Old-Fashioned Molasses Cookies
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Soft and chewy with a crackly sugar crust, these molasses cookies are perfectly spiced and a must-bake for the holiday season.
Every year, my daughter and I bake these gingery molasses cookies for her holiday cookie bake sale and every year, they sell like hotcakes. Soft and chewy with a crackled sugar crust, they have just the right balance of spices to please kids and adults alike. You’ll note that the recipe calls for black pepper. I promise, no one will know it’s there, but it adds a delightful little kick that lingers on the palate.
Heads up: the dough needs a few hours to chill before baking, so plan accordingly. And if you love the deep, cozy flavor of molasses, be sure to check out my crispy ginger cookies, comforting gingerbread, gingerbread cookies, and pumpkin scones—all brimming with the cozy flavors of fall and winter.
“So delicious that my husband (who doesn’t normally have a sweet tooth) has to reach for second helping 😃. Definitely a keeper.”
What You’ll Need To Make Molasses Cookies
- All-Purpose Flour, Baking Soda & Salt: These form the base and structure of the cookies, help them rise for that classic crackled top, and balance the sweetness. For accuracy, spoon the flour into your measuring cup and level it off—no packing!
- Warm Spices (Ginger, Cinnamon, Allspice, Cloves & Black Pepper): This cozy mix gives the cookies their signature warm, spiced flavor with just a subtle peppery kick to balance the molasses.
- Butter, Granulated Sugar & Light Brown Sugar: Together, these ingredients add richness, sweetness, and moisture, creating soft, chewy cookies with great flavor.
- Egg: Binds the dough and contributes to the cookies’ chewy texture.
- Molasses: Gives the cookies their deep, robust flavor and dark color. I use Grandma’s Original, but any unsulphured molasses works. Just steer clear of blackstrap—it’s too bitter for this recipe.
- Raw Sugar (for Rolling): Gives the cookies their signature crackly, sugary crust on the outside.
- Jump to the printable recipe for precise measurements
Step-By-Step Instructions
Step 1: Mix the dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, and all the spices until evenly combined.
Step 2: Beat the butter and sugars. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or beaters), beat the butter with the granulated and brown sugars on medium speed until light and fluffy, 2 minutes.
Step 3: Add the egg and molasses. Beat until evenly combined.
Step 4: Add the dry ingredients. Mix on low speed until combined.
Step 5: Chill and roll the dough. Refrigerate the dough until firm, a few hours. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350°F and set two racks in the upper and lower thirds. Line two baking sheets with parchment. Scoop heaping tablespoons of dough, roll into balls, and coat generously in raw sugar. Arrange about 2½ inches apart on the baking sheets.
Step 6: Bake and cool. Bake for 9 to 10 minutes, until puffed and set. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for a few minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. The cookies keep well in an airtight container at room temp for up to 3 days.
More Cookie Recipes You May Like
Molasses Cookies
Ingredients
- 2⅓ cups all-purpose flour, spooned into measuring cup and leveled-off
- 2 tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- 2 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground allspice
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- ⅛ tsp freshly ground black pepper
- ¾ cup (1½ sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- ¼ cup + 2 Tbsp granulated sugar
- ¼ cup + 2 Tbsp (packed) light brown sugar
- 1 egg
- ⅓ cup unsulphured molasses, such as Grandma's Original
- ½ cup raw sugar (also called turbinado or demerara sugar), for rolling cookies
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, and black pepper.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or beaters), beat the butter and the granulated and light brown sugars until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the egg and molasses. Add the flour mixture and mix until combined. Chill the dough in the refrigerator until firm, a few hours.
- Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C) and set two racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. Line two 13 x 18-in (33 x 46-cm) baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Form heaping tablespoons of dough into balls and roll in the raw sugar to coat generously. Arrange the dough balls about 2½ in (6 cm) apart on the prepared baking sheets. Bake for 9 to 10 minutes, rotating the sheets from top to bottom and front to back midway through, until puffed and set. Let cool on the baking sheets for a few minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Notes
Nutrition Information
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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Way too sweet for me. They are still pretty good though. I recommend them to be eaten with a glass of milk or black coffee on the side.
These sound delicious! I’d like to reduce the amount of sugar, how much can I reduce it and which sugars? Thanks!
Hi Julie, You can cut back either or both the granulated and brown sugar by 2 tablespoons. Please LMK how they turn out!
I cut out 4 tbsp of sugar (2 tbsp white and 2 tbsp brown) and the cookies are still phenomenal! I reduced my first batch by 2 tablespoons.
Thanks for another wonderful recipe. ❤️
OMG!! I now live in the UK and have been missing my favourite item from Trader Joe’s…molasses cookies. Look no further, these are them. YUM!! It took forever but I found “date molasses” in the international food aisle at Waitrose. It worked perfectly! They sell pomegranate molasses as well. I baked on 170C on the fan setting. Thank you for bringing a bit of home to our Christmas this year!
These are tasty and easy to make. I think I will amp up the spices a bit next time as they were a little mild for my taste. But definitely a keeper!
Hi Jen, I am going to freeze these until ready to bake. Do you roll them in the sugar and freeze, or roll in sugar before baking? And, these are delicious!
Hi Denise, Glad you like them! And you can go either way with the sugar; it doesn’t make a difference.
Hello! My cookies came out puffy at first but then fell flat. I refrigerated the dough overnight and baked them for 9 minutes (my oven bakes relatively fast so I did not want to go over the 9 minutes). Any ideas on what I should do differently to keep them puffy?
Hi Kelly, They may be a bit underbaked. It could also be the brand of flour – what are you using?
Amazing flavor!!!! We love the crunch from the raw sugar coating! I rotated the , moved them front to back, and used a timer…..however, the two pans of cookies did not turn out the same. (My oven gets much hotter in the back) I will definitely make these again (fabulous flavor!) but would like to know if it would work to bake only one pan at a time.
Yes that would be a good solution – keep in mind the bake time will be just a bit shorter.
Great cookies! Made these tonight and they were a hit! I cut back on the sugar in recipe based on the previous note and only rolled the tops with the sugar to cut back again. They tasted great! Look forward to having with a tea or coffee.
After making a number of really bad Ginger Cookie recipes – thrown out in the garbage – I turned to Jenn Segal once again. These Old Fashioned Ginger Cookies are brilliant!!! Mixture great texture – I’ve never baked with molasses before (I used “Black Strap”) and cookies “to die for”!!! Will make them at least Double quantity next time. Soft middles, with delicious crunchy outer raw sugar coating – these are the best!!! Jen, Melbourne, Australia
I love this recipe! The buiscuites came out nice a soft in the middle with a soft centre which was perfect. I added mildly flavoured glazed ginger bits.
Some comments to note. The ginger was a little too mild for my ‘ginger snaps’ pallet. I replaced the ‘all spice’ with freshly ground nutmeg and ground ginger powder which slightly over played the nutmeg flavours. Next time I will use actual ‘all spice’.
Otherwise, highly recommended. The addition of fresh pepper is fantastic and adds a little ‘je ne ce quo’. 🙂
Perfect recipe! Crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. So yummy.
Delicious and came out looking beautiful, and will definitely make again.
I made them a little smaller to feel less guilty when having with morning coffee! (baked for 10mins as recipe)
Just as information to others.. in UK, I used “black treacle” instead of molasses. They look less flat and came out shaped more like an amaretto biscuit, but gorgeous either way.
Thank you, Jen!