies taste delicious. I did notice a couple odd things, though. When I cooled the dough for 30-40 minutes, it was barely cooled. The outside of the dough was a but chilly but that was it. The rest was room temp. I went ahead and made the cookies and they turned out beautifully. Nice cracked appearence, etc. It was getting late though so I decided to make the last couple batches the day after, and stuck the dough in the fridge. I figured that since the recipe specified for “thoroughly chilled” dough in the first place, it wouldn’t hurt them. When I made them the next day however, they flattened out into 1/4″ tall cookies with no cracked tops, just a rough top. They are crispy and delicious, however so no great loss for me.
Thanks for sharing with us, Joanne! We’re so happy you enjoyed them!
can fresh ginger be used instead of powdered?
Hi Molly! Sure! We just haven’t tried it in this recipe ourselves. We would still recommend using powdered ginger, but if you want to use some freshly grated ginger as well, you can cut back the powdered amount just a bit. You can also use crystalized ginger (some recipes call for all three types of ginger). We hope this helps and that you enjoy the cookies!
I made these last night and they are AMAZING! They turned out perfectly soft and chewy and pillowey and so so delicious! Me an my mom have eaten probably 5 each the past two days! Cannot wait to share these with friends and make them many more times! Especially when the holidays come around! Thanks for the recipe they are my new favorite cookie!!!
Thanks for sharing, Madeline — we’re so glad you enjoyed them!
Hey Meg! Oh man, thanks for sharing this with us! We are perplexed as to how some people are ending up with flat cookies. We’ve tested this recipe so, so many times and have yet to have that happen. Your point about the oven temp is really interesting though and we appreciate you sharing this with us!
PS this is a different Meg :)
I made these cookies and they turned out looking nothing like the pictures. They really flattened out, and they were crispy, not chewy (and I didn’t overbake them). Disappointed with this recipe
Hi Meg! Oh no, we’re so sorry to hear that! We’ve never had these come out flat, especially after refrigerating them. Could your baking soda possibly be old? That might explain why they didn’t rise any. Otherwise, we’re really not sure what went wrong.
This is the almost exact recipe I got from my Grandma in the 1960’a except for the amount flour. She had 21/4 cups flour for what was half of this recipe. So for this recipe I would increase by extra half cup flour (using her proportions). I have NEVER had a cookie failure with this recipe in 40 plus years of making this cookie! It is a family favorite. Good frozen if you can get them to the freezer. Good raw. Good packed for lunches . Good keepers. Good luck.
Very cool, Betty — thanks for sharing with us! :D
These cookies were delicious and soft! Perfect texture and great flavor. I did use half white sugar and half brown sugar. I only had black strap molasses at home so thats what i used. Will try them again following the recipe. Really yummy!
Thanks Michelle! We’re happy to hear you enjoyed them! :)
I made these for the first time today. Even after I let the dough set in the fridge for 3 hours it was still super sticky. But I tried a couple cookie sheets full. They were super flat but tasted great. I read the some of the comments before even starting, so I made sure the baking soda was fresh. I ended up adding about 1/2 cup more flour to the chilled dough and they turned out awesome !!!!! Thank you for sharing this recipe.
Hi Sarah! We’re really not sure what’s causing some cookies to come out flat — we’ve tested these a zillion times. :( We’re glad the extra flour helped though — thanks for sharing and for giving these a try!