I've wanted to make the perfect soft and chewy ginger molasses cookies every Christmas for as long as I can remember. However, I'm just such a massive chocolate fan I never get around to it!
Usually, I opt for my go to, favorite combo, double chocolate peppermint cookies to celebrate the holidays. But this year, I decided it was time to step it up ????????.
A couple things about my ginger molasses cookie recipe. First, I worked SO HARD to make sure they're legit soft, chewy, wonderful cookies.
Not. A. Baker.
There may have been a few sad, sad trials before I figured out the perfect recipe. But rest assured, these are honestly the softest, chewiest ginger molasses cookies ever and I'm ridiculously proud of myself. Like as proud as that time I made a cheesecake, which was pretty flippin' awesome.
Second, these aren't your regular, run of the mill, out of the box ginger cookies. I did ALL the things to make them absolutely fabulous. I upped the amount of ginger because yummm, lowered the amount of flour to decrease cakiness and increase chewiness, and swapped white sugar for brown sugar to add even more flavor and soft texture.
In short, I'm obsessed with these cookies. I can't stop eating them.
Oh and ALSO! It turns out, the way to get that perfectly cracked topped on a ginger molasses cookie is actually the easiest thing in the world.
When you're rolling the dough into little balls just before baking, you coat them in white sugar! Just plop them into a bowlful and roll them around. Literally as simple as that. I thought there was going to have to be something crazy hard in the recipe to get them to have that traditional cracked surface and I've never been more happy to be wrong. It works like magic!
In short, up your Christmas bake off game this year! These chewy ginger molasses cookies have your back ????.
Chewy Ginger Molasses Cookies
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 2 dozen cookies 1x
Ingredients
- 2 cups unbleached, all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon ground clove
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- ¾ cup butter, softened to room temperature (softened, not melted!)
- ¾ cup dark brown sugar, packed
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- ¼ cup molasses
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup of white sugar, for rolling
Get Recipe Ingredients
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, clove, nutmeg and salt until completely mixed. Set aside.
- In a large bowl with an electric mixer or standing mixer, cream together butter and brown sugar until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Pour in molasses and mix until combined, scraping down the sides as needed.
- Add the egg and vanilla extract, and beat on a low speed until completely mixed.
- Gradually beat the dry ingredient mix into the wet mix until just combined and a dough forms.
- Cover the top of the bowl tightly with saran wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to an hour, until dough is chilled through.
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Prep a baking sheet with parchment paper or silpat. Fill a small bowl with white sugar.
- Roll the dough into tablespoon sized balls, about 1 inch in diameter. Roll each ball of dough in the bowl of sugar until completely coated (this will cause the cracking on the surface of the cookie!).
- Place the coated dough balls on the prepared baking sheet about 2-3 inches apart (about 12 per tray).
- Bake on a center rack in the oven for 8-10 minutes, until cookies just set and start to crack on top. The inside of the cracks will look underdone, with the centers appearing a little bit doughy, but they will continue to cook on the tray out of the oven during cooling. Slightly undercooking is your friend!
- Remove the tray from the oven and let the cookies cool on the tray another 5 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely.
- Serve immediately! Will last up to about 5 days in a sealed, air tight container.
- Prep Time: 45 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
Matt @ The Bluenosers says
I love gingerbread molasses cookies, they remind me of my grandma's house growing up. She always had a bundle of them stored away!
Mysty says
I made these and they didn't crack at all.
They burned on the bottom and so for the next batch I turned the oven down and took them out just before 8 minutes. Still starting to burn on the bottom. Sad
I was so looking forward to CHEWY ginger molasses cookies.
Jeanene says
These are so delicious! I love them. They did not turn out quite as pretty as yours and didn't crack much on top. But they are soft and chewy and quite addictive. I'll be making them again. Thank you!