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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We’re sorry to hear this, Jennifer! Was your butter softened enough (at room temp, and not the microwave)?
My favorites,can just taste them now!!!!
Thank you, we hope you can try this recipe soon! :)
Thank you for this detailed recipe! I tried another similar recipe that was very simple and my cookies turned out dry and crumbly. The tips you included made all the difference! Mine turned out chewy on the inside and crunchy on the outside. Perfection! They did end up a bit flatter than yours despite being refrigerated for almost an hour but I didn’t mind! I even splurged on the raw/turbinado sugar and I loved the little crunch it gives.
One question for you: When I make these again, I’d love to add a teaspoon of orange juice or orange liqueur (I read that it enhances the flavor) – do you have any recommendations on how to accommodate this extra liquid? Should I just up the flour?
Thanks and well done!
You’re very welcome, Arielle! We’re so glad you guys enjoyed these! Also, yes, we think if you added a teaspoon of orange juice or orange liqueur (we would do the liqueur or orange extract, as you won’t be able to notice just a teaspoon of orange juice), we would just add another teaspoon of flour if that’s all the liqueur/extract you add. We hope this helps — we bet that orange flavoring will be a lovely addition to these!
I just made these. They are way way too salty. My guess is that the butter is supposed to be unsalted? normally I just use salted butter but these really taste too salty to eat :(
Yes, the butter is supposed to be unsalted. :( We’re sorry!
Thank you for sharing this! I made these last year and they were a hit. This year I’d like to substitute the sugar for coconut sugar and flour for coconut flour. Will that work okay?
Thanks
We’re so glad these were a hit, Jaimie! We’ve never experimented with coconut sugar or flour in this recipe, so we really can’t say, though you’re welcome to give it a try and let us know how they turn out! We would be a little concerned the coconut flour might make these too dense and dry, so if you do experiment with it, we definitely wouldn’t recommend using all coconut flour.
LOVE this recipe!! Made for family and coworkers and they were a total hit! Thanks for sharing! :)
Thank you, Morgan — we’re so glad to hear that!
What type of molasses should be used? There’s so many available and I’m sure the taste would be affected if using one that was stronger than intended.
Thanks.
mb
Hi Maria! We use Grandma’s original or Brer Rabbit (the unsulphured molasses for both brands). We hope you enjoy these!
Is it possible to mix by hand (rather than with a mixer)?
We wouldn’t advise that, Caitlin. Unfortunately you really need a mixer for best results. It doesn’t have to be a stand mixer though, just a simple hand mixer will do! :)
Not sure what happened when I made these. They are FLAT and far too buttery. I chilled for over an hour. May try again with a little less butter.
We’re so sorry to hear that, Cathi — we’re not sure what could have gone wrong. Could your baking soda be old?
Thanks theses turned out great but I got 7 dozen out of this recipe not sure how when recipe says 28-32 cookies. They turned out perfectly and in abundance.
Oh my goodness, that’s a lot of cookies! We’re not sure how we messed up the yield, but we just re-tested these yesterday and got 42, so we edited the recipe — we’re sorry it made so many extra, but we’re glad you enjoyed them!