This old-fashioned molasses cookie recipe is the perfect holiday cookie, especially if you're after down-home simple recipes that Great-Grandma would have baked. You can almost hear the harness and bells jingling as you pull these from the oven.
If you've ever worked retail around Christmas, you know it can be both brutal and beautiful. In one of my first years in the pharmacy, a patient brought in a plate of cookies as a thank you (greatly appreciated).
We were so busy I couldn't try them until later in the day after she left. They were like Christmas in your mouth, soft, delicious, a hint of spice.
The next time she came in I immediately bee-lined it over to ask for her recipe. She graciously shared and now I'm sharing it with you.
They have just the right amount of spice paired perfectly with the molasses. I've used all different kinds of molasses with these cookies and the ones in the picture are made with blackstrap molasses with a mixture of fresh ground spelt and all-purpose flour. Blackstrap molasses do give them a stronger flavor and generally make them crisper rather than soft, but either blackstrap molasses cookies or regular molasses, they're delicious!
And who doesn't need a versatile recipe that can swing either way with both types of molasses?
If you're looking for molasses cookies without shortening you've found them! As I said, these are an old-fashioned cookie and I hate to break it to you, but shortening is NOT an old-fashioned ingredient. Plus, they taste better with real butter, trust me, throw away the shortening for good, you don't need it.
I only use butter in my baking, from my biscuits to my flaky pie crust.
But back to the cookies.
How to make big soft molasses cookies
First, see the tip below on the flour, but form the cookies into 2-inch size balls and increase baking time by 1 to 2 minutes.
If you bake your first sheet and find yourself asking why are my molasses cookies flat it's because you didn't use enough flour or your butter was too warm. The flavor and texture are developed with chill time. Seriously, the longer your dough chills the more the spices and flavors come together.
But chill time also can help with cookies spreading flat if you got your butter a tad too warm when creaming it together with the other ingredients. This is true with almost any cookie (chocolate chip) but especially with molasses cookies. To fix it, add 2 to 4 Tablespoons flour (if you've only baked 1 dozen, go with 4 Tablespoons, if you baked close to the 1/2 dough, then just add 2 Tablespoons flour), mix until just incorporated, and chill for another 15 minutes.
Want all my baking recipes and tips? Get your copy of my book Hand Made: the Modern Guide to Made-from-Scratch Living
Can you freeze molasses cookies
Yes, bake the cookies, allow to cool completely, and then place on a parchment or butcher paper-lined cookie sheet and flash freeze for an hour. Transfer frozen cookies to a sealed freezer container or a plastic bag. To thaw, transfer frozen cookies to a different container (to avoid condensation as it thaws), thaw and serve!
Can you make the blackstrap molasses cookie recipe dough ahead of time
Yes, you can make this dough ahead of time and store it in the fridge for up to 5 days, make sure it's wrapped tight so it doesn't dry out. Or, store cookie dough in the freezer for up to 3 months.
I've also heard these cookies referred to as molasses crinkle cookies because they crinkle up on top as they bake in the oven. But no matter what you call them, you'll find them a favorite and probably a mainstay all year-round, not just during the holidays.
Old-fashioned Molasses Cookie
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup softened butter
- 1 cup sugar + 1/4 cup to roll cookies in
- 1/4 cup dark molasses
- 1 egg
- 2 cups flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F
- In a large bowl beat together the butter and 1 cup sugar until creamy. Add molasses and egg, beating until well blended.
- In medium bowl, blend flour, soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger; add to molasses mixture, mix well.
- Cover and chill at least 20 minutes.
- Form dough into 1 inch balls, roll each in sugar, place 2 inches apart on cookie sheet.
- Bake for 6 to 8 minutes, until cookies have just set. Allow to cool 1 minute on sheet and then transfer to a wire rack to cool.
Delicious. Be sure the dough is thoroughly chilled. If it gets warm filling the cookie sheet, chill it again. So soft and chewy. Yum.
My aunt always brought her famous molasses cookies to Christmas. This is the closest recipe I have found! I cook them on stoneware which was one of the secrets to my aunts recipe!
Made this recipe. This is my favorite all-time Christmas cookie. The only thing that I changed is I added another 3/4 cup of flour. Im not sure why I needed more, because my Betty Crocker recipe is vary simular and I have never needed to add more flour. How ever, Im baking at our Log hOme this year. So that may have impacted it. Im super excited to use ginger that is totally new. I Loved them and the family too. Thank You once again Melissa for an amazing recipe,
These molasses cookies taste great but found that they were quite hard to bite into. what would make them so hard. They were not burnt. Is there any way to make a soft version of the cookie. Thx for your recipes and a suggestion for a softer cookie
Thank you for sharing your recipe! My daughter and I made these for Christmas 2021 and even packaged some up for gifts as well. They were very chewy, which I prefer in a cookie, and the flavor was so delicious!
Seeing as we’re from the East Tennessee Appalachian region, we have Sorghum Syrup, so I used that instead of Molasses in this recipe. We have a neighbor who makes Sorghum every year on his farm the old fashioned way, with a horse! It is yummy stuff and I love using local ingredients.
These were great! Thanks for an easy Christmas recipe. I’m going to be making lots more.
This is almost my grandmother’s recipe – my favorite! She used 1/2 tsp of clove instead of nutmeg. She also put 2 or 3 drops of water on each cookie to make them chewy. I eat these any time of the year.
Hi Melissa! We’re going to make these this afternoon…do you think we could freeze some of the uncooked dough to bake later? Would it be pretty much the same as freezing choc chip cookie dough? Thanks!
Absolutely, I freeze it often.
Would you believe I made this recipe and substituted almost everything but the molasses? Much to my joyful amazement, they came out absolutely yummy. Even though milk is an allergy for me, I used 1/4 cup butter +1/2 olive oil, rice::buckwheat (1::1) for the flour, 1/2 c honey for the sugar, and 1/4 flaxseed +1/4 water for the egg. I’ve tried many other recipes and they all came out only so-so, this one came out 100% wonderful! Thanks for sharing with us!
I made a batch this morning and had a few very warm cookies with my coffee and I must say, it was very nice! So delicious. It reminded me of my Memere. Thank you for the recipe Melissa. Have a Merry Christmas!
Awesome taste but 6-8 minutes cook time isn’t enough. Raw in middle. I used a gas stove and 15. Inutes was perfect!
I use a gas oven and my experience was the same. It depends on the temperature setting.
Hello Melissa, I made these cookies today and the taste was superb! So buttery and spicy and not too sweet…however, my cookies spread out SUPER flat, like they totally just melted when I cooked them…and it took longer to cook them too, they didn’t want to set at all. I guess the dough was too soft, but I made the recipe exactly as written. I used freshly ground whole wheat flour, do you think that might have something to do with it? Or maybe did I accidentally use too much butter?
Yes, fresh ground flour is why, which type of wheat did you use? To do these with fresh ground flour I have to know the wheat type in order to give adjustments
Thank you for the response! Actually, I don’t know what kind of wheat it is. I didn’t purchase it, it was given to me. But I think next time I’ll just try adding more flour until the dough seems a proper consistency. 🙂
Melissa – I made these over the weekend, no changes at all, and these are the BEST molasses cookies I have ever had! They have just a little crunch on the outside but stay soft and chewy on the inside. I must have made the balls larger than I should have though because I certainly did not get 5 dozen. Next time I will double the batch.
You stated to make gingerbread, cut 1/4 cup butter and increase molasses. How much molasses do you increase by. I can’t wait to try this recipe. Thank you.
That was on the notes from the lady I originally got the recipe from, my understanding is cut 1/4 cup butter and increase molasses by a 1/4 cup.
Hi Melissa. You said you used spelt and all purpose flour. What was the ratio? Also, is there an all purpose flour you recommend?
I usually do 1/2 and 1/2 for cookies so they don’t spread too flat (spelt like to spread out rather than up)
Do you use blackstrap molasses?
Melissa, I tho’t you were now gluten and dairy free (or am I thinking of someone else)? I’d love to try these as we really miss molasses cookies, but we have to be not only gluten free and dairy free, but soy free and gum free (most 1 to 1 gf flour mixes put xanthan gum in them) due to some of my youngest daughter’s allergies. Do you think ghee would work in place of butter (I can make my own gf flour blend or maybe try cassava flour)? Ginger is a migraine trigger for me, but I figure I may try turmeric as a sub to give it that “bite” that would be missing if I left out the ginger. The thing about butter and ghee is when you take out the milk solids it changes the character of how the fat reacts with the other ingredients (tho’ I know coconut oil would normally be a good sub for butter with the texture not sure it would taste the same w/o the butter flavor). Just tho’t I’d ask. May try it anyway if no one with experience with such substitutions replies. If I do, I’ll try to update my post. 😉 Thanks. ~ K
Didn’t see this the first time I tried to post; trying again after having sent you a copy by e-mail.
A couple questions! I’m comparing this recipe to the one in your handmade book for soft molasses sugar cookies. Which one do you like better? Also, with either of the dough could you freeze in a log and do slices when it’s time to bake, or would you recommend the scoop?
They’re the same recipe except in the book I have 1/2 cup white sugar and 1/2 cup brown sugar and here I just did 1 cup sugar. When using blackstrap molasses there’s a strong enough molasses flavor that I found I didn’t really need the brown sugar. Either way is fine. I’ve always rolled them in a ball and then rolled in sugar before baking so not sure about the log and slice with these ones.
Thank you for the reply! I followed the recipe in the book and they turned out great.
Melissa, I tho’t you were now gluten and dairy free (or am I thinking of someone else)? I’d love to try these as we really miss molasses cookies, but we have to be not only gluten free and dairy free, but soy free and gum free (most 1 to 1 gf flour mixes put xanthan gum in them) due to some of my youngest daughter’s allergies. Do you think ghee would work in place of butter (I can make my own gf flour blend or maybe try cassava flour)? Ginger is a migraine trigger for me, but I figure I may try turmeric as a sub to give it that “bite” that would be missing if I left out the ginger. The thing about butter and ghee is when you take out the milk solids it changes the character of how the fat reacts with the other ingredients (tho’ I know coconut oil would normally be a good sub for butter with the texture not sure it would taste the same w/o the butter flavor). Just tho’t I’d ask. May try it anyway if no one with experience with such substitutions replies. If I do, I’ll try to update my post. 😉 Thanks. ~ K
No, I’m not gluten or dairy free. I’m sorry I haven’t tried testing these as gluten and dairy free so not sure how they’ll turn out. If you tried it with those substitutions please do let me know how they turn out.
I have to try this, but with gluten free flour. Can I assume it will turn out well by using an all purpose gluten free flour such as Krusteez or King Arthur?
I don’t know if they’ll turn out as well as I haven’t tested them with gluten-free flour.
Do you think these would work with Einkorn flour? Thanks so much!
Yes, they should work well with Einkorn flour. Let me know how you like them if you try it!
Gave these a try today. My kids and I made them together and they did not disappoint! Absolutely delicious. I’ll be making these every year. We shared with the neighbors as a little Christmas gift. 5 stars!
Woo, hoo so glad you guys enjoyed them!