Molasses Cookies

These perfectly spiced molasses cookies are flavored with ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and (of course) plenty of rich sticky molasses!  They have slightly crisped, sparkling sugar coated exteriors and soft, chewy interiors.  They’re a great and easy-to-make cookie for your holiday cookie tray!

I have so many Christmas cookie recipes (and other holiday treats) lined up for you this month I don’t even know how I’m going to fit them all in to December.  I already had to start early with my sugar cookies that I posted last month, and I think I’m going to have to start posting a few extra times each week just to get everything out before January hits, hopefully you won’t mind the extra helping of sugar!

These molasses cookies are one of my favorites (OK, everything I share is a favorite, I know, but I wouldn’t be sharing it with you otherwise!).  They have crackly sugared surfaces, slightly crisped edges, and soft, so soft, chewy interiors.  They’re brilliantly flavored with real butter (no shortening!), molasses and dark brown sugar, and spiced with ginger, cinnamon, and cloves.

These are the cookies that you want to leave out for Santa if you have something particularly pricy on your wishlist this year.  These are the cookies that you want to be eating by a fire on a snowy winter Christmas eve, they taste like the holidays — cozy, molasses-y holidays.

The dough for these cookies will need to be prepared a little bit in advance, as it will need to chill for at least 3 hours (you can chill it longer, sometimes I like to make the molasses cookie dough the day before I plan to bake, and chill it overnight).

Because of the molasses, the dough is a little bit sticky, and chilling is required to make the dough manageable and easy to roll the dough into balls.  The chilling period also allow the flavors to really develop, giving you the best, most deeply flavored molasses cookies.

You’ll roll the dough in granulated sugar for their sparkly surfaces.  I like to use a coarse or turbinado sugar, but regular granulated sugar will work, too.

I happened to have some leftover whipped cream in the refrigerator and topped some of the warm cookies off with it after they finished baking.  Indulgent?  Totally.  But also totally delicious and reminded me of a whipped cream-topped gingerbread cake that my mom likes to make… just something you might want to try out for yourself 😉

Enjoy!

4 from 3 votes

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Molasses Cookies

These perfectly spiced molasses cookies are soft, chewy, and rolled in sparkling sugar. They're a great and easy cookie for your holiday cookie tray!

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Servings 2 dozen cookies

Calories 170 kcal

Author Samantha Merritt || SugarSpunRun.com

Ingredients

• ¾ cup unsalted butter softened to room temperature (170g)
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar (100g)
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar packed, can substitute light brown sugar (100g)
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 cup unsulphured molasses it should say unsulphered on the label, I used "Grandma's" brand) (60ml)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (280g)
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• ¾ teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cup granulated sugar for rolling

Instructions

1. Combine butter and sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer (or you may use a large bowl and an electric hand mixer).
2. Add egg, stir until combined.
3. Add molasses and vanilla extract, stir well until ingredients are combined.

4. In a separate, medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, ground ginger, ground cinnamon, ground cloves, and salt.

5. Gradually add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until completely combined.

6. Cover dough with clear wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours.

7. Once dough has chilled, preheat oven to 375F (190C) and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

8. Roll dough into heaping Tablespoon-sized balls and roll in sugar to coat completely.

9. Place at least 2" apart on prepared cookie sheet and bake on 375F (190C) for 10-11 minutes.  

10. The cookies should look baked but have slightly under-done centers. Let them cool completely on the baking sheet to finish cooking -- this will make them very soft.

Nutrition Facts

Molasses Cookies

Amount Per Serving (1 cookie)

Calories 170

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.