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Soft and Chewy Ginger Molasses Cookies

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These soft and chewy Ginger Molasses Cookies are just what your holiday season has been waiting for! Delightfully chewy with a crisp sugar coated exterior and plenty of spice and warmth, these molasses cookies are impossible to resist! Holiday baking? Make sure to try these Cranberry Orange Shortbread Cookies, Coconut Macaroons, and Peppermint Snowball Cookies! 

molasses cookies with sugar coating stacked high

Molasses Cookies

Ginger molasses cookies. The quintessential Christmas cookie that needs to happen in your house at least once this season.

I have a number of ginger cookie recipes that I adore. I’m spoiled year-round by my sister who makes ginger cookies all the time for the boys. It’s their favorite. I have three favorite recipes and this is one of them. It yields the prettiest soft molasses cookies you’ve ever seen: soft, chewy and with tons of flavor.

Love all things ginger? Try these recipes!

  1.  Slow Cooker Gingerbread Mocha
  2. Mini Pumpkin Cheesecake Recipe with Gingersnap Crust
  3. Pumpkin Ginger Bars with Maple Glaze
  4. Pear Ginger Cinnamon Oat Smoothie

What Spices are In Ginger Cookies?

There is a ton of spice in this soft molasses cookie recipe. This combination of three spices makes for a powerful punch:

  • ginger
  • cinnamon
  • cloves

This combination of spices is critical for that extra depth of flavor. It really makes your mouth go wow.

Let’s Make Molasses Cookies

I’m a total sucker for molasses and I think that is the ingredient that makes ginger cookies shine. Such a deep, bold flavor that screams, “Eat me! It’s Christmas time!” Making these cookies is a Christmas tradition and I love that they are SO easy to make.

  • Combine flour, baking soda, corn starch, salt, and spices in a large bowl.
  • In a separate bowl, cream together butter and sugars.
  • Beat in the egg and then the vanilla and molasses.
  • Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture, stirring just until combined.
  • Chill for at least 2 hours. I like to leave it in there for a solid 24 hours if I have the time. I know this seems like such a buzzkill when you’re making cookies but chilling does two important things:
    • limits spreading
    • allows the flavors to meld together
  • Scoop out dough, form into a ball, and roll in sugar. This is the part that makes that beautiful, sweet exterior.
  • Bake for 9 to 11 minutes being careful not to over bake. Once you see the cookies, cracking, they’re done.
  • Let the cookies cool for several minutes on the cookie sheet before moving to a cooling rack.

The cookies can be store in an airtight container for up to a week or frozen, for up to 3 months.

ginger molasses cookie recipe with cloves ginger cinnamon and molasses

Ginger Molasses Cookie Recipe Ingredients

These cookies are made with all butter – no shortening – so you get that awesome buttery flavor in every bite. I use Challenge butter. The quality is exceptional and I am able to see and taste the difference. It’s flat-out delicious 🙂

Here’s what you’re going to need for these ginger molasses cookies:

  • all purpose flour
  • baking soda
  • corn starch
  • salt
  • ground ginger
  • cinnamon
  • ground cloves
  • butter
  • brown sugar (dark or light)
  • granulated sugar
  • egg
  • vanilla extract
  • molasses

ginger cookies coated in sugar with cracking tops

Tips For The Best Ginger Cookies

  1. How do you know your ginger snap cookies are done? Just look for the cracking on the top of the cookie. As soon as you spot that, pull them out because you do not want to over bake these cookies. Let them cool for awhile on the cookie sheet before moving to a cooling rack.
  2. When you roll the cookie dough balls in sugar, you want to make sure you completely coat the ball. Be generous with that sugar! I think it adds a delightful crunchy sweetness to these cookies AND it’s super sparkly and pretty.
  3. Do not skip the chilling step! It’s super important for both flavor and presentation.

These really are the perfect soft ginger cookies!

More Cookies To Try

  1. Butterscotch Shortbread Cookies
  2. Mint Chocolate Chip Snowball Cookies
  3. Peppermint Shortbread Cookies
  4. Almond Joy Cookies
  5. Maple Cinnamon Glazed Peanut Butter Cookies

How To Make Molasses Cookies

ginger molasses cookies in a stack on red burlap sitting on brown napking
Print Pin
5 from 6 votes

Perfect Soft Ginger Cookies

These soft and chewy Ginger Molasses Cookies are just what your holiday season has been waiting for! Delightfully chewy with a crisp sugar coated exterior and plenty of spice and warmth, these molasses cookies are impossible to resist!
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword ginger cookies, molasses cookies
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 9 minutes
Total Time 14 minutes
Servings 24
Calories 162kcal
Author Trish - Mom On Timeout

Ingredients

  • 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp corn starch
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
  • 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 tsp ground cloves
  • 3/4 cup Challenge butter softened
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar dark or light
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 egg room temperature
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/3 cup molasses

Coating

  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar

Instructions

  • Combine flour, baking soda, corn starch, salt, and spices in a large bowl. Whisk together.
  • In a separate bowl, cream together butter and sugars.
  • Beat in egg until thoroughly combined.
  • Mix in vanilla and molasses.
  • Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture, stirring just until combined.
  • Place in refrigerator for at least 2 hours. I like to leave it in there for a solid 24 hours if I have the time.
  • Preheat oven to 350F.
  • Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
  • Use cookie scoop to scoop out dough, form into a ball, and roll in sugar. Place on cookies sheet.
  • Bake for 9 to 11 minutes being careful not to over bake.
  • Let cool for several minutes on the cookie sheet before moving to a cooling rack.
  • Store in an airtight container for up to a week or freeze for up to 3 months.

Video

Notes

Tools Needed

Hand Mixer or Stand Mixer | Mixing Bowls | Baking Sheet | Cookie Scoop | Silicone Baking Mat

 

Nutrition

Calories: 162kcal | Carbohydrates: 26g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 22mg | Sodium: 127mg | Potassium: 93mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 16g | Vitamin A: 187IU | Calcium: 20mg | Iron: 1mg

Originally published December 9, 2014.

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Have a great day!

Disclaimer: As an Ambassador for Challenge, I was provided product and compensation for this post by Challenge Butter, but all opinions are, as always 100% my own. I LOVE Challenge Butter!

Comments

  2. marljong says

    Thank you for sharing your divine ginger cookie recipe! For helping a teacher after school, I asked the student what kind of cookies he’d like. He requested that I bake him some soft, delicious, ginger cookies with sugar on top–like the ones he fondly remembered from his old baby sitter. Suffice to say, I found your recipe and baked it up. I taste-tested it and I was hooked! I wanted to eat the whole batch, but I resisted with three. I packed it up into a bag and gave it to the student. The next day, the student returned to tell me that he shared it with his family and they enjoyed it tremendously. He stated,” I loved my babysitter’s cookies, but yours was even better! Thank you!”

    Reply

  3. Heather says

    These turned out delicious! Not having a cookie scoop, big teaspoons made 52 1.25″ balls that ended up as 2″ cookies and the tops were cracking at 8 minutes.
    Thanks!

    Reply

  4. Deb says

    Just made these and they are SOOOOO YUMMY and pretty easy for a non-baker like me!! My only disappointment is that there wasn’t a yield listed in the recipe (that I could see), so I didn’t know how many it would make. Had I known how good they would turn out to be, I would have definitely doubled or tripled the recipe!! Thank you!!

    Reply

  9. Amy @ Amy's Healthy Baking says

    These look perfect Trish!! Sing me up for a whole dozen. 😉 Surprisingly enough, ginger cookies are the ONLY cookies my guy will eat. But unfortunately, he likes his crunchy. Because his mom always burned cookies while he was a kid, so he got used to the crunchy ones. Oh well, more soft & chewy ones for me! Pinned!

    Reply

  13. Mir says

    If you’re putting cooling racks away this time of year, something is wrong! My baking sheets haven’t been put away in at least two weeks.
    These are so thick and soft and fluffy! I love the telltale cracks. Such an amazing cookie!

    Reply

  14. Gretchen @ Two Healthy Kitchens says

    Mmmmm … soft and chewy ginger cookies! Sounds perfect! I’m not a fan of the crisp ones – I love them to be more tender than crunchy!

    Great tip on watching them crack – perfect! Can’t wait to add these to my Christmas cookies – I just know they will be a big hit!!

    Reply

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