Ginger Molasses Cookies
When it comes to the holiday season, these ginger molasses cookies need to be on your baking list! Pillowy soft, ultra chewy, and insanely good; these classic cookies are a cult favorite! So easy to make and the perfect treat for all the cozy vibes.

Oooeee give me all the cookies and more when it comes to the holiday season! How about y’all? This time of the year is synonymous with flour, butter, and sugar, yes?! Yes, ha. Listen, the other day I was in Costco and grabbed a huge bag (12 pounder!) of all purpose flour because I plan to be thoroughly prepared for all the cookies, rolls, pancakes, and everything in between.
These ginger molasses cookies, friends! They are truly one of my top favorite cookies to make. Back in my corporate 9-5 days, I would make them and bring ’em into work. Come lunch time every single cookie would be gone, they’re that good! This post was originally published back in November 2016 and recently updated with better photos and more; just in time for all things fall.
The Best Ginger Molasses Cookies
If you haven’t had one of these babies just yet, lemme school you. There is a reason that these cookies are a cult favorite. They’re filled to the brim with robust molasses flavor with just the right amount of warm spices like cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and cardamom. You’ll find the texture to be soft yet nice and chewy >> the perfect cookie combination! They’re rolled in sugar so the outer portion of the cookie has a sweet lil kiss of more suga.
Ingredients Needed For These Cookies
(Note: the full ingredients list, including measurements, is provided in the recipe card directly below.)
- all purpose flour: feel free to use gluten-free flour if you’d like.
- baking soda: use *fresh* baking soda to help the cookies rise.
- spices: cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and cardamom…so warm and nice!
- kosher salt: helps to balance out the flavors.
- butter: unsalted and room temperature, nothing beats butter.
- granulated sugar: for the cookies and for rolling the cookie dough balls in.
- an egg: just one to give these cookies some structure.
- vanilla extract: a lovely pop of extra flavor.
- unsulphured molasses: the star of the show, molasses has such a deeply flavored and richly robust taste >> it also gives these cookies their signature chewiness in texture.
How To Make Ginger Molasses Cookies
(Note: please see the recipe card directly below for the complete written instructions.)
- Combine the dry ingredients. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and salt. The set aside.
- Cream the butter/sugar. Beat the butter/sugar together until fluffy.
- Add in the wet ingredients. Add in the egg, molasses, and vanilla extract.
- Toss in the flour mixture. Empty the flour mixture into the bowl and mix until the flour dissolves and the cookie dough just combines.
- Scoop the dough and roll. With a cookie scoop, shape the dough into balls in your palms and roll them into a small bowl filled with sugar to coat.
- Bake away! Bake the cookies and allow to cool. Enjoy!
…& if you love cookies, don’t miss my funfetti pudding cookies, these soft peanut butter cookies, and these chocolate chunk cookies, delicious.
Tips + Tricks For Recipe Success
Here are some tips to yield the best ginger molasses cookies! ♡
- Room temperature ingredients: Just the butter, make sure the butter is softened to room temperature and not melted. This is crucial for the butter to cream well with the sugar.
- Careful not to over mix: Beat the cookie batter until everything just combines and comes together. Over mixing can produce super tough cookies, we don’t want this.
- Add-ons/customizations: Toss in a bit of chopped crystallized ginger for more chewiness! Additionally, you can lightly frost them with some mascarpone frosting or cream cheese frosting, extra yum.
Make Ahead Cookies
If you want to prep these ginger molasses cookies ahead of time, you can! Follow the instructions to make the cookies all the way up step #5. Transfer the cookie dough into an airtight container to refrigerate and chill for no longer than overnight (about 8 hours, tops). Then proceed with step #6.
Storing These Ginger Molasses Cookies
Keep any leftover cookies stored inside of an airtight container on the counter for up to 3 days. Alternatively, you can freeze these cookies for up to 1 month.
We love enjoying these cookies any time of the year whenever the craving hits! Grab your hot cuppa coffee or tea and grub on these insanely good cookies. They also make for the perfect treat to gift to your loved ones in a cute lil cookie tin or box for the holidays (or whenever else), too! Enjoy! 🤟🏾
PrintGinger Molasses Cookies
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 10 mins
- Total Time: 25 mins
- Yield: 15 cookies 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
When it comes to the holiday season, these ginger molasses cookies need to be on your baking list! Pillowy soft, ultra chewy, and insanely good; these classic cookies are a cult favorite! So easy to make and the perfect treat for all the cozy vibes.
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) + 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar, plus more for rolling
- 1 large egg
- 1/4 cup unsulphured molasses
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat liner (note: you may need to use two depending on the size of your sheet).
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, salt, and cardamom. Then set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or using a handheld electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar together on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes.
- Add in the egg, molasses, and vanilla extract and continue beating on medium low speed until just combined.
- Slowly add in the flour mixture and mix until the flour just combines and incorporates within the dough- stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl, if needed.
- Fill a small bowl with about 1/3 cup of sugar. Use a medium-sized cookie scoop to scoop the dough and then roll the dough, in the palm of your hands, into balls. Then roll them in the sugar until fully coated on all sides.
- Place the balls onto the cookie sheet, at least 1 inch apart.
- Bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes, they’ll start to crackle on top. The cookies may look soft and undercooked but the cookies will continue to cook while they cool.
- Let the cookies cool for 5 minutes and then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.
- Serve immediately and enjoy!
Notes
- Please read the blog post in its entirety for more tips + tricks.
- Cookies can be stored in an airtight container on the counter for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 1 month.
Keywords: ginger molasses cookies, holiday baking, holiday cookies
8 Comments on “Ginger Molasses Cookies”
Thanks Quin for the samples of the cookies It was love at first taste. I hope when I try to make them for myself they turn out as good. Looking forward to many more cookie recipes on the blog and possibly a free sample or two _?
Thank you Gloria! And you know I’ll always share 🙂
I’m loving these! They look like the most perfect ginger cookies – especially love the big crinkles!
Thank you Rachel!
Chewy ginger molasses cookies are some of my all time favorites! These look like holiday dessert perfection!
Thank you Blair; these cookies are my favorite so far!
Hi, these cookies are my favourite cookies year round not just around Christmas. I baked them few times but they somehow didn’t turn out good. 🙁 The flavour was there but not the texture. Some times they were too hard, no cracks, other times they were too flat (spread too much), again, no cracks. The reason behind all this is because I’m not used to bake “in cups”, but grams. Every time I try to convert cups in grams, I get different info online, and diffetent texture-sooo frustrating!!
Would you mind measuring YOUR cups into grams for me? I really want them to look like yours this time!
Thank you very much! It’s highly appreciated!!
Mila 🙂
These are AMAZING cookies! My husband is kind of a ginger fiend, and he puts these top of the list. Not too floofy, chewy, soft, and so very good. I could eat these until I was just stupid. They’ll be in regular rotation at our house!
★★★★★