Chewy Ginger Molasses Cookies
Soft, spicy, chewy ginger molasses cookies! These are such a good cookie to start out fall cookie baking with. The delicious smell just permeates your house and you get all the cozy autumn vibes. So grab your glass of milk or cup of coffee and enjoy the crisp fall days with a perfectly soft ginger molasses cookie.
What Makes Ginger Molasses Cookies Chewy?
It’s the molasses! Molasses is a type of sugar in a liquid form. Sugars in general are softeners like egg yolks and butter versus firmers like egg whites and flour. The additional liquid sugar is what makes these cookies so soft and chewy. And molasses is the number one difference between plain old ginger cookies and ginger molasses cookies. This easy ginger molasses cookies recipe is rolled in spiced sugar and baked and would the perfect addition to any Christmas cookie box!
The Origin of Molasses
Molasses is made by pressing sugar cane and boiling the juice until it crystallizes, and there are three types: light, dark, and bootstrap. India developed this method in 500BC, but Arab invaders brought this ingredient (and the process along with it) to Spain during the middle ages. It didn’t reach the Americas until Christopher Columbus brought sugar cane with him on his voyages where it then became part of the traingular slave trade during the 1600s. Molasses was the most popular sweetener as it was cheaper than refined sugar until the price of sugar dropped after WWI. Read up on the history of molasses and some fun facts here!
Chewy Ginger Molasses Cookies Ingredients
- Ginger: This recipe calls for ground ginger, however, if you have an abundance of fresh ginger, you can use a zester or fine grater to grate down and use.
- Molasses: To make these chewy ginger cookies with molasses, you want to use dark molasses but not bootstrap molasses. Bootstrap molasses contains the least amount of sugar of the three different types of molasses which can mess up your recipe. Molasses is an interesting ingredient, so if you would like to read up on molasses and what it is, do so here!
Major Allergens Present: Gluten, eggs, dairy (butter)
Equipment Needed
- Hand or stand mixer: Used to make the cookie dough. This easy ginger molasses cookie recipe uses the creaming method which needs a mixer to make the process a lot easier and yields better results. You will use the beaters for a hand mixer and paddle for a stand mixer.
How to Make Chewy Ginger Molasses Cookies
What Are Chewy Ginger Cookies with Molasses Made Out Of?
Aside from the usual cookie contenders of sugar, butter, eggs, and flour, these soft ginger molasses cookies use brown sugar, molasses, and fall baking spices. Brown sugar contains molasses giving more to the molasses flavor and the fall baking spices not only have ginger, but cinnamon and cloves as well. This easy chewy ginger molasses cookies recipe is also quick to make in a pinch.
Make the Chewy Ginger Molasses Cookie Dough
These chewy ginger molasses cookies use a basic creaming method. A creaming method is creaming together the butter and sugar until fluffy. This adds air into the dough formed by the sugar crystals slicing through the butter. Second, you add the eggs and extracts (and in this case the molasses) and finally adding the dry ingredients and liquids (if any) alternately. Many cakes and cookies use this method and is a foundation for baking. Know this method well. The key is to continuously scrape the bowl and attachment(s) before and after each addition of ingredients. This ensures all the ingredients are playing together cohesively.
We need to chill this cookie dough to harden up the butter for at least an hour. If the butter is too soft from mixing then these cookies will spread tremendously. Believe me; I learned the hard way. Make sure that if you need to do a second round of scooping and baking that you are putting the dough back in the fridge until you are ready to scoop and bake. You can scoop, refrigerate, then bake if preferred.
Scoop, Roll, and Bake the Chewy Ginger Molasses Cookies!
I scoop these to be about an inch and a half diameter. The signature look of any ginger molasses cookie is being rolled in sugar. I like to spice up my sugar by adding cinnamon, ginger, and cloves, and if I’m feeling extra spicy, I’ll put a couple pinches of black pepper. The sugar creates a shimmery look to the cookies after they are baked, but it is not 100% necessary if you’d rather cut the sugar down. After scooping, roll the dough in your hand to create a ball then toss in your sugar mixture. Space at least 2 inches between cookies, smoosh down lightly, and bake one of my favorite cookies until the edges start to darken.
Help Making Chewy Ginger Molasses Cookies:
How to Make Rounder Cookies:
- When you scoop the cookie, roll into a ball in your hand before placing on the tray. Slight smoosh down evenly using the center of your palm.
- Immediately after taking the ginger molasses cookies out of the oven, use a circular ring like a ring cutter, small bowl, or wide glass and ring around the cookie. Work quickly!
How to Prevent Your Cookies From Over Spreading:
- Chill the dough for at least 1 hour. If you have to do multiple rounds of baking, be sure to keep the dough in the fridge.
- When creaming the sugar and the butter, make sure the butter is fully creamed and that you do not have any chunks of butter. Those chunks will melt first, and your cookie will awkwardly super spread in that area!
- Don’t spend too much time scooping and rolling. If you do, the dough warms too much before spreading, and all that time spent in the fridge will be lost. If you know you’re a slow scooper, perhaps scoop first then refrigerate.
- Space your cookies at least 2 inches apart and at least 1 inch from the edge of the pan. Whenever you are baking cookies for the first time, do a test run to see how much they will spread. This quick test can save you a headache for the rest of the dough!
Enhancing This Chewy Ginger Molasses Cookies Recipe:
- Finely chop up some crystallized ginger and fold in to make chewy ginger cookies with crystallized ginger.
- Add in 2 tablespoons of instant coffee to turn these into espresso ginger molasses cookies!
- Zest 1 whole orange and add in a teaspoon of orange extract to add in that warming citrusy flavor.
How to Store and Freeze Chewy Ginger Molasses Cookies:
- Freeze the dough (scooped or unscooped) for up to 6 months. Move dough from the freezer to fridge at least 24 hours before you plan on baking.
- Store the cookies at room temperature for up to two weeks.
- Refrigerate the dough (scooped or unscooped) for up to 1 month.
Troubleshooting Chewy Ginger Molasses Cookies:
- My cookies spread too much! It sounds like you either didn’t properly weigh the ingredients or your dough did not chill enough before baking. Another issue could be taking too long to scoop and roll before baking. See my tips above for how to adjust next time!
- My cookies didn’t spread enough! This could be due to varying types of ovens. My oven is old and heats from the bottom with fire. If they did not spread enough, either do not refrigerate or smoosh down more before baking.
Something else going wrong? Reach out and we will troubleshoot together!
Chewy Ginger Molasses Cookies
Equipment
- Hand or stand mixer Optional
Ingredients
Ginger Molasses Cookie Dough
- 142 g Butter, unsalted 1 stick plus 2 TBS
- 100 g Granulated sugar
- 85 g Light brown sugar
- 1 ea Whole eggs
- 112 g Dark molasses not bootstrap
- 284 g AP Flour
- 1½ tsp Baking soda
- 1½ tsp Ginger, ground
- 1 tsp Cinnamon, ground
- ¼ tsp Cloves, ground
- ¼ tsp Kosher salt
Spiced Sugar Mixture
- ½ cup Granulated sugar
- ½ tsp Ginger, ground
- ¼ tsp Cinnamon ground
- 2 pinches Cloves, ground
Instructions
- Using your stand mixer and paddle or hand mixer and beaters, cream together the butter with the sugars on medium speed until light and fluffy.
- Lower your mixer down to medium-low speed, and add in the egg. Mix until incorporated.
- Add in the molasses and mix until incorporated. Be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl and attachment and mix that all together before proceeding to the next step.
- Reducing the speed to low, add in the dry ingredients, and mix just until incorporated.
- Chill the dough for 1-2 hours. You can also choose to scoop and roll then chill.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and prepare a sheet pan lined with a silicone mat, parchment paper, or pan spray.
- Combine all the ingredients for the spiced sugar coating and whisk together.
- Scoop the cookie dough at about a 1½ diameter, and roll into a ball. Toss in the spiced sugar mix until evenly coated.
- Place onto your sheet pan about 2 inches apart and lightly smoosh down.
- Bake for 12-14 minutes rotating halfway through until the edges start to darken. Allow to cool either on the pan on a cooling rack.
Notes
Nutrition
Thanks for sharing.
My pleasure 🙂
These are my go to molasses cookies! They are so good. I make them multiple times a year.
You are making my whole MONTH!! Thank you for the feedback and happy baking!