Molasses Cookies
These Molasses Cookies have the perfect old fashioned flavor and chewy bite, and are great for cookie exchanges and holiday parties!
While Molasses Cookies will never have the popularity of Snickerdoodles, Shortbread Cookies, or this Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe, I think they are easily one of the best.
The flavor and texture are both just too incredible.
They’re crisp on the edges but very chewy in the middle, and the flavor is so spicy and bold.
With ginger, allspices, and cloves supporting the dark, rich flavor of molasses, the cookies simply taste AND smell like the holidays.
You’ll notice that these have a flatter, more crinkled texture than most molasses cookies.
I specifically use only egg white and proportioned the ingredients so they have this really flat, ultra chewy texture.
As in, they’re not one bit cakey or fluffy, which is how I like it.
Can Molasses Cookies be Frozen?
These cookies freeze nicely after being baked, so you could easily make a few batches ahead of time for cookie exchanges or for holiday parties.
How to Make Molasses Cookies:
Combine all purpose flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, allspice, and cloves:
Whisk well, then set aside.
In a separate bowl, cream together butter and sugar until fluffy and light, then add 1 egg white:
Whip that in until the mixture is creamy, then add molasses:
I have used both classic unsulphered molasses (like Grandma’s brand) and more artisanal blackstrap molasses, and both yield good results. The choice is yours!
Whip that until the molasses is evenly mixed in:
Add the dry ingredients, and mix until a soft dough forms:
Now, you can either bake these right away, or you can chill them.
Baking them right away is great if you want a really flat and chewy texture to the cookie, and also if you’re impatient and WANT COOKIE NOW lol.
Chilling the dough to firm up the butter is a better option if you want a less flat cookie, as it will spread less during baking. It will also be easier to work with.
I usually choose to bake them right away, but they will be harder to roll because the dough is sticky. To get around this, use a cookie scoop to drop them straight into granulated sugar:
The sugar will help you give them a quick roll with your hands, into a ball shape:
Bake the cookies for about 13-15 minutes, depending on how “done” you like the cookies. I pull them when they’re still glistening a bit in the center.
Note that they will look pretty puffed right out of the oven, because of the egg white:
But as they cool, they will flatten out a bit:
Chocolate Candy Cane Cookies, Monster Cookies, and Snowball Cookies are a few of my other favorite recipes to bake. And Cut Out Cookies if you want to decorate. Enjoy!
Molasses Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour (5 ounces by weight)
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp ground allspice
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- 4 tbsp softened unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup sugar plus extra for rolling
- 1 egg white
- 4 tbsp unsulphered molasses
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.
- Whisk to combine the flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, allspice, and cloves.
- In another bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy and light.
- Add the egg white and whip until smooth, then mix in the molasses.
- Add the dry ingredients, and mix until the flour just disappears.
- For a flatter, chewier cookie, bake the dough now, or for a less flat cookie, chill the dough in the fridge for 1 hour.
- Add a few spoonfuls of sugar to a bowl, and use a small cookie scoop to drop the cookie dough straight into the sugar. Roll with your hands into a ball, then place 12 balls onto the prepared baking sheet.
- Bake the cookies for 13-15 minutes, then allow to cool. Because of the egg white, the cookies will look very puffy when you pull them from the oven, but they will fall and crinkle as they cool.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition is estimated using a food database and is only intended to be used as a guideline for informational purposes.
10 Comments on “Molasses Cookies”
Made your peanut butter cookies, they were indeed the BEST! That being said I believed any cookie recipe you post must be the best. I was not disappointed! Even with making a slight mistake, I let my butter partially melt and had to refrigerate it, then needed to add 1/2 cup more of flour to stiffen the dough, the cookies came out perfect! I am not a baker but your recipes certainly puts me in the running.
Substitute of molasses can we add brown sugar or maple syrup
So simple. Came out exactly as pictured. Made ping pong ball sized balls without chilling the dough and dipped only the tops in sugar. Crisp edges with chewy centers. Puffed out of the oven but nice and flat after cooling a minute. Made a double recipe which produced 20 cookies. Will def. make again. Thank you!
This is now my go to molasses cookie recipe. Egg whites finish them off perfectly. Also like the allspice flavour. 4 timed the recipe for Christmas. I still have a few left to nibble on. Used a small cookie scoop for just the right size cookie. Very pretty and tasty. Thank you Joanne.
I made these by the exact direction and measurements.
I was so disappointed to find them so spread out onto the pan and then they turned shiny. They looked exactly like how lace cookies. Can you tell me where I possibly went wrong? I love molassas cookies and this was my first experience making them and as they cooled they are more like candy now.
The biggest cause of overspread cookies is oven temperature not being correct. Do you have an oven thermometer (different from the temperature setting on the oven)? Also what brand butter did you use? As a final note, the butter could’ve been too warm. Chilling dough always helps them spread less, so it’s possible they needed to be chilled for a bit. But usually culprit #1 is the oven temperature.
Hi Joanne,
Molasses cookies are delicious and chewy ,sooooo good !
For me they are a little too sweet . Can i cut down a little the sugar ?
Thank you
Eva
OMG these were so good. Perfectly spicy, and crazy chewy.
Joanne- can this be doubled?
Hi Sharon, I don’t expect any drawbacks in doubling the recipe. Enjoy!