Soft Ginger Molasses Cookies

These Ginger Molasses Cookies are the perfect sweet treat for the holiday season! They’re soft and chewy, full of warm spices, and coated with decadent white chocolate. Top them with a sprinkle of colored sugar, a bit of candied ginger, or a dusting of cinnamon for a festive finishing touch.

Jump to:

• Why You’ll Love This Molasses Cookies Recipe
• Ingredients
• Variations
• How to Make Ginger Molasses Cookies
• Storage Directions 
• Serving Suggestions
• Expert Tips
• Recipe FAQs
• More Delicious Cookie Recipes
• Let's Be Besties!
• Ginger Molasses Cookies

Why You’ll Love This Molasses Cookies Recipe

• Perfect for Gifting: Wrap some of these soft molasses cookies up in a holiday tin to give as a thoughtful homemade gift to family and friends.
• Customizable: Put your own twist on these iced ginger molasses cookies by decorating them with your favorite festive toppings.
• Classic Holiday Flavors: Packed with rich molasses and warm spices including ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves, these cookies are the ultimate Christmas treat.

For more tasty ways to use molasses, check out our Gingerbread Men Cookies and Molasses Bran Muffins next.

Ingredients

Here’s everything you’ll need to make the best ginger molasses cookies!

For the Cookies

• Butter: Provides moisture and fat, and gives the molasses ginger cookies a buttery flavor.
• Brown Sugar: Darker in color and deeper in flavor than white sugar due to the presence of molasses, brown sugar sweetens the cookies while also adding moisture. You can use light brown sugar or dark brown sugar, but note that dark brown sugar will give the cookies a deeper color.
• Egg: Provides moisture and acts as a binder for these ginger cookies with molasses.
• Molasses: Adds a rich depth of flavor and acts as a sweetener. I use and recommend unsulphured molasses because I prefer its flavor, and it’s also readily available in most grocery stores. Check the baking aisle near the other sugars or in the aisle with the pancake syrup.
• All-Purpose Flour: Forms the base of the cookie dough and gives the cookies structure.
• Baking Soda: This leavening agent helps the cookies rise as they bake up in the oven.
• Spices: A combination of ground ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves gives the cookies a cozy, holiday flavor.
• Granulated Sugar: For rolling the dough balls in to add an extra touch of sweetness.

For the Icing and Toppings

• White Chocolate Chips: These get melted down to create the icing for the cookies.
• Shortening: Helps the chips melt smoothly.
• Almond Extract: Adds a hint of almond flavor, but you can leave it out if you prefer.
• Toppings: Add some cinnamon, colored sugar, candied ginger, or your toppings of choice to the cookies after dipping them in the icing.

See the recipe card below for exact ingredient amounts, nutritional information, and detailed instructions.

Variations

• Gluten-Free: Swap the all-purpose flour for a 1:1 gluten-free baking flour blend that contains xanthan gum so you don’t have to add it. 
• Dairy-Free: Use plant-based butter and non-dairy white chocolate chips to make this recipe dairy-free.
• Chocolate-Dipped: Replace the white chocolate with semi-sweet, dark, or milk chocolate chips for a chocolatey version.

How to Make Ginger Molasses Cookies

To get started making these chewy molasses ginger cookies, preheat your oven to 350°F and grease a baking sheet or line it with parchment paper or a silicone mat.

• Step 1: Cream butter and sugar.  Add the butter and brown sugar to a mixing bowl and cream together using a hand or stand mixer.
• Step 2: Mix in molasses and egg. Add the molasses and egg to the bowl with the butter and sugar, and mix until well combined.

• Step 3: Add dry ingredients. Add flour, baking soda, salt, and spices and mix to combine.
• Step 4: Roll into balls. Scoop the dough and use your hands to roll into 1-inch balls.

• Step 5: Roll the balls in sugar. Add the granulated sugar to a bowl and roll each dough ball in the sugar.
• Step 6: Bake. Place the sugar-coated dough balls onto your prepared baking sheet, and bake for 8 minutes.

• Step 7: Cool. Transfer the baked cookies to a wire rack and allow them to cool completely.
• Step 8: Make the icing. Add the white chocolate chips, shortening, and almond extract to a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave in 30-second intervals, stirring in between, until melted.

• Step 9: Dip the cookies. Dip each cookie halfway into the icing and place on parchment paper to set.
• Step 10: Decorate. While the icing is still wet, add the toppings of your choice to decorate the cookies.

Storage Directions 

• Storing: Store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. Keep them in a single layer or place a piece of parchment paper between layers to prevent the icing from sticking.
• Freezing Baked Cookies: Place the cookies in a single layer on a baking sheet and freeze until firm. Then, transfer to a freezer-safe container or zip-top bag with parchment paper between layers for up to 3 months. Let them thaw at room temperature before serving.
• Freezing Cookie Dough: Roll the dough into balls and place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Freeze until solid, and then transfer the dough balls to a freezer-safe container or bag. Bake directly from frozen, adding an extra 1–2 minutes to the baking time.

Serving Suggestions

Here are some great ideas for enjoying these flavorful cookies:

• Enjoy a cookie (or two) with a cup of Warm Milk and Cinnamon or Coconut Milk Hot Chocolate.
• Make these cookies for a holiday cookie exchange along with these Chocolate Peppermint Cookies.
• Serve them as part of your holiday dessert table with other tasty treats like this Chocolate Pumpkin Harvest Cake or this Pumpkin Pie with Chocolate Gingersnap Crust.

Expert Tips

• Use room temperature ingredients: Be sure to soften the butter and allow the egg to reach room temperature, as this allows for the ingredients to blend together more easily and evenly.
• Avoid overbaking: The cookies might look slightly underbaked when you take them out, but they’ll set as they cool. Overbaking can cause them to become hard instead of soft and chewy.
• Flatten with a glass: To make your cookies flatter and more “crinkly,” gently press them with the bottom of a glass immediately after removing them from the oven.
• Melt the chocolate just until melted: Overheating the white chocolate mixture can cause it to become clumpy instead of smooth, so be sure to only microwave it until it’s just melted.

Recipe FAQs

More Delicious Cookie Recipes

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