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.)
This recipe contains affiliate links.
I used to make these with my grandmother, she called them Lucky Pennies. I’ve misplaced the recipe card, so through searching I’ve found your recipe! They are fantastic and are just like my old recipe.
These are great for school bake sales (no nuts) and make great gifts too.
As a child we only got these cookies for St Patrick’s Day but I will make them for any reason now.
Thank you!
This is the recipe I’ve been looking for! The taste and texture is perfect. I did have a spreading problem on my first pan, but I was using parchment paper. I took the parchment off the next pan, and the cookies came out perfect! This recipe definitely needs to go directly on the pan.
Most delicious cookies ever! Thank you so much for posting your recipe. I love baking in the fall, even though the temperature here in California’s in the high 80’s. I’ve always liked ginger cookies, but this is the first time I’ve attempted them from scratch. I ate 7 cookies last night and one this morning with my coffee. Going to the gym now.
Very good recipe for ginger cookies! I did find 375 degrees too hot, it browned them on the bottom a bit too much for my liking but my second batch at 350 degrees was perfect and no more than 10 mins and they looked just like the pictures. Oh and I only dipped the tops in the sugar since some people said they were pretty sweet. I used soft margarine and was a bit worried about the spreading issue but I did not flatten the dough after I put them on the cookie sheet and although they did flatten considerably in the oven they pretty much kept their shape but I left probably closer to 2 inches between cookies. Next time I may just try to put them back in fridge after scooping out on sheet as I’m sure this would help to keep the round shape better. Thank you so much for sharing, this one is a keeper!
Is 4 t. of soda right? Just seems like a lot. Sounds delicious though.
Getting ready to make these again for my mom’s birthday: this year her 87th. They take her back to HER grandma’s cookies in the 1930’s. No fail recipe–really more delicious than I’d think a ginger cookie could be.
Fabulously perfect!! Thank you!
You’re very welcome, we’re happy you enjoyed these!
this recipe is great. I made it for my family and friends and they absolutely loved it. you can substitute regular sugar for ungranulated cane sugar if you don’t want a sugar spike.
I totally agree rocky
Thanks for sharing, Rocky, we’re so happy they were a hit with folks! :)
These were PERFECT! NO I am not a robot…yes I am a REAL person and they were absolutely PERFECT! I posted pics to my Instagram and FB page. My son is so in love with me right now. And it makes a TON of cookies…I used a small ice cream scooper so they were all the exact same size. THANK YOU! I will be making these FOREVER
Thank you, Eva, we’re so glad you loved them! :D
Do these cookies freeze well?
Yes, they do, we hope you enjoy!