Soft Molasses Cookies Recipe
I combined three favorite cookies into one — soft molasses cookies, chewy gingerbread cookies, and crinkly snickerdoodles. That way I didn’t have to choose among favorites because I love them all. And I loved these ginger molasses cookies more than I should have. I couldn’t keep myself away from them. I used my recipes for Soft Molasses Coconut Oil Crinkle Cookies and The Best Snickerdoodles as the jumping off point. I absolutely adore soft molasses cookies that have rich, deep, bold molasses flavor and the cookies deliver. The molasses flavor profile dominates. There’s plenty of cinnamon, ginger, and warming spices in the dough, as well as a cinnamon-sugar coating, creating a very well-spiced cookie that packs tons of flavor in a pillowy, crinkly little package. The cookies are super soft in the center with slight chewiness around the edges, and I always underbake slightly to ensure they stay soft for days. If you like crunchier cookies, bake them longer. The flavor of the cookies improves and enhances in the day or two after baking. Everything just blends together beautifully, but it’s very hard for me to save any that long. They’re my new favorite molasses cookies.
What’s in Soft Molasses Cookies?
To make these soft and chewy molasses cookies, you’ll need:
Unsalted butter Dark brown sugar Granulated sugar Egg Unsulphered molasses Vanilla extract Spices Salt All-purpose flour Cornstarch Baking soda Cream of tartar
How to Make Soft Molasses Cookies
To make these ginger molasses cookies, you first need to cream together the butter, sugars, and egg. Add in the remaining wet ingredients and the spices, then mix in the dry ingredients. Scoop the molasses cookie dough into balls, then chill for at least 3 hours before baking. Once chilled, roll the cookie dough in a generous amount of cinnamon sugar. Bake the soft molasses cookies until the edges have set and the tops have crackled. Don’t overbake for soft cookies (I bake mine 8 to 8 1/2 minutes and they’re extremely soft and a touch underdone but firm up in time; for crispier cookies, bake longer).
Can I Omit the Cornstarch?
If you need to omit the cornstarch due to an allergy, that’s fine. Your molasses cookies won’t be quite as soft, but they should be delicious regardless.
Can I Omit the Cream of Tartar?
Probably not if you want them to have a great pillowy texture. I have only made them as written though and cannot say for sure what will happen if you omit it.
Can I Make These Gluten-Free?
I’ve only made these soft molasses cookies as written, so I’m not sure if you can make these with a gluten-free flour blend. If you try it out, please leave me a comment below letting me know how they turn out.
Tips for Making Soft Molasses Cookies
I used dark molasses in these soft and chewy molasses cookies because I really love the intensity of it, but use your favorite. I think blackstrap molasses would be too strong, though. Also note that if you prefer more mildly spiced cookies, you can halve the amounts of all spices used. The dough is very soft and must be chilled before baking because chilled dough spreads less in the oven. Chilling also gives the flavors time to marry and the dough tastes better on the second or third day after it’s made. You can keep the dough in the fridge for up to 5 days before baking.
More Molasses Recipes:
25 Holiday Cookie Favorites — The tried-and-true favorites are all here! If you need a holiday cookie recipe, this collection has you covered!! Tried this recipe? Leave a review! Consider leaving a 5 star rating if you’ve made and loved one of my recipes!
Soft Molasses Coconut Oil Crinkle Cookies — No butter, no problem. One of my favorite molasses cookie recipes!
Molasses Triple Chocolate Cookies – Chocolate is used three times for a fun twist on the traditional. No mixer required!
Soft and Chewy Gingerbread Molasses Chocolate Chip Bars — Rich, chocolaty & like eating a piece of molasses fudge!
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies — Between the molasses, pumpkin pie spice, and pumpkin pie spice extract that I used, these pumpkin chocolate chip cookies beautifully showcase the flavors of fall!
Chocolate Gingerbread Toffee Cake – An EASY, no mixer cake that’s perfect for the holidays!! Chocolate and ginger are amazing together! The GINGER spiced whipped cream is the literal icing on this cake!!
Gingerbread Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting – Gingerbread bars are so much FASTER AND EASIER than making gingerbread cookies!! The sprinkles and tangy cream cheese frosting will put everyone in a festive mood!!
Originally published December 2014 and republished December 2019 with updated text.
