Chewy Molasses Cookies

Homemade Chewy Molasses Cookies are made with ginger, cloves, cinnamon, and molasses. They’re an old fashioned molasses cookie recipe perfect for the holiday season (my favorite Christmas cookie!).

While there’s a lot more to the season than decorating (and eating) Christmas cookies, it wouldn’t be Christmas without a lot of homemade, festive, ’tis-the-season-type of cookies.

From super soft and chewy sugar cookies to pumpkin cookies to even buttery maple sugar cookies, it’s a full on cookie bakery around here during the holiday season. 

And you know what? I don’t hate it. 

All too soon January will arrive and so will those let’s-eat-healthier resolutions, which always end before February in a pile of guilt and chocolate brownies.

(Or, at least they do for me 😉)

So for now, I’m enjoying all things Christmas beginning with my favorite recipe: Chewy Molasses Cookies (aka Old Fashioned Molasses Cookies). 

Why Is This The Best Molasses Cookie Recipe? 

Honestly, it’s not just the fact these cookies are soft and chewy with rich flavors of ginger, cinnamon, and cloves (although that in and of itself makes these cookies top notch), it’s that this is a recipe my mom has been making since we were kids. My favorite Christmas cookie recipe, hands down. 

They’re sweet and chewy, and they’re rolled in sugar. They’re kind of like a molasses cookie met a sugar cookie to make one incredible chewy molasses sugar cookie. 

The recipe for these old fashioned molasses cookies comes from a cookbook my elementary school put on as a school fundraiser. 

Parents submitted their favorite recipes while the students got to participate in a photo shoot at a local restaurant. As a first grader, there was seriously nothing cooler than getting out of school for something like this (except maybe my lime green vest and jellies #trendsetter).

Honestly, it was a genius school fundraiser. Not only was it something fairly simple to put together, it was something very useful. Plus, who wouldn’t want to buy something with their kid’s face in it??

Chewy Molasses Cookies Ingredients:

• molasses
• unsalted butter
• flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves and ginger
• brown sugar and granulated sugar
• egg

As you can see, this is an incredibly easy molasses cookie recipe. It calls for fairly basic ingredients, but when all combined together, they truly taste like sugar, spice and everything Christmas nice. 

How To Make These Cookies Perfectly:

Cream: Cream the butter and sugar mixture together, until light and fluffy. 

Wet Ingredients: Then, add in the egg and molasses. Cream until well combined.

Dry Ingredients: Add in flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves. Mix until combined.

Chill: Allow the dough to chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour.

Bake: Roll into small balls and roll in sugar. Bake until they are puffed and begin to crack. 

Cool: Allow the cookies to cool on the pan. They will flatten a bit (think snickerdoodle). 

Storage Tips:

Store these molasses sugar cookies in an airtight container at room temperature. (I actually think these cookies get even richer in flavor the next day!)

If you’re cookies are slightly over baked, a trick to softening them (or keeping cookies soft in general) is to add a few marshmallows in your airtight container. The cookies will absorb the moisture from the marshmallows and stay soft. 

How To Make These Perfectly Every Single Time:

• Make sure you chill the dough for at least an hour, otherwise the cookies will spread. 
• When your roll the cookies into balls, make sure you don’t make them too big. I suggest making them about the size of walnut (or about 1 Tbsp of dough).
• Roll the cookies in granulated sugar before baking. 

Molasses Cookies Tips & Tricks

• This dough has to be chilled at least 1 hour. 
• The cookies are rolled in sugar before baking. I also like to sprinkle a bit more sugar on top right after baking.
• These bake quickly, so keep an eye on them. 
• Similar to snickerdoodles, as soon as the cookies puff up, begin to crack, and are just slightly underdone, take them out of the oven. They will flatten a bit (totally normal).  

5 from 1 vote

Print

Chewy Molasses Sugar Cookies

Prep Time

20 mins

Cook Time

10 mins

Chill Time

1 hr

Total Time

1 hr 30 mins

 

Homemade Chewy Molasses Cookies are made with ginger, cloves, cinnamon, and molasses. They’re an old fashioned molasses cookie recipe perfect for the holiday season.

Course: Cookies

Cuisine: American

Keyword: molasses cookies

Servings: 2 Dozen

Author: Michelle

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 1 egg
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 1/4 cup sugar, for rolling

Instructions

1. With a standing mixer or hand mixer, cream the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar together until light and fluffy.

2. Add in the molasses and the egg, and beat the dough until well combined.

3. Add in flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon and cloves. Mix until combined well combined.

4. Chill dough for at least 1 hour.

5. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

6. Roll dough into about 1 1/2" balls (about the size of a walnut), and roll in granulated sugar. Place each cookie about 2" apart on the baking sheet.

7. Bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes, or until the cookies begin to puff up and crack. Let the cookies cool on the baking trays until they set (the cookies will flatten a bit--this is totally normal).

8. Sprinkle with extra sugar, if desired. Let the cookies finish cooling a wire rack.

Here are some other favorite Christmas cookie recipes:

Maple Snickerdoodles

Chewy Maple Sugar Cookies

Cream Cheese Lemon Crinkle Cookies

Updated in 2021.