Soft and Chewy Ginger Molasses Cookies
Classic soft and chewy ginger molasses cookies – these delectable, holiday (or anytime) treats are like gingerbread in cookie form!
These chewy, ginger molasses cookies are the epitome of holiday flavors, if you ask me. They taste like Christmas. They make your house smell like Christmas.
Basically, it’s just not the Christmas season without them. I grew up eating these delightful little cookies and can’t live without them this time of year.
Once the soft ginger molasses cookies are baked – well, game on. It’s officially time to jingle the bells and trim the tree and blare the Christmas carols (except I’ve actually been playing Christmas music for weeks now – don’t sue me).
The super soft cookie dough is rolled into balls and then rolled into granulated sugar to give that signature crunchy-sweet outer coating.
The key to this recipe is to use *just* the right amount of flour.
Too little and the dough will be too soft to roll (and the cookies will spread like crazy); too much and the tasty cookies will stay mounded instead of flattening with the signature crackly tops.
I use my handy kitchen scale to measure exactly 20 ounces. If you’re measuring with a cup, fluff the flour really well, scoop the measuring cup into the flour and then level off with a straight edge.
There really is nothing quite like these classic soft molasses cookies. They are divine.
If you want a crazy delicious variation, try adding fresh orange zest to the dough. You have to trust me on this one. It takes these cookies completely over the top.
I shouldn’t know this, but I do: these cookies are still amazingly chewy, albeit slightly chilly, straight out of the freezer, which makes me think they’d be absolutely ridiculous (in a good way) with some pumpkin or vanilla or cinnamon ice cream sandwiched inside.
Ok, so now that I’ve said that out loud, I’m not going to be able to sleep until I make that happen.
These cookies have been around a long time and are insanely popular with so many of you! I’ve compiled a list of FAQ’s below in case you don’t want to read through the hundreds of comments.
My cookies didn’t flatten and crackle? What happened?
Answer: Often when cookies stay puffy while baking instead of flattening the way they should, the dough has been overfloured. Make sure to measure the flour with a light hand (if you are weighing, it should be 20 ounces). I fluff the flour in the container, dip in the measuring cup and then level. Don’t pack the flour in the measuring cup. Also, because ovens vary in exact temperature (sometimes by upwards of 25-50 degrees!), try decreasing the oven temperature by 25 degrees and see if that helps.
My cookies spread all over the place? Help!
Answer: On the flipside of what I answered above, cookies can spread for a couple reasons, but one of the most common culprits (and easiest to fix) is oven temperature. If you have convection bake option on your oven, using it can help (if a recipe says to bake at 350 degrees F, I suggest using 325 for convection bake and checking 1-2 minutes earlier than normal). If you don’t have convection bake, try increasing the oven temperature to 375 degrees F – that often helps! Otherwise, your dough might need a bit more flour (sometimes just a couple tablespoons).
Can I leave out the cloves? Or add allspice? Or use real ginger?
Answer: Great questions! The only variation I’ve ever tried is cutting down and/or leaving out the cloves. Otherwise, you’ll have to experiment and see what flavor profile you like best! Leaving out or changing the spices most likely won’t affect the texture of the cookies – just the flavor.
Can I make these ginger cookies ahead of time?
Answer: Yes! The baked and cooled cookies stay soft and chewy for several days (well-covered at room temperature). The baked cookies also freeze great. I usually stack them in a large, rectangle tupperware-type container separating the layers with wax or parchment paper or in a freezer ziploc bag. The dough can also be made ahead of time, shaped into balls, and frozen. The cookies can be baked from frozen (add a few minutes to the baking time).
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Soft and Chewy Ginger Molasses Cookies
Ingredients
- 4 cups (568 g) all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 ½ cups (340 g) salted butter, softened
- 1 ½ cups (318 g) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup molasses
- Sugar for rolling
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a couple large, rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper, silpat liners or lightly coat with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves, and ginger. Set aside.
- In a large bowl (or in the bowl of an electric stand mixer), beat together the butter and granulated sugar, 2-3 minutes, until light and creamy. Add the molasses and eggs and mix until well-combined, another 2-3 minutes.
- Stir in the dry ingredients and mix until combined.
- The dough can be rolled and baked right away, but the cookies will be slightly thicker and chewier if refrigerated for a bit. If so, chill for 20-30 minutes (or up to several days) before rolling into balls.
- Roll the dough into 1-inch balls (you can make them smaller or larger, too) and then roll the cookie dough balls into granulated sugar. Space the cookies an inch or so apart on the lined cookie sheets and bake for 8-10 minutes (don’t over bake if you want a soft, chewy cookie). Adjust the baking time, more or less, if the cookies are overly small or large.
- Remove the cookies to a cooling rack and let cool completely. These cookies stay soft and chewy well-covered for several days at room temperature and the baked cookies also freeze very well.
Recipe Source: from this recipe (same as the one my mom made growing up, come to find out) at Meadowbrook Farm
Recipe originally posted Dec 2014; updated Jan 2020 with new photos, recipe notes, etc.
These were THE BEST cookies! I made the weirdest mistake though… I forgot all the spices. I know. I have no idea where my brain was when making these! My whole plan was to make ginger cookies and I forgot the cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. Anyway, I realized too late and decided to just go for it. Well, it turned out AMAZING. I’m not even kidding! The molasses flavored it perfectly. My husband and twelve year old said they were the best cookies they’ve ever had. Haha! Best fail ever!
Can I use half butter and half oil in this recipe?
I’m afraid the cookies won’t turn out the same if subbing in oil for some of the butter.
These cookies are so yummy !
Love these cookies! Have made them several times and they always get rave reviews. One note – I think the yield is off. I typically halve the recipe and I get 2 dozen using a 1-inch dough ball. So I think the recipe as written would yield 4 dozen.
We made this and – after tasting the first batch – added more molasses for a richer tasting cookie. Delish! Highly recommend it!
I love these cookies. I’ve made them since the recipe was first posted and I’ll continue to make them. I grew up eating pheffernuesse, which I did not like, sorry mom! My mother would always make them heavy on the spice, lite on the sweetness and hard as rocks. These ginger molasses cookies are the opposite. They have the perfect amount of spice, the sweetness and taste reminds me of mixing a ginger snap with a chocolate chip cookie base minus the chocolate chips. I like to mix the times I bake mine to make different flavors and textures in the same batch. The shorter time (9-10min in my oven) come out just barely starting to crinkle on top. They’re super soft. The longer time (11-12 mins) are nicely crinkled on top, darker, and crispy around the edges, but still soft in the middle. They also have a deeper flavor. If you’ve trying to decide which ginger cookie to make, make these. You won’t be sad about it.
These turned out sooooo good!!! I highly recommend refrigerating like the recipe suggests! I also mixed the sugar with gold sugar dust like someone said in another comment and it made the cookies so pretty
Husband says this was telhe best cookie I’ve ever made! I used raw sugar to roll them in and it added sparkle and crunch to a chewy cookie! So yummy!
These were on my Christmas baking list for this year and were DELICIOUS. I made the full recipe and it made a frillion cookies and they were over half gone by the end of the day . We all loved them!!! Thanks for another home-run recipe, Mel!
Hi Mel!
I would give 10 stars if I could. These are fantastic. I’ve been asked for the recipe several times and love to send people to your website. And can I say, weighing flour is LIFE CHANGING?! Perfect batches every time. They look just like your pictures. Thank you!
P.S. For holiday flair, I use silver or gold sanding sugar to roll the cookies!
I have made these cookies every holiday season for the last five years and they are always a huge hit. I roll them in a combination of cane sugar and salt (the cane sugar has a bit of a richer taste) and then make a glaze of confectioners sugar, powdered ginger and milk and zig zag it over the rolled cookies. These are a huge hit and with the extra frozen cookies are fantastic with a cup of coffee in the morning. I’m always sad when my holiday cookies run out!
These tasted absolutely amazing! They had a perfect amount of flavor without being overly powerful and I really enjoyed them. Thanks so much for the great recipe!
How could such simple ingredients make such a delicious cookie? I left half of the dough in the refrigerator and made them a day later – much puffier. From now on I will make the dough one day in advance and refrigerate before I roll them and bake them. A wonderful cookie.
Hello! Can the dough be frozen or just the baked cookies?
Yes, the dough can be frozen and baked from frozen.
If baking from frozen should the balls be already rolled in sugar ? And will the cookies still flatten out? Thanks.
Yes, roll the dough balls in sugar before freezing. The cookie dough can be baked from frozen, just add 1-3 minutes onto the baking time – they should flatten just fine!
Thanks Mel!
They came out great! Making them for a cookie swap.i made a test run. The cookies didn’t crinkle . Not sure why. I followed the recipe . Also, I tried rolling half the batch in granulated sugar and the other half in turbinado sugar. I prefer the texture of regular sugar for rolling. Too much crunchy sugar when biting into the ones rolled in turbinado.
Oh I forgot, I sprinkled turbinado sugar on the regular ones before baking. I liked that.
Sooooo gooooooood!
These cookies are SO good!! My family and I loved them!
These are hands down my husband’s favorite Christmas cookie. They are perfectly soft, chewy and delicious and I usually make these at least twice every December. We love them!!
I have very vague memories of my grandma’s gingersnaps. I’ve been craving them this holiday season and wishing I had her recipe. I made these, had a cookie warm out of the oven, and felt a little disappointed. But after the cookies cooled they were AMAZING and exactly what I was looking for. Thank you!
These were PERFECT! We made them into ice cream sandwiches with Egg nog ice cream and they were so delicious!
the B E S T cookies that ever happened to me!
I made the soft and chewy ginger molasses cookies today and loved them! I have to say that the time estimates provided for preparation are rather ambitious. Putting the dough in the fridge for 20-30 minutes really helps. First batch was tge best then they got puffier but still delicious. Overall they were pretty easy to make.
My kids are silently eating these in the kitchen… bless you Mel!
Holy Smokes! SO good! didn’t change a thing, baked on convection 325 for 8-10 minutes and they were delicious!
I love the idea of the orange rind. Could you tell me how much?
Thanks
About 1-2 teaspoons is perfect!
I love these cookies!! I made one addition, I added cayenne to the granulatd sugar for rolling the dough balls. OMG!! These are the new favorite cookie at our house. Thank you!!
These came out so perfect Mel!!! They were EXACTLY what I was hoping for!
Omg!!!love these so much!!my mom came home from late Christmas shopping yesterday and said” what on earth did you do to the house?!it smells like Christmas in here”
Amazing recepie !! ❤️❤️
Why so much salt? Also your flour ratio is of by a cup.
Maybe don’ t bake cookies when you’re angry.
So excited to make these as apart of my holiday dessert spread!! Would I be able to substitute in all purpose gluten free flour?
I haven’t tried that – sorry! Worth a try though!
Soft, chewy, and delicious! I have a feeling they will taste even better tomorrow.
CONFUSED!!
4 cups of flour or 20 ounces of flour?
4 cups is 16.1 ounces. 5 cups is 20 ounces.
I made the batter and plan to bake it tomorrow but batter seems awfully soft — before chilling. Maybe it will be OK after it’s chilled?? I hope so!!
The ounces listed in the recipe is a weight measure not a volume measure. I use as my standard 5 ounces per cup of flour (for weight). So 4 cups of flour weighs 20 ounces. Hope that helps!
These turned out great for me but they did not crack much on top of at all. They were super thick but moist. The balls didn’t flatten much. Any idea why no cracking?
Sounds like the dough was probably over floured a bit. If you don’t use a kitchen scale for weighing ingredients (no worries, if not), you might need to measure the flour with a lighter hand. I fluff the flour really well, scoop, and level.
It has been a long time since I have been this blown away by a new recipe, but I made these last night and have already devoured over half of them. So much so, that I have to make them again today for a party we’re going to over the weekend. Thank you for the tips and tricks in the post, Mel! I ended up baking them on convection and weighing my flour per your recommendation. SO. DARN. GOOD.
Love hearing this, Alissa. Thank you!!
These are incredible! Thank you so much.
These look good but I betcha I have a better one Everybody I have given one of my ginger cookies to immediately asks for the recipe. It has all three kinds of ginger: ground, fresh and crystallized. Sorry, just sayin’. Otherwise, I love all your other recipes.
k miss salty and sassy
O H ave been looking for this recipe
These look delicious! I can’t wait to try them! Can I substitute cassava flour for the regular flour and coconut sugar for the granulated sugar? Are there any other substitutions I could make. We’ve been following a more paleo diet. Thanks!
I’m not sure, sorry! I haven’t tried any of those substitutions.
Thanks!
Made these yesterday. Excellent! Followed recipe exactly. I am at high altitude in Colorado where normally adjustments have to be made. I didn’t change recipe at all, nor the baking temperature in my regular oven. I did bake a couple of minutes longer (12 minutes) because I chilled the dough for a couple of hours (went shopping.) This is the best molasses cookie recipe I’ve ever used. Thank you so much.
these were so good! I was looking for a gingersnap recipe like my grandma’s but without shortening. These were soft and delicious! This will be the new “gingersnap” recipe we do. I increased the cloves and ginger to 2t to match my grandma’s recipe. Everything else was the same except the butter. Her recipe made harder and darker cookie (they were baked longer). This is going into our cookie rotation! Thank you!!!
Do you use salted or unsalted butter?
Excellent. I added candied ginger for an extra bite.
Hi Mel! I’ve made these cookies before and they turned out great the first time. This time, not so much. They didn’t crack on top or have rounded edges. After taking them out of the oven, they flattened a lot and got what I can only describe as wrinkled. Reminds me of a cow patty. The middle was also dark and seemed oily.
I increased the oven temp a bit for the last batch and that seem to help a little, but not much. It’s a different oven from my first time with these cookies, so maybe the temp is off. Or did I under flour? Appreciate any tips! I love these cookies and want to get them right again.
Hmmm, it’s hard for me to know exactly what may have happened between the first time you made them and the 2nd time. It’s possible they may have been slightly underfloured…but it could also be because of your oven. Is the type of oven different from your last oven? Like gas vs electric?
Hi Mel, appreciate you trying to help. I know the ” what did I do wrong” questions are hard to answer on the internet.
Both ovens are gas. Maybe the temp was off on the one I have now. In my old oven I always had a thermometer to confirm the temp. And I suspected some underflouring. For next time I’ll be sure to weigh the flour and get a thermometer for my oven.
It was such a banking fail for me, so I was pretty bummed. But thanks for replying!
I would guess that there was either too much butter, too little flour, or they weren’t baked long enough. It could also be not enough baking soda, or that they were even mixed for too long. Hope that helps.
What do you think about adding some crystalized ginger to the batter?
I think that would be AMAZING!
My husband absolutely loves these cookies. He’s normally obsessed with peanut butter blossom cookies around the holidays, but this year I was told that the blossoms could go to the side for this recipe. I made them 3 different times over the holiday season. They stay chewy and perfect. Another plus, you can make them over and over because molasses comes in a very large jar haha
Thanks for the great recipe!
Have you ever tried making these into gingerbread men?
No, the dough is way too soft and isn’t suited to being rolled and cut out.
Omg these are my new favorite kookies , I also added candied ginger to them they made me happy. Thank you
Lisa
We were at an event where a friend made this recipe. Both my husband and my son rushed up to me and told me I HAD to get the recipe for these! My friend sent me the link and they were right. This recipe is a keeper! I did tell them though, once I saw it was your recipe, that your recipes were always good ones. Thanks for another good one! 🙂
Haha, thanks Amy!
Turned out great loved it
These need to be in your best of section! They’re so good, a must for Christmas. I made then froze dough balls last month, then baked them yesterday. Soft, not flat, cookie perfection! They’re just as delicious a day later. Thank you, Mel! Merry Christmas!
You are right, they should be!
Salted or unsalted butter?
I use salted butter
By far my favorite Ginger Molasses ( and I’ve eaten way to many to count) Cookies.
Soft, chewy and bursting with flavor.
I love making a batch of these Christmas Eve afternoon to give our home a warm fuzzy aroma.
I see some recipes with this cookie tell you to roll , dip into sugar and then to slightly flatten with your fingers. Does his apply to this cookie? I am getting ready to try this cookie tonight. I may do a test run first to see if I need to flatten or keep rolled into a ball.
I have done this and it worked amazing.
I don’t flatten these cookies before baking.