Soft Molasses Cookies are chewy drop cookies that are lightly spiced and rolled in sugar. Popular for the holidays, these soft molasses drop cookies are filled with seasonal flavors like cinnamon, cloves, and ginger.
If you love the seasonal flavors of fall, you are sure to enjoy soft molasses cookies. These soft and chewy cookies are filled with flavor from cinnamon, ginger, and cloves.
Best of all, the addition of molasses makes these cookies incredibly chewy and soft. Plus, molasses helps keep your cookies soft for days.
I love to roll my molasses drop cookies in turbinado sugar. The golden color adds an extra touch of fall to these chewy cookies.
Molasses vs gingerbread vs gingersnap
Molasses vs gingerbread vs gingersnapYou may be wondering what the difference is between molasses, gingersnap, and gingerbread cookies. They all contain very similar ingredients, like molasses, cinnamon, and ginger.
So, how do you tell them apart?
Ginger snaps are the crunchiest cookie - hence the name. They ‘snap’ when you break them in half. Ginger snaps also contain more ginger than a molasses cookie, and sometimes bits of candied ginger.
The same can be said for gingerbread cookies -they also contain more ginger than a molasses cookie. Gingerbread cookies, however, are softer and usually rolled out and cut into shapes, like gingerbread men.
Molasses cookies, however, contain less ginger than the other two cookies. They’re also made with all brown sugar, which makes them softer and chewier than a regular cookie.
In the end, they all have similar flavors, but different textures. If you’re a fan of one, you’ll probably like them all.
Ingredients and substitutions
Since baking is an exact science, I do not offer many substitutions for my baking recipes. Each ingredient serves a purpose in the recipe, so I do not recommend omitting anything.
Unsalted butter and salt can be substituted with salted butter.
You'll also need some turbinado sugar (not shown) for rolling your cookie dough - this can be substituted with granulated sugar.
Cookie baking tips and tricks
Cookie baking tips and tricksRoom temperature ingredients will help your cookies have a consistent, creamy, and even dough. When beaten, the eggs and butter form an emulsion, which traps air in the dough, which bakes up into a soft and fluffy cookie.
Properly measuring flour is an issue I see frequently. If you have issues with your cookies not spreading, or turning out extra thick and tall, you probably measured too much flour into your cookie dough.
To properly measure flour, use a spoon to add flour to your measuring cup, then level off with a knife. By scooping flour directly from a container with your measuring cup, you’re compacting the dough into the cup. This can add up to 25% more flour to your dough.
Using parchment paper helps prevent your cookies from spreading too much while baking. A greased baking pan will guarantee your cookies spread more than they should, so I always suggest parchment paper (or a reusable baking mat) instead.
Storage and freezing
Homemade cookies will keep for 3 to 5 days in a sealed container at room temperature. Add a slice of fresh bread to your storage container - it will help keep your cookies moist for longer.
Cookie dough and baked cookies can be frozen in a tightly sealed container or freezer safe bag for 3 months or longer.
Soft Molasses Cookies
Ingredients
- ¾ cup unsalted butter room temperature
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- ¼ cup molasses
- 2 ¾ cups all purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ cup turbinado sugar or granulated sugar, for rolling
Instructions
- In a large bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Add eggs and molasses, stirring to fully incorporate.
- In a separate bowl, whisk (or sift) together the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, salt, ground cinnamon, ground cloves, and ground ginger.
- Gradually stir dry ingredients into butter mixture until just combined.
- Cover bowl or wrap dough in wax paper. Chill for at least 1 hour (up to 24 hours) in the refrigerator. Refrigerating will help the flavors meld and also create a firmer dough to roll into balls.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Remove dough from refrigerator and allow to sit at room temperature for 10 minutes. Scoop dough using a 1.5 tablespoon scoop or shape by hand into 1.5 inch balls.
- Add turbinado sugar to a small bowl. Gently roll balls in sugar to coat. Place cookie dough balls 2 inches apart onto a parchment lined baking sheet.
- Bake for 10-11 minutes, then allow to cool for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
- Your cookies will keep for 5-7 days in a sealed container. To help keep cookies fresh, you can place a slice of bread in the container with the cookies. Replace the bread slice as needed.
- You can keep raw cookie dough in the refrigerator for 3 days.
- Cookie dough balls (and baked cookies) freeze well, up to 3 months in a sealed plastic container or freezer bag. Allow frozen balls to thaw for up to 10 minutes on the baking sheet before baking, or add 1-2 minutes to the baking time.
Deb Boogaard
Heather,
I definitely want to try this recipe. The amount of flour sounds great! The 2 1/4 C. of flour most recipes call for seems to result in thin, flat cookies,
I noticed your recipe calls for3/4 C. brown sugar. Is that to make the cookies a little more spicy/a little less sweet? Just curious :o) Would using 1 C. instead end up causing the cookies to spread?
Heather
Hi Deb, adding more sugar (or using less flour) can cause your cookies to spread more when baked. I don't find these cookies spicy, the brown sugar combined with rolling the dough in turbinado sugar makes them perfectly sweetened, but not excessively sweet.