These soft ginger molasses cookies are truly “the best”: featuring ginger, cloves, and cinnamon, a touch of molasses, and a delightfully chewy texture.
Typically Alex and I love to make desserts that are on the lighter side, even if it involves adding non-traditional items like black beans. So this holiday season, we set out to find some light / healthy cookie recipes. Somewhere along the line, we learned a crucial lesson: sometimes, cookies aren’t meant to be healthy. We had lots of failed cookie experiments over the past few weeks. Turns out, ripe bananas or apple sauce don’t exactly equal butter and sugar. And there’s something about the texture of a cookie that’s very hard to replicate without the magic of butter.
How to make ginger molasses cookies
So while we found one healthier cookie we liked (and one tasty healthyish dessert), we now bring to you — our perfect soft ginger molasses cookies! And these ginger molasses cookies have the traditional white flour, butter, and sugar. If you enjoy a reasonably whole foods diet most of the time, it’s always good to have a splurge or two, especially around the holidays.
The perfect splurge for us is a ginger molasses cookie. We were terribly excited to create this recipe, because it’s everything we’re looking for in a cookie — amped up with aromatic spices like ginger, cloves, and cinnamon, with a tinge of dark molasses, a delightfully chewy texture, and a crunch of turbinado sugar. We did use natural turbinado cane sugar, a slightly less processed version of sugar than white sugar, which brings a nice sweetness without being overpowering. Overall, these ginger molasses cookies are it: our perfect cookie.
Looking for gluten free or vegan desserts instead?
Looking for gluten free desserts or vegan desserts instead of these cookies? Try some of these options:
- Peppermint Ice Cream and Hot Cocoa Affogato
- Gingerbread Dough Truffles
- Raw Brownies
- Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
- Dark Chocolate Coconut Ice Cream
- Easy Peppermint Stick Ice Cream
- Natural Chocolate Mint Pudding
- All gluten free desserts!
- All vegan dessert recipes!
Looking for Christmas cookie recipes?
Aside from this soft ginger molasses cookies recipe, here are a few of our favorite Christmas cookie recipes:
- Soft Gingerbread Cookies
- Peppermint Meringues
- Chai Spiced Snowball Cookies
- Ginger Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches
- Shortbread Cookies with Chocolate Drizzle
- Cherry Quinoa Chocolate Bark
- Healthy Peanut Butter Buckeye Balls
- Narwhal Gingerbread Cutout Cookies
- Gingersnap Sandwich Cookies
- Cranberry Pistachio Chocolate Clusters
- Easy Peppermint Bark
This recipe is…
This best soft ginger molasses cookies recipe is vegetarian.
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Best Soft Ginger Molasses Cookies
(7 votes, average: 4.29 out of 5)
- Prep Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Yield: 24 cookies 1x
Print Recipe
Pin RecipeDescription
These soft ginger molasses cookies are truly “the best”: featuring ginger, cloves, and cinnamon, a touch of molasses, and a delightfully chewy texture.
Ingredients
- 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon allspice
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¾ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- ¾ cup turbinado raw cane sugar
- 1 large egg
- ½ cup molasses
- Extra sugar for rolling
Instructions
- In a bowl, add 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons baking soda, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1 teaspoon ground ginger, 1 teaspoon allspice, ½ teaspoon ground cloves, and ½ teaspoon kosher salt. Mix well to combine.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer (or with a hand-mixer), beat together 3/4 cup butter and 3/4 cup turbinado sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
- Add 1 egg and 1/2 cup molasses and mix to combine. Then stir in the dry ingredients. Refrigerate the batter 1 hour.
- When ready to bake, preheat oven to 375°F.
- Roll the dough into 1 ½” balls, then roll the balls in turbinado sugar to coat the outsides. Arrange on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake in oven until set and crinkled on top, about 10 to 12 minutes (around 10 minutes for smaller cookies and 12 for larger). Remove from the oven and cool slightly.
Notes
Adapted from Food 52
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: Ginger Molasses Cookies, Cookies, Ginger Cookies, Spices, Cinnamon, Cloves, Holiday, Baking, Baked, Ginger
About the Authors
Sonja Overhiser
Cookbook Author and writer
Sonja Overhiser is author of Pretty Simple Cooking, named one of the best healthy cookbooks of 2018. She’s host of the food podcast Small Bites and founder of the food blog A Couple Cooks. Featured from the TODAY Show to Bon Appetit, Sonja seeks to inspire adventurous eating to make the world a better place one bite at a time.
Alex Overhiser
Cookbook Author and photographer
Alex Overhiser is an acclaimed food photographer and author based in Indianapolis. He’s host of the food podcast Small Bites and founder of the recipe website A Couple Cooks. Featured from the TODAY Show to Bon Appetit, Alex is author of Pretty Simple Cooking, named one of the best vegetarian cookbooks by Epicurious.
30 Comments
Angele
December 12, 2012 at 12:48 amHehe, for a second there in the picture it looked there was quinoa in them ;).
Alex
December 12, 2012 at 8:41 amHaha! I wouldn’t put it past us, but no. :)
Kathryn
December 12, 2012 at 5:37 amI completely agree with this philosophy – I’ve spent far too long on failed baking experiments not to appreciate that butter, flour and sugar have been used to bake sweet treats for many hundreds of years for a good reason! And if you can’t enjoy a little bit of everything at Christmas then when can you? I love the spice of these cookies, perfect for the holiday season!
Justin
December 12, 2012 at 10:20 amI couldn’t agree with you more! Christmas is the time of white flour, white sugar, butter, &, maybe, some shortening too! These cookies look delicious!
Writing Pad Dad
Loretta | A Finn In The Kitchen
December 12, 2012 at 12:50 pmThese are the darkest ginger molasses cookies I’ve seen and they look divine!
Katrina @ Warm Vanilla Sugar
December 12, 2012 at 5:37 pmGinger molasses is definitely one of my fav’s! Love this recipe!
Sarah
December 12, 2012 at 8:03 pmI want to make these into ice cream sandwiches so badly. I have some salted caramel in my freezer that would be perfect!
jackie @ Marin mama cooks
December 13, 2012 at 4:02 pmI agree with you. I love a “healthier” dessert once in a while, but find when it comes to dessert, I tend to go for the real stuff. I do use 60% dark chocolate or higher when baking and find that makes a difference. My kids have gotten so use to dark chocolate in their baked goods and such that they really don’t like candy or milk chocolate anymore.
I have to tell you that molasses cookies are my absolute favorite and I can’t wait to make these over the Holiday break. I tend to use blackstrap molasses when I make up ginger cookies and was curious if you think it would make a difference if I use it for this recipe?
Love the new look of the blog!
Jackie :)
Sonja
December 15, 2012 at 1:41 pmThanks, Jackie! We have never used blackstrap molasses before, but I’ve seen that it has a bit stronger taste — which I think would be a nice addition to these cookies! Let us know if you try it — I’m eager to hear how it might work out.
Lisa
December 15, 2012 at 10:51 amHallelujah! Well said, Sister.
Liz
December 19, 2012 at 5:47 pmThese are flipping delicious. I happened to stumble in here from food gawker and I’m so glad i did! My obsession with molasses is re-ignited!
Alex
December 19, 2012 at 5:48 pmYay! Glad you found us and enjoyed the recipe!
Denise knight
December 19, 2012 at 8:19 pmOh holy night… These are the best cookies I’ve ever eaten! I’m so glad I made these despite being pooped out! I substituted the sugar with a blend of 1/4 cup regular white sugar, 1/4 cup dark brown sugar/Splenda blend, and 1/5 cup Splenda and they still came out amazing! Thanks so much for posting!
Alex
December 19, 2012 at 9:18 pmHaha! So glad they they worked out for you :)
Kacie
January 3, 2013 at 12:38 amSonja & Alex, look what I’ve made….
ladybear.me
Sonja
January 3, 2013 at 10:11 pmThey look lovely! So glad you found them to be tasty too! :)
Heidi - Apples Under My Bed
January 7, 2013 at 5:21 amWell said, here here. These look just so delectable. Gorgeous post.
Heidi xo
Heather
January 25, 2013 at 10:00 pmThese look really good but would it be possible to substitute extra molasses for the sugar?
Alex
January 26, 2013 at 10:03 amI’m not a confident enough baker to know the answer to that – sorry :-) Let us know if you try it!
Serena
May 6, 2013 at 5:03 pmDo you think I could make men out of these? I’ve been looking for a recipe and this seems like it but I’d love to let my kids cut them out.
Alex
May 6, 2013 at 5:20 pmHi!
The way that the cookies are prepared, I think it would be difficult to roll out the dough and make cut-outs…however, you never know unless you try! Let us know if you try them :)
Mac
September 2, 2013 at 4:23 pmThese are marvelous (: I made a smaller batch of them, and I had 8…. *sheepish grin.* Needless to say, I took an extra long run the other day. Best warm <3
Mini baker
November 19, 2013 at 7:28 pmCan I make the dough ahead and freeze it, only to bake some days before Christmas? Can I bake them straight from the freezer? If so, at the same temperature for how long? I will be trying them with blackstrap molasses! They look so delicious! Thank you!
Alex
November 19, 2013 at 9:45 pmHi! We’ve never tried freezing it, but I would think it would work fine. Unfortunately, I don’t know about the the temperature! Hope you enjoy!
Erin Cram
November 27, 2013 at 8:33 pmWe added diced candied ginger to these fabulous cookies!
Sonja
December 1, 2013 at 3:50 pmYum, sounds like a great addition!
Linda
December 3, 2013 at 10:38 amMy husband loves ginger cookies so I found your recipe. I used the last of my light molasses on the last batch and used blackstrap this time. Wasn’t sure if my husband would like them, but he LOVED them, yay, thanks for the recipe.
Linda
Tanya
December 11, 2014 at 6:04 pmI made this recipe and used blackstrap molasses. Instead af chilling, I spread in a 9×13 greased pan and baked @350 for 22ish minutes. It produced a light, soft ginger bar the texture of a brownie. I think I may decrease the bake time next time for a more gooey texture. Definitely wonderful and easier than cookies. :) My hubby said the house smelled “heavenly!”
Alex
December 12, 2014 at 8:56 amInteresting! We’ll have to try it.
Sarmishta | Handful
December 28, 2015 at 12:46 pmWow, these are AMAZING! I can’t stop eating them- probably be finished in a few minutes now.
I used paanakam (a kind of molasses) from my home town in India and they turned out fantastic! Thank you!