Molasses cookies are an old-fashioned holiday favorite and most popular Christmas cookie. Made with simple ingredients and refrigerates for a few hours before scooping onto sheet pans.
Soft and chewy molasses cookies comes together in minutes and packed with rich flavors of molasses, ginger, cinnamon and cloves.
Old-fashioned molasses cookies are the perfect treat! My great grandmother’s original recipe was molasses cookies with shortening. Likely because of the butter shortage during the Great Depression. I adapted her recipe and updated it back when I wrote my first cookbook in 2014.
Some of our most-popular cookie recipes are peanut butter cookies, chocolate chunk cookies, Snickerdoodles, oatmeal raisin cookies, and oatmeal cream cookies.
Why this recipe works
- Nostalgic – Classic molasses cookies that are perfectly soft & chewy.
- Easy to make – Simple ingredients, readily available in your pantry. Achieve perfect cookies each and every time.
- Soft, buttery & flavorful – Incredible flavor with rich flavors of molasses, ginger, cinnamon and cloves.
What you’ll need
- Unsalted butter – Unsalted butter lets you control the amount of salt in a recipe. Let it soften overnight on the counter.
- Brown sugar – Adds flavor and keeps cookies soft, helps cookie dough spread properly.
- All-purpose flour – Use a high-quality brand such as Bob’s Red Mill or King Arthur Flour.
- Eggs – Acts as a binder, keeping the cookie dough together and makes them soft.
- Molasses – Molasses adds a depth of flavor and helps the cookies spread nicely.
- Baking soda – Leavening agents help the cookies rise.
- Vinegar – Reacts with baking soda helping cookies rise better, giving them a soft & tender crumb.
- Salt – Added to baking recipes, it heightens the flavor of sweets.
How to make Molasses Cookies
- Make the dough – In a large mixing bowl cream together the butter and brown sugar until fluffy.
Add the egg and molasses. Gradually incorporate the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, salt, vinegar, and baking soda. Mix until incorporated. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula to be sure everything is mixed thoroughly. - Refrigerate cookie dough – Transfer the dough to a plastic zip-style bag; refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours.
- Place cookie rounds on sheet pans – Remove chilled dough from refrigerator and use scoop the cookies into rounds. Flatten Rounds with the palm of your hand. Sprinkle each cookie with sugar and use a fork to make cross marks. 9-12 cookies will fit on a half sheet pan.
- Bake – Bake in a preheated 375-degree F oven for 14-16 minutes, or until lightly golden brown.
For molasses cookies – I use this cookie scoop. Make a big batch of cookies and scoop them onto a half sheet pan, cover with a plastic sheet pan cover, refrigerate for a few hours or freeze.
Recipe FAQs
Blackstrap tends to be too strong. The best molasses for baking is light, unsulfured molasses. This is the sweetest and has a mild, but sweet flavor.
Homemade Molasses Cookies are super simple to make and are perfect for the holidays! These Soft and Chewy Molasses Cookies are just like grandma’s! If you love this recipe, try Homemade Apple Pie, Caramel Apples, and Apple Crisp.
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Molasses Cookies
Ingredients
Molasses Cookies
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 cup molasses
- 1 ¼ cups (2 ½ sticks) unsalted butter (softened)
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- 4 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup granulated sugar (for coating cookies)
Instructions
Molasses Cookies
- In a large mixing bowl, cream together brown sugar, molasses, and softened butter.
- Add the egg and gently combine ingredients together. Occasionally scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.
- Add the flour, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, baking soda, and vinegar. Mixing to combine ingredients. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl again.
- Transfer the dough to a plastic zip-style bag; refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line several half sheet pans with parchment paper and set aside.
- Remove chilled dough from refrigerator and use scoop the cookies into rounds. Flatten Rounds with the palm of your hand. Sprinkle each cookie with sugar and use a fork to make cross marks.
- Bake cookies until lightly browned, about 14-16 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool before removing from the sheet pan.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
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Jenn says
Is the serving size one cookie only? Thanks!
Jessica Robinson says
These are a rather large cookie. The calories are done by the recipe card plugin and not always 100% accurate. But everything in moderation.
Louise Baker says
I forgot the ACV… OH NO! What’s the purpose of the Apple cider vinegar? Will they still turn out?
Help!!!
Jessica Robinson says
Apple cider vinegar is a key component to help the leavening agent work and helps keep the cookies moist.
Laura says
These are my all time favorite Christmas cookie. And I love them with a strong cup of coffee. Yum
Jessica Robinson says
My mom made them all the time! Loved them!
Lisa Hatfield says
Love how old fashioned and chewy this recipe is thank you for sharing your recipe Jessica!
Jessica Robinson says
Thanks so much Lisa!