Making Old Fashioned Chewy Molasses Cookies fills your house with the aroma of the holiday season! When you open your oven door, you’ll smell ginger, cloves and cinnamon dancing in the air! Perfect for Christmas baking!
Christmas Cookie Recipes
Your kids will come running into the kitchen to bite into a warm, freshly baked cookie. I know mine did.
They said with excitement in their faces “Mom, did you make cookies?” I proudly say “Yes” and then hide my own stash as soon as they leave the room.
These ginger molasses cookies are crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside!
They taste a lot like a ginger snap cookies and are full of ginger and molasses flavors.
I love the flavor combination so finding a great molasses cookie recipe to share, is something I’m excited about.
Believe you me…these cookies are DELICIOUS! It’ll be hard to eat just one.
Disclosure: This post contains Amazon affiliate links which means, if you make a purchase, I’ll receive a very small commission which helps with blog expenses so you can continue to receive FREE recipes but, the price you pay is the same.
I’m a self-proclaimed cookie enthusiast. I just LOVE cookies and can’t believe I waited two years to put cookie recipes on my blog. But, that’s because I was deciding on exactly which recipes I wanted to share with the world.
So, I started with moist Easy Christmas Butter Cookies with Sprinkles. They’ve been one of my Christmas go to cookie recipes for many years. And, these Old Fashioned Chewy Molasses Cookies are the perfect addition to the Christmas cookie baking tradition!
But, don’t just make these delicious cookies around the holidays. They’re great any time especially when the fall weather arrives.
How to Make Old Fashioned Chewy Molasses Cookies
*The full printable recipe is at the bottom of this post. This recipe make about 4 dozen cookies.
Ingredients:
1 cup butter (2 sticks), softened (not melted)
3/4 cup molasses (Amazon affiliate link)
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar (light or dark)
2 tsp baking powder (Amazon affiliate link)
2 tsp baking soda
4 1/2 cups flour
1 tbsp ground ginger
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
Instructions:
- First, in a large mixing bowl, using a stand mixer (Amazon affiliate link) or a handheld mixer (Amazon affiliate link)cream butter by mixing the softened butter with the white and browns sugars. Mix for about 30 seconds, scraping the sides of the bowl with a spatula.
- Then, add eggs, one at a time. scrape sides of bowl.
- Next, add baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves, ginger and molasses and continue mixing.
- Then, add flour once cup at a time scraping bowl in between.
- Next, roll cookie dough into a ball, wrap in wax paper or put in a container and put it in the refrigerator for 1 1/2 to 2 hours to chill. This will make handling the dough easier.
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper (Amazon affiliate link)or silicone mats(Amazon affiliate link).
- Then, after cookie dough has chilled, roll cookie dough into 1 inch balls. Dip one side of the ball in white sugar or red, white and green sugar crystals as shown below (optional.) Place sugar coated side up on baking sheet.
- Next, space cookie dough balls 2 inches apart on parchment paper or silicone lined baking sheets. Bake for 10 minutes on 350F. Cool on cooling racks (Amazon affiliate link). Stackable cooling racks save so much space. The cookies will come out of the oven puffy and will flatten as they cool.
Recipe Notes:
- Cool completely before storing.
- Store baked cookies in airtight containers for up to 10 days.
- Wrap cookie dough in wax paper, place in freezer bags for up to six months.
- Freeze baked cookies in containers for up to six months.
- If you don’t use parchment paper or silicone baking mats, carefully remove the cookies from the baking sheets with a spatula. The cookies will stick to the baking sheets.
I’ve adapted this chewy molasses cookie recipe from Gimme Some Oven. Her recipe has a stick more butter which, I didn’t find necessary for making a delicious and flavorful cookie. Plus, it’s less fattening (my thighs are grateful) and you won’t even notice! I also split the 4 teaspoons of baking soda into 2 teaspoons baking soda and 2 teaspoons baking powder. Finally, I added 1/4 cup more molasses. Yup, more molasses!
I gave these delicious ginger molasses cookies in a Christmas tin to my son’s bus driver, teacher and neighbors. They make wonderful homemade gifts for people to show appreciation.
Old Fashioned Chewy Molasses Cookies are perfect for Christmas cookie tins!
I took this recipe to Weekend Potluck.
You may also like:
Easy Christmas Butter Cookies with Sprinkles
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies Recipe
Old Fashioned Chewy Molasses Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter, softened or two sticks (do not use melted butter)
- 3/4 cup molasses
- 1 cup sugar (white)
- 1 cup light brown sugar (packed)
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 4 1/2 cups flour (all purpose)
- 1 tbsp ground ginger
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground cloves
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 eggs
Instructions
- First, in a large mixing bowl, using a stand mixer or handheld mixer, cream butter by mixing the softened butter with the white and brown sugars. Mix for about 30 seconds scraping sides of bowl.
- Then, add eggs, one at a time. Scrape sides of bowl with a rubber spatula.
- Next, add baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves, ginger and molasses.
- Then, add flour one cup at a time and scrape bowl in between. Form cookie dough into a ball and wrap it with wax paper or put it in a container. Put the cookie dough into the refrigerator for 1 1/2- 2 hours.
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
- Then, after cookie dough has chilled, roll cookie dough into 1 inch balls. Dip the balls into white sugar or red, white and green colored sugar crystals as shown (this step is optional.) Place sugar coated side up on baking sheets.
- Next, place dough balls spaced 2 inches apart on a parchment paper or silicone lined baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes on 350. Cool completely on cooling racks. Cookies will come out of the oven puffy but, will flatten as they cool.
Notes
Recipe Notes:
- Cool cookies completely on cooling wracks.
- Store baked cookies in airtight containers for up to 10 days.
- Wrap cookie dough in wax paper, place in freezer bags for up to six months.
- Freeze baked cookies in containers for up to six months.
Thanks for the compliment and five-star rating Lynn! This recipe is one of my favorite cookies. Merry Christmas to you and your family!
Your recipe is a good one!!!
My husband helped me roll all the cookie balls! it was fun too.
Just a note I made dough two days ahead of baking them and they are perfect!!
The recipe makes a lot of cookies!
Hi Sandy. Dark Corn Syrup such as Karo is known as a substitute for molasses but, I’ve never made these cookies that way. I don’t think the flavor would be similar. I wouldn’t substitute but, if you ahead and try it, let me know how they turn out.
Is there any substitute for molasses