This molasses cookie recipe has been in my family FOREVER. I’ve been making them since I was a wee cutey pie, as has my daughter (they’re her favorite). They are so delicious but so unfussy. Sometimes they come out crispy, sometimes chewy, sometimes puffy, sometimes flat — they are always delicious because of that molasses-ginger-cinnamon-clove magic!
Yes, I know the world doesn’t need another cookie recipe, especially at the holidays when we are all made to feel like the Grinch if we aren’t handmaking our gifts and baking ten different things to hand out to our family and friends, perfectly packaged up like Martha Flippin Stewart. (I have a love/hate relationship with Martha…)
You can use any kind of molasses, just not blackstrap (thank you, Cook’s Illustrated). Apparently they all bake up the same.
If you are fancy and want to cream the butter and sugar, then add the egg, and then the dry ingredients, by all means, do it. I tried it and it didn’t make a lick of difference. So much for fancy.
We like to make up the dough and then freeze the dough balls. Then we can just bake up a few in the toaster oven and presto fresh-baked cookies! (Though if you have a cookie problem like me this might not be the best idea.)
Molasses Cookie Ingredients
- 6 tablespoons butter (softened)
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup molasses
- 1 egg
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ginger
- 1 teaspoon salt
- powdered sugar (for dusting)
Molasses Cookie Recipe
- Mix the dough
Mix all the ingredients except the powdered sugar together on low until they are blended. Form the dough into a ball, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and put in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours or overnight.
- Preheat the oven
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
- Make the dough balls
Using a teaspoon and clean hands (natch), form walnut-sized balls out of the dough (about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 inches in diameter) and place on a lined baking sheet. Leave 2 to 3 inches between each ball.
- Bake those cookies!
Bake until the cookies are puffed, cracked, and crispy around the edges, about 10-12 minutes. Let cool.
- Sprinkle with powdered sugar
Using either a shaker or a strainer, generously sprinkle powdered sugar over the cookies.
I told you they were easy. 🙂
Please pin this post if you like it, and please join my email list!
Check out my post on how to make Meyer Lemon Marmalade for another delicious holiday recipe!
Just wondering…why can’t you use blackstrap molasses?
Blackstrap molasses doesn’t have the same flavor — it has a much lower sugar content and more salt than other kinds of molasses.
Blackstrap isn’t the same as regular molasses.. its basically whats left after the 3rd or 4th sucrose extraction when making molasses, so its really bitter and has about half the sugar as normal molasses. Its darker and much thicker, so if you bake by volume it doesn’t measure the same either. Blackstrap can be used in recipes, but you have to choose one that specifies to use that type, because they will have factored that flavor and density into their recipe. If youre unsure of what you have (some cheaper molasses is secretly blackstrap to get more out of their sugarcane), regular molasses is sort of reddish in color, but you can always check sugar content (should be around 70% for true molasses) or taste it and you’ll be able to tell immediately.