These soft and chewy Molasses Cookies are hands down my all time favorite Christmas Cookie! Every year they are the crowd favorite from my Christmas Cookie Roundup.
Table of Contents
Why I Love This Recipe
These Molasses Cookies come from my mom - who I think got the recipe from my her mom and she probably got it from her mom. Who knows. Either way - these Molasses Cookies are perfection. The dough comes together quickly, chills in the fridge to harden it up, and then rolled into balls and coated in sugar before baking. The result is a perfectly soft and chewy molasses cookie that you'll totally love!
Ingredients & Substitutions
- Unsalted Butter – I like to use unsalted butter when baking to control the amount of salt I add to the recipe. Make sure your butter is at room temperature before creaming it together with the sugars to yield the best results.
- White Sugar– White sugar helps aerate the cookies when creamed with the butter to create tiny air pockets for a crispier cookie.
- Egg – Use large eggs at room temperature. If they're straight from the fridge, they will make the butter seize and won't combine evenly.
- Dark Molasses – Some people might tell you that you can substitute other ingredients like Maple Syrup, Cane Syrup or Sorghum Syrup, but there really isn't anything else that compares to the flavor of molasses. It's carried at almost every grocery store so it's easy to come by, and it keeps for years in the pantry!
- All-Purpose Flour – Measured by scoop and leveling.
- Baking Soda – For leavening, texture, flavor, and browning.
- Spices – I like using a combination of cinnamon, ground cloves, and ground ginger.
*For full list of ingredients and instructions please see recipe card at the bottom of the post.
How to Make Molasses Cookies
Step 1: In a large stand mixer combine the butter, sugar, egg and molasses. Mix for a minute or two until well combined.
Step 2: Slowly add the flour mixture and mix until evenly combined. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
Step 3: Once chilled, scoop 2 tablespoons of dough at a time and roll into balls.
Step 4: Roll them around in a small cup of sugar and set onto a parchment lined baking sheet.
Step 5: After baking remove from the oven and transfer the cookies onto a cooling rack to cool.
Step 6: Store any leftover Molasses Cookies in the freezer. This way they stay fresh even longer!
The in's and outs of Molasses Cookies!
- What does molasses do for cookies?
- Molasses makes baked goods extra soft so these cookies stay chewy even longer!
- What's a good substitute for molasses?
- Some people might tell you that you can substitute other ingredients like Maple Syrup, Cane Syrup or Sorghum Syrup, but there really isn't anything else that compares to the flavor of molasses. It's carried at almost every grocery store so it's easy to come by, and it keeps for years in the pantry!
- How do you store molasses cookies?
- My family has been storing them in the freezer since I was a kid. I'll take out as many as I need an hour or so before I plan on eating them and let them come to room temp. This way they stay fresh even longer! You can also nuke them in the microwave for 10 seconds when they come out of the freezer to speed the process up
- Should I use light or dark molasses?
- For baking - always use dark molasses!
So whip up a double batch of these and store them in the freezer for the next few weeks while you’re prepping for the holidays! Grab a few when you’re sweet tooth strikes and warm them up a bit in the microwave just so you can pretend you’re eating a cooking fresh outta the oven. They are pure perfection - I promise!
If you tried this recipe, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it goes in the 📝 comments below. Thanks for visiting today!
Molasses Cookies
Equipment
Ingredients
- ¾ cup unsalted butter melted
- 1 cup white sugar, plus extra for rolling
- 1 egg
- â…“ cup dark molasses
- 2 ¼ cups all purpose flour (measured by scoop and leveling)
- 2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- ½ teaspoon powdered ginger
Instructions
- In a large stand mixer combine the butter, sugar, egg and molasses. Mix for a minute or two until well combined.
- Combine the flour, cloves, ginger cinnamon and baking soda and sift together.
- Slowly add the flour mixture to the molasses mixture and mix until evenly combined. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Once chilled, scoop 2 tablespoons of dough at a time and roll into balls. Roll them around in a small cup of sugar and set onto a parchment lined baking sheet.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and transfer the cookies onto a cooling rack to cool.
Notes
- What does molasses do for cookies?
- Molasses makes baked goods extra soft so these cookies stay chewy even longer!
- What’s a good substitute for molasses?Â
- Some people might tell you that you can substitute other ingredients like Maple Syrup, Cane Syrup or Sorghum Syrup, but there really isn’t anything else that compares to the flavor of molasses. It’s carried at almost every grocery store so it’s easy to come by, and it keeps for years in the pantry!
- How do you store molasses cookies?
- My family has been storing them in the freezer since I was a kid. I’ll take out as many as I need an hour or so before I plan on eating them and let them come to room temp. This way they stay fresh even longer! You can also nuke them in the microwave for 10 seconds when they come out of the freezer to speed the process up
- Should I use light or dark molasses?
- For baking – always use dark molasses!
I freaking LOVE molasses cookies! This seems easy enough that even I can do it!! How many cookies does this yield??
3-4 dozen!
One of my Christmas favorites too!
LOVE molasses cookies! Perfection!!
I've been on the hunt for new Christmas cookie recipes and I am so excited to try these!
I am not a fan of molasses, but I love maple and brown sugar flavors. Do you think I could somehow substitute part of the molasses to get a more maple flavor?
You could probably substitute maple syrup with similar results.
I too am not a fan of the flavor of molasses— it makes me sick even. However, when baked off and mixed into different flavors, the taste of the molasses changes into something really great in my opinion. If you haven’t tried it baked off I would recommended it, however if you have and still didn’t like it, I would just recommended playing around with substitutions.
Carol--have you tried real maple flavoring in your cookies? Not the artificial flavor .
I am also picky with my vanilla and insist on the real stuff.
My mom used to use the real maple flavoring to make fresh, hot syrup for our pancakes. Yummy!
Sooo good! Thank you my family loved it! It was very chewy and delectable.
Ummmm wow these are great cookies!!
Another great WGC recipe!
Gaby I made these a couple of days ago. They are hands down the BEST cookies I have ever made! Perfection in shape, the perfect crackle, crisp and soft in the middle. Thank you!
Thanks Jennifer 🙂 xx
I made these delicious cookies this morning to take to my grandchildren!
What was extra nice was the aroma of the cookies was still in the air at my house when I got home around 7:15 pm!
Love the smell of the spices in my home, & for the aroma to hang around all day....Well that was a bonus!!
My mom baked these for my siblings & me growing up! So good!!
Thank you for recipe! I got lots of compliments on them at my Christmas party.
These remind me of the ones I grew up with. Probably the same recipe. Sounds familiar. Thanks so much for posting this.
Fedora
These sound a lot like the molasses (AKA ginger snaps) recipe I've been using for years except mine calls or canola oil instead of the butter, which makes them good for my nephew with a milk allergy (fortunately he can tolerate eggs). I make mine smaller -- 1 tbsp, but a friend makes them in the bigger 2 tbsp size and then makes ice cream sandwiches out of them. How yummy is that!?!
Please include a photo in your emails. It would save everyone a lot of trouble.
working on it as we speak
Could you substitute the butter with vegetable oil or coconut oil?
I havent tested it that way so I'm not entirely sure - but if you do, let me know!!
Quick question.... Why do they cookies look different in the first/top picture (and Instagram), then in the other pics? Did you refrigerator one and not the other?? The top cookies look like they spread out more. Just curious because I prefer the first pic and I'd like to duplicate those. Thanks! They look amazing!!
just the size of the cookie scoop!!! Use a 2 tbsp scoop 🙂