Old fashioned Super Soft Molasses Cookies are a homemade classic treat packed with bold flavors of molasses, ginger, and cinnamon in each bite. They’re soft and chewy on the inside with a crackly top that’s been rolled in sugar. They’re a fall and holiday favorite recipe that’s the perfect addition to any cookie swap!
Table of Contents
- Reasons You Will Love These Super Soft Molasses Cookies
- Where Does Molasses Come From?
- How to Make Soft and Chewy Molasses Sugar Cookies
- What is a Good Substitute for Ground Cloves?
- Can I Freeze Molasses Cookie Dough?
- Quick Tips for Baking Molasses Cookies
- Looking for More Holiday Cookie Recipes?
- Super Soft Molasses Cookies Recipe
Reasons You Will Love These Super Soft Molasses Cookies
- seriously soft and chewy
- a holiday favorite
- perfectly flavored with molasses, ginger, and cinnamon
- lightly rolled in granulated sugar to give them a nice, sweet crunch
- they stay soft for days
- perfect for cookie swaps
This soft molasses cookie recipe couldn’t be any easier to make, and they taste fantastic! They are a definite must-make heading into the holiday season!
Where Does Molasses Come From?
Molasses is commonly used as a sweetener in baking, cooking, coffee, or oatmeal and comes from either sugar cane or sugar beets, where it’s boiled down to syrup. After removing the sugar crystals, what’s left is the dark molasses!
There are a variety of molasses flavors like light/mild, full/dark, and blackstrap. The light/mild flavor is the lightest and sweetest of the three, followed by the full/dark, which is thicker and has a stronger flavor (great for recipes like this!). Blackstrap is the thickest of the three and has no sweetness to it. You’ll typically see blackstrap molasses used in savory dishes.
How to Make Soft and Chewy Molasses Sugar Cookies
Here is a brief overview of how to make this soft molasses cookie recipe!
- Whisk the dry ingredients together. This includes all-purpose flour, ground cloves, ground ginger, cinnamon, and salt.
- Mix the wet ingredients together. Start with vegetable oil and granulated sugar. Next, you will add in the full-flavored molasses and egg.
- Combine the dry and wet ingredients. Unless specified in the recipe, always add the dry ingredients to the wet. Mix the cookie dough together until just combined. The cookie dough will be a thin to medium consistency.
- Chill the dough. A minimum of 2 hours is best or until you can form the cookie dough balls. Make sure the mixing bowl is covered with plastic wrap.
- Roll and Coat. Roll the molasses cookie dough into 1-inch balls, then roll in a small bowl of granulated sugar (or you can use pure can organic sugar). You only need about 1/2 cup to coat all 36 cookies this recipe yields.
- Bake, then Cool. Bake for 8-10 minutes at 375ºF. Mine seem to bake perfectly right at the 8-minute mark. Your cookies should have a nice sparkling crinkle top with golden brown edges. Cookies should cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet before you transfer them to the wire cooling rack.
What is a Good Substitute for Ground Cloves?
Ground cloves are not something I always have on hand when baking. So if you find yourself in the same situation, you can use nutmeg.
Can I Freeze Molasses Cookie Dough?
Yes! Follow the recipe instructions up until you have chilled the molasses cookie dough. Roll the cookie dough into the 1-inch balls, but skip rolling them in the granulated sugar.
Place them onto a parchment paper or wax paper lined baking sheet and freeze until firm.
Remove from the freezer and place the frozen cookie dough balls into a well-sealed freezer bag. Molasses cookie dough balls will keep for up to 3 months in the freezer.
When ready to bake, add 1-2 minutes to your baking time.
Quick Tips for Baking Molasses Cookies
- Measuring sticky molasses. One thing that can be tricky sometimes is measuring sticky ingredients, so I suggest lightly spraying the inside of a measuring cup with some baking spray. This will help let the molasses slide out a lot easier when you’re pouring it into the mixer.
- Don’t skip chilling the dough. I recommend at least 2 hours of dough chilling or until you can easily form the dough into 1-inch balls. If they haven’t properly chilled, things can get pretty messy.
- Use a cookie scoop. For more consistently sized cookies, use a 1-tablespoon-sized cookie scoop. A regular spoon will work fine, too.
- Shape the cookies. This is totally optional, but if your cookies come out a little flatter than you like or you’d like them to be about the same size, you can shape them! Check out my Salted Brownie Cookies recipe to learn how to shape them!
Looking for More Holiday Cookie Recipes?
Super Soft Molasses Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 cups All-Purpose Flour
- 1/2 tsp Ground Cloves
- 1/2 tsp Ground Ginger
- 2 tsp Baking Soda
- 1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 3/4 cup Vegetable Oil
- 1 cup Granulated Sugar, plus extra for rolling cookie dough balls in
- 1/4 cup Full Flavor Molasses, I used the Brer Rabbit brand
- 1 Large Egg, room temperature
Instructions
- Whisk together the all-purpose flour, ground cloves, ground ginger, baking soda, ground cinnamon, and salt. Set to the side.2 cups All-Purpose Flour, 1/2 tsp Ground Cloves, 1/2 tsp Ground Ginger, 2 tsp Baking Soda, 1 tsp Ground Cinnamon, 1/2 tsp Salt
- Using your hand mixer or stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the vegetable oil and granulated sugar together on medium-high speed until well blended. Add in the full flavored molasses and egg.3/4 cup Vegetable Oil, 1 cup Granulated Sugar, 1/4 cup Full Flavor Molasses, 1 Large Egg
- Switching the mixer speed to low, gradually add in the whisked dry ingredients until just combined.
- Cover the mixing bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate the molasses cookie dough for a minimum of 2 hours (or until it's easy to shape).
- Once the cookie dough has chilled, adjust the oven rack to the 2nd level position (just above center) and preheat the oven to 375ºF. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats.
- Using a spoon or a 1 tablespoon size cookie scoop, form 1 inch size cookie dough balls. Roll each one in a small bowl of granulated sugar and place on the lined baking sheet roughly 2 inches apart.
- Bake cookies for 8-10 minutes at 375ºF. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for about 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely. The cookies will be puffy at first, but will flatten as they cool.
- Molasses cookies can be kept stored in an airtight container for up to a week at room temperature. They'll stay soft too!
Video
Notes
- Pure cane organic sugar can be used as a substitute for granulated sugar (both in the recipe and what you roll the cookie dough balls in).
- If your cookies come out misshapen or flatter than you like, you can reshape them using a round cookie cutter right when they come out of the oven.
- If you do not have full-flavor molasses, you can use a light or dark flavor, but I do not recommend using blackstrap as it has no sweetness to it.
- Recipe adapted from A Taste of Bedminster Elementary Cookbook.
Nutrition
Nutritional information provided above is an estimate only and will vary based on specific ingredients used. See Nutritional Disclaimer for more info.
Way too soft. First batch melted together. Added more flour to next one. Still not puffy chewy cookies. A little better. They look like cookies but nothing like the pic.
I’m wondering now if I used the correct kind of molasses as my cookies came out tan, not the dark rich brown like in the photos. My jar just said molasses, not light or dark or blackstrap. The flavor wasn’t as rich as I had hoped so perhaps so
What was the brand of molasses you used?
These are super simple and delicious!
I’m so glad you enjoyed them!
Tried this recipe- it did not turn out like photos for me. Dough was so soft, couldn’t form balls; added additional flour, still very soft. Tasted fine, though I did add additional cinnamon and ginger.
I’m sorry the molasses cookie dough was not being cooperative for you, Mary! I appreciate you taken the time to leave feedback though!
You didn’t chill the dough long enough!
How many cookies does this make?
Hi Tammy! Approximately 36 cookies, but it will depend on the size of the cookie scoop you use.
Cookies taste great ! They are just flatter than a pancake.
Hi!! I loved these cookies, and so did my mother in law!! How long can I keep the dough in the fridge for? I am looking to prepare the dough to bake in two days for my MIL. Thank you!!
Hi! Thank you so much for making them! I would say 2-3 days tops for keeping the dough in the fridge before baking. Make sure to keep the dough covered in a well sealed container as well. If you wait longer to make them, then freezing the cookie dough balls would be best.
These are amazing! The flavor is spot on and the outside crunch along with the super soft and chewy center are perfect:)
So glad you enjoyed them, Jessica!
Can butter be used instead of vegetable oil?
I’ve never tried them using butter in place of vegetable oil before, but I think it would be fine. The cookies may give you a slightly different taste and texture. If you do try them with the butter, I would love to know how they turn out!
I love these they reminded me of a snickerdoodle that our lunch ladies made an elementary school back in the 80s. And I really like the format the recipe is in it makes it so much easier. Thank you.
As a child of the 80’s myself, I can appreciate that memory! Thanks for making them and for the feedback on the recipe format as well!