Chewy Molasses Cookies
on Nov 22, 2019, Updated Jan 17, 2025
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These are a terrific holiday cookie, with all kinds of warm spices, and your house will smell amazing while they are baking.
These molasses cookies are exactly what a simple holiday cookie should be — filled with those warm spices, chewy, ready to be dunked in a glass of milk or coffee, and totally giftable. The dough takes about 15 minutes to make. I love to keep some dough in the fridge so I can bake up a sheet of these cookies during the holidays when folks come over. Warm chewy molasses cookies? Yes, yes, and yes.
Holidays equal platters and tins of festive-looking cookies. Cookies with colored icing, cookies with sprinkles, cookies with fillings, and cookies with layers. An artistic cookie display is a thing of beauty, but I’ll reach past the whole lot if I see a flat, modest, quiet molasses cookie. This is my cookie…not much to look at, compared to its flashy holiday brethren…but pliant and spice-scented and to my mind, kind of perfect.
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Aside from that glass of milk or cup of coffee or tea, these cookies will go great with an Espresso Martini, cup of Hot Cocoa, or Iced Pumpkin Latte. Or go for broke and make egg nog milkshakes!
What's In This Post?
Perfect Chewy Molasses Cookies: These are a terrific holiday cookie, with all kinds of warm spices, and your house will smell amazing when they are baking
Ingredients
- All-purpose flour – For structure.
- Ground cinnamon, ginger, and cloves – These spices add a toastiness to the flavor.
- Baking soda – Reacts great with the molasses and brown sugar to give the cookie a rise.
- Salt – To enhance the flavors.
- Butter – Use unsalted butter to control the amount of salt.
- Granulated sugar – Paired with brown sugar creates the perfect texture and sweetness.
- Brown sugar – Helps create a soft and chewy cookie.
- Molasses – For the deep molasses-y flavors.
- Egg – Along with the brown sugar, creates a chewy cookie texture.
How to Make Chewy Molasses Cookies
- Mix the dry ingredients: Combine the flour, cinnamon, ginger, baking soda, cloves, and salt.
- Combine all the ingredients and chill: Mix the butter, 1/4 cup granulated sugar, brown sugar, and molasses. Beat in the egg. Beat in the dry ingredients. Let chill in the fridge for 2 hours.
- Cook: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Roll the balls of dough in the remaining 1/2 cup of granulated sugar, place them on the cookie sheet, and flatten the cookies.
- Bake and enjoy: Bake for 7 or 8 minutes just until set and allow to cool on a wire rack.
Tips
- Because the butter is melted in this recipe, you can just as easily mix it up with a spoon or a rubber spatula instead of an electric mixer.
- Do not overbake these cookies (unless you want crispy molasses cookies, then go right ahead and add another couple of minutes).
Storing, Packing, and Sending
These delicious treats make the perfect holiday gift. These will keep for 4 or 5 days in an airtight container. They are good contenders for shipping, too. Separate layers of them with wax or parchment paper. Then place additional crumpled paper in the bottom and top of the container to fill it. Make sure the container they are shipped in is well padded all around before putting it in a box and sending it off to a lucky recipient.
The Chewy Sugar Cookies you see in these photos are a great pairing with the molasses cookies. Make a combo package for shipping.
What to Serve With Molasses Cookies
More Simple Holiday Cookie Recipes
- Big Chewy Brownie Cookies with Dried Cherries and White Chocolate Chips
- My New Favorite Oatmeal Cookies
- Soft Chocolate Pumpkin Cookies
- Nut-Free Snowball Cookies
- Chocolate, Peanut and Pretzel No-Bake Haystack Cookies
Also see: 9 Nut-Free Bake Sale/Birthday Party Recipes.
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Chewy Molasses Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter (melted)
- ¼ cup granulated sugar (plus another 1/2 cup for rolling)
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- ⅓ cup molasses
- 1 large egg
Instructions
- In a medium-sized bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, ginger, baking soda, cloves, and salt.
- In another large bowl, combine the butter, 1/4 cup granulated sugar, brown sugar, and molasses. Beat in the egg. Beat in the dry ingredients; the dough should be fairly stiff. Refrigerate the dough for about 2 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 375 F. Scoop the dough up by heaping tablespoons and roll them into balls. Roll the balls in the remaining 1/2 cup granulated sugar and place them 2 inches apart on a baking sheet (about 12 cookies per baking sheet). Using the bottom of a glass, flatten the cookies to about 1/4-inch thick and 2 1/2 inches in diameter.
- Bake for 7 or 8 minutes just until set. Remove the cookies from the baking sheet and cool on a wire rack. Repeat with the rest of the dough.
Notes
- Because the butter is melted in this recipe, you can just as easily mix it up with a spoon or a rubber spatula instead of an electric mixer.
- Do not overbake these cookies (unless you want crispy molasses cookies, then go right ahead and add another couple of minutes).
These are delicious and easy!
Have made these a couple of times now, and they have been a big hit. My grandmother used to bake us molasses cookies all the time, so it’s fun to continue the tradition! My grandsons enjoy helping, especially the part where you press the dough down with a glass.
I love the pressing down part, too! They are such a traditional cookie, and two of my best friends adore them so I make them often.
We all loved these! Made tonight as we decorated our Christmas tree and it got us all in the mood. These will go in our holiday rotation, for sure!
That’s just what I like to hear! I’m making them this weekend.