Soft & Chewy Molasses Gingerdoodles — These soft molasses cookies taste like a cross between chewy gingerbread cookies and crinkly snickerdoodles. An unbeatable holiday cookie recipe!
Soft Molasses Cookies Recipe
I combined three favorite cookies into one — soft molasses cookies, chewy gingerbread cookies, and crinkly snickerdoodles. That way I didn’t have to choose among favorites because I love them all. And I loved these ginger molasses cookies more than I should have. I couldn’t keep myself away from them.
I used my recipes for Soft Molasses Coconut Oil Crinkle Cookies and The Best Snickerdoodles as the jumping off point. I absolutely adore soft molasses cookies that have rich, deep, bold molasses flavor and the cookies deliver. The molasses flavor profile dominates.
There’s plenty of cinnamon, ginger, and warming spices in the dough, as well as a cinnamon-sugar coating, creating a very well-spiced cookie that packs tons of flavor in a pillowy, crinkly little package.
The cookies are super soft in the center with slight chewiness around the edges, and I always underbake slightly to ensure they stay soft for days. If you like crunchier cookies, bake them longer.
The flavor of the cookies improves and enhances in the day or two after baking. Everything just blends together beautifully, but it’s very hard for me to save any that long. They’re my new favorite molasses cookies.
What’s in Soft Molasses Cookies?
To make these soft and chewy molasses cookies, you’ll need:
- Unsalted butter
- Dark brown sugar
- Granulated sugar
- Egg
- Unsulphered molasses
- Vanilla extract
- Spices
- Salt
- All-purpose flour
- Cornstarch
- Baking soda
- Cream of tartar
How to Make Soft Molasses Cookies
To make these ginger molasses cookies, you first need to cream together the butter, sugars, and egg. Add in the remaining wet ingredients and the spices, then mix in the dry ingredients.
Scoop the molasses cookie dough into balls, then chill for at least 3 hours before baking. Once chilled, roll the cookie dough in a generous amount of cinnamon sugar.
Bake the soft molasses cookies until the edges have set and the tops have crackled. Don’t overbake for soft cookies (I bake mine 8 to 8 1/2 minutes and they’re extremely soft and a touch underdone but firm up in time; for crispier cookies, bake longer).
Can I Omit the Cornstarch?
If you need to omit the cornstarch due to an allergy, that’s fine. Your molasses cookies won’t be quite as soft, but they should be delicious regardless.
Can I Omit the Cream of Tartar?
Probably not if you want them to have a great pillowy texture. I have only made them as written though and cannot say for sure what will happen if you omit it.
Can I Make These Gluten-Free?
I’ve only made these soft molasses cookies as written, so I’m not sure if you can make these with a gluten-free flour blend. If you try it out, please leave me a comment below letting me know how they turn out.
Tips for Making Soft Molasses Cookies
I used dark molasses in these soft and chewy molasses cookies because I really love the intensity of it, but use your favorite. I think blackstrap molasses would be too strong, though.
Also note that if you prefer more mildly spiced cookies, you can halve the amounts of all spices used.
The dough is very soft and must be chilled before baking because chilled dough spreads less in the oven. Chilling also gives the flavors time to marry and the dough tastes better on the second or third day after it’s made. You can keep the dough in the fridge for up to 5 days before baking.
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Soft and Chewy Molasses Gingerdoodles
Ingredients
Cookies
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
- ½ cup dark brown sugar, packed (light brown sugar may be substituted)
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- ⅓ cup unsulphered molasses, I used robust molasses (dark; light or medium may be used; blackstrap will likely be too pungent)
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cloves
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- pinch salt, optional and to taste
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon cream of tartar
Cinnamon-Sugar Coating
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 to 3 teaspoons cinnamon
Instructions
- For the Cookies
- To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or large mixing bowl and electric mixer) combine the butter, sugars, egg, and beat on medium-high speed until creamed and well combined, about 4 minutes.
- Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the molasses, vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, optional salt, and beat on medium-high speed until combined and smooth, about 1 minute.
- Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, cream of tartar, and beat on low speed until just combined, about 45 seconds.
- Using a medium 2-inch cookie scoop, form two tablespoon mounds (I made 20). Place mounds on a large plate or tray, cover with plasticwrap, and refrigerate for at least 3 hours, up to 5 days. The dough is soft, mushy, limp, and isn’t suitable for baking until it’s been chilled. Do not bake with unchilled dough because cookies will bake thinner, flatter, and be more prone to spreading.
- Preheat oven to 350F, line baking sheets with Silpats, or spray with cooking spray; set aside.
- For the Cinnamon-Sugar Coating
- Add sugar and cinnamon to a small bowl and stir to combine.
- Roll each mound of dough through the coating, liberally coating all sides. After all mounds have been coated, I like to go back and double-dip each mound to get an extra-thick coating.
- Place coated mounds on baking sheets, spaced at least 2 inches apart (I bake 8 cookies per sheet).
- Bake for about 8 to 9 minutes, or until edges have set and tops are have crackled; don’t overbake for soft cookies (I bake mine 8 to 8 1/2 minutes and they’re extremely soft and a touch underdone but firm up in time; for crispier cookies, bake longer). Cookies firm up as they cool.
- Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for about 10 minutes before serving. I let them cool on the baking sheet and don’t use a rack.
Notes
- Cookies will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 1 week or in the freezer for up to 6 months. Alternatively, unbaked cookie dough can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, or in the freezer for up to 4 months, so consider baking only as many cookies as desired and save the remaining dough to be baked in the future when desired.
- Adapted from Soft Molasses Coconut Oil Crinkle Cookies and The Best Snickerdoodles.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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More Molasses Recipes:
25 Holiday Cookie Favorites — The tried-and-true favorites are all here! If you need a holiday cookie recipe, this collection has you covered!!
Soft Molasses Coconut Oil Crinkle Cookies — No butter, no problem. One of my favorite molasses cookie recipes!
Molasses Triple Chocolate Cookies – Chocolate is used three times for a fun twist on the traditional. No mixer required!
Soft and Chewy Gingerbread Molasses Chocolate Chip Bars — Rich, chocolaty & like eating a piece of molasses fudge!
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies — Between the molasses, pumpkin pie spice, and pumpkin pie spice extract that I used, these pumpkin chocolate chip cookies beautifully showcase the flavors of fall!
Chocolate Gingerbread Toffee Cake – An EASY, no mixer cake that’s perfect for the holidays!! Chocolate and ginger are amazing together! The GINGER spiced whipped cream is the literal icing on this cake!!
Gingerbread Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting – Gingerbread bars are so much FASTER AND EASIER than making gingerbread cookies!! The sprinkles and tangy cream cheese frosting will put everyone in a festive mood!!
Originally published December 2014 and republished December 2019 with updated text.
Love this recipe
I didn’t change anything and the cookies came out perfectly–crunchy edges and very soft middle. I wanted one more cookie recipe before Christmas and this was it! I loved the idea of scooping them into balls overnight and popping them in the oven the next day. Since I just found you this is the second recipe I’ve tried. Looking forward to many more. Thanks, Averie.
Kathy
I didn’t change anything and the cookies came out perfectly–crunchy edges and very soft middle. I wanted one more cookie recipe before Christmas and this was it! I loved the idea of scooping them into balls overnight and popping them in the oven the next day. Since I just found you this is the second recipe I’ve tried. Looking forward to many more. Thanks, Averie.
Kathy
Thanks for the five star review and I’m glad my cookie recipe came in handy for you at the last minute. Merry Christmas!
I made the chewy molasses cookies with gluten free flour and also by the regular recipe so I could compare. I found the gluten free dough was much thicker than the regular dough. I could not tell a lot of difference in the taste. Both tasted good and chewey.
I made the chewy molasses cookies with gluten free flour and also by the regular recipe so I could compare. I found the gluten free dough was much thicker than the regular dough. I could not tell a lot of difference in the taste. Both tasted good and chewey.
Thanks for the five star review and for recounting the difference that you found between the gluten-free and regular versions. I’m sure it’s something that they put in the gluten-free flour that caused them to be thicker.
I made these today and my husband only ate 4 while they were still warm. HAHA!! He really liked them.
It is a very sticky soft dough so it does need a few hours in the fridge. I actually put the whole bowl in the fridge for a couple hours. It was too sticky to make cookie balls without chilling it. I got 25 cookies.
I made these today and my husband only ate 4 while they were still warm. HAHA!! He really liked them.
It is a very sticky soft dough so it does need a few hours in the fridge. I actually put the whole bowl in the fridge for a couple hours. It was too sticky to make cookie balls without chilling it. I got 25 cookies.
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad that your husband had 4 right away!
I made these and substituted Chinese five spice for the nutmeg and cloves. So good!
I made these and substituted Chinese five spice for the nutmeg and cloves. So good!
I made these and substituted Chinese five spice for the nutmeg and cloves. So good!
I bet Chinese Five Spice would be excellent in these. I’ll have to give that a try myself!
great
Hands down some of the best cookies I’ve ever had. Made them this afternoon. I’ve made countless cookie recipes from your site and they never let me down!