Molasses Cookie Recipe

5 from 4 votes

These wonderfully soft and chewy molasses cookies have a deep, rich butter and molasses flavor with warm spices. It's impossible not to fall in love with one of my favorite cookies.

Prep Time20

Cook Time12

Chilling Time3

Total Time3 32

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings: cookies

Calories: 155kcal

Author: Liz Marek

Equipment

2 sheet pans lined with parchment

Ingredients

2 ½ cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
½ teaspoon instant coffee granules optional
½ teaspoon salt
¾ cup unsalted butter softened but not melted
1 cup brown sugar dark or light
1 large egg
¼ cup molasses unsulphured
¼ cup granulated sugar for coating

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Before you begin: Preheat your oven to 350º F and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, salt, and instant coffee in a large bowl with a whisk, then set it aside.
Add the brown sugar and softened butter to a large bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer with the paddle attachment and cream until light and fluffy, about 1 to 2 minutes.
Stop the mixer when adding the molasses to avoid the thick syrup splattering on the sides of the bowl. Mix until the molasses is incorporated, then scrape the bottom of the bowl for the stubborn butter.
Mix in the egg until it's fully incorporated.
Add the dry ingredients and mix until the flour is evenly incorporated. You can briefly mix on low speed in your mixer, or combine by hand with a spatula or wooden spoon.
Cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight. Chilling the dough allows the flour to fully hydrate and stops the cookies from spreading.
Scoop the dough into 1.5-ounce balls, about 2 Tablespoons each.
Roll each ball in the granulated sugar and place them on the cookie sheet, at least 2 inches apart. Gently press the top of each cookie slightly to keep it from rolling around.
Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until the edges are slightly browning and the center is puffed and no longer wet-looking. The center might glisten a bit, but if the cookie appears set, it's done.
Cool the cookies on the pan for 5 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack. They're very soft due to the sugar, so they need a few minutes to set up before being moved.

Notes

Ingredient notes: Use dark or light unsulphured molasses. Sulphured and blackstrap are too bitter for this recipe. The instant coffee is optional. It just deepens the spice and molasses flavor without adding extra moisture. Weighing your ingredients, especially the flour, butter, and molasses, gives the most consistent results.

Pan options: No special pan needed here, just a couple of standard cookie sheets lined with parchment paper.

Make-ahead and storage: Keep baked cookies in an airtight container at room temperature. You can wrap and freeze baked cookies for up to 2 weeks, or freeze the unbaked dough for up to 3 months. Pre-roll the dough balls and freeze them so you can roll them in sugar and bake straight from frozen whenever you need fresh cookies fast.

Substitutions: Out of molasses? Dark corn syrup works as a swap in the same amount, though the cookies will come out a little lighter in color. Honey, maple syrup, and light corn syrup all work too, in equal amounts, but expect a lighter color and a slightly softer dough, add a touch more flour if it feels too sticky. For the coating, cinnamon sugar, powdered sugar, or cocoa powder can stand in for the granulated sugar for a different look and flavor.

Critical do-nots:

Don't skip or shorten the chill. It's what keeps the dough from spreading too thin.
Don't pull the cookies only once they look fully done, the centers should still look a touch soft and glisten slightly, they firm up as they cool.
Don't move the cookies off the pan right away. They're too soft and will fall apart. Give them the full 5 minutes.

Nutrition