Old fashioned Molasses Cookies are darkly sweet and spicy with a soft and chewy texture. They're easy to make and freeze well, both baked and unbaked. You need to put these cookies into your regular baking rotation!
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[November, 2020: I've reworked the recipe and updated this post with all new pictures. Enjoy!]
Why this recipe works
- Molasses cookies are darkly sweet and spicy with a soft and chewy texture
- The dough is quick and easy to make
- The dough balls can be frozen for baking in the future
Molasses and rum.
They go together like peanut butter & jelly. No, more like peanuts and peanut oil. Actually, they're like cows and methane (I'm going to stop now…you get the idea).
One produces the other. And both are made from sugarcane juice, which is itself a byproduct from refining sugar.
Molasses comes from repeated boiling of the juice until it's a dark, viscous liquid ("You're slower than molasses in January!" is an epithet I've heard uttered). Rum can be made from either distilling molasses or the sugarcane juice directly.
And molasses is the key ingredient to one of my favorite treats, soft and chewy old fashioned Molasses Cookies (aka Molasses Crinkle Cookies).
Molasses cookies make me think of the 18th century, when molasses was readily available in the Colonies and frequently used to sweeten baked goods.
However this recipe is thoroughly modern, producing a soft molasses cookie with a chewy texture and redolent with the flavor of baking spices. Traditionally served as Christmas cookies, they really are wonderful any time of year.
And I wish you could smell how good these molasses cookies are!
Pair them with a glass of milk (or your favorite dairy alternative), or a wee dram of scotch or bourbon.
Molasses cookies deserve to be part of your cookie repertoire!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Yum, these sound delicious, definitely trying them, always with your bits of history and humour, love this site!
- Dianne
Recipe Ingredients
Old fashioned soft molasses cookies are quite distinctive, with that craggy look highlighted by powdered sugar. They have a soft and chewy texture, and are similar to ginger cookies (though spiced differently).
You'll need the following ingredients to make this molasses cookie recipe:
Ingredient Notes
Molasses: Go for a dark molasses for the deepest flavor, but don't use blackstrap molasses by mistake. That will make your cookies bitter.
Brown sugar: Made with molasses (that's the "brown"), brown sugar provides sweetness and contributes to the soft texture while highlighting the molasses flavor.
Spices: It's the cinnamon, black pepper, cardamom, and cloves that provide a counterpoint to the deeply sweet molasses and give them their spicy kick.
Powdered sugar: Finishes the cookie's look while providing extra sweetness.
See recipe card for a full list of ingredients and measurements.
How to make Molasses Cookies
This old fashioned molasses cookie recipe produces cookies that are soft and chewy, and practically melt on your tongue. They're also super easy to make!
Step 1: Mix the dry ingredients
Whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, pepper, cardamom, and cloves until well combined (photo 1).
Step 2: Combine the wet ingredients
Beat together the melted butter, molasses, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and egg until smooth (photo 2).
Step 3: Finish the dough and chill
Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and stir until just combined. Cover the bowl and chill the dough for 15 minutes to firm up the melted butter (photo 3).
Step 4: Portion the dough and bake
Using a small cookie scoop, portion out 1 tablespoon of dough and roll it into a ball. Toss the ball in the powdered sugar, then knock off the excess sugar. Place the balls on a half sheet baking pan lined with a Silpat silicone mat or parchment paper, flattening slightly with your fingertips.
Bake the cookies at 375°F until the cookies are puffed and cracked, 8 to 10 minutes (photo 4). The cookies will be soft. Allow to cool a couple of minutes before transferring them to a wire rack.
Storage and make-ahead instructions
Storage instructions: These cookies keep well stored in an air-tight container for up to 5 days.
Make-ahead instructions: The uncoated dough balls can be frozen for up to 3 months. Allow the frozen dough ball to defrost on the counter for about 15 minutes, then roll in powdered sugar and bake at 350 °F
for 10 to 12 minutes.
Sugar to molasses to rum
Rum and molasses play an important role in American history. Did you know that there was a disaster called the Great Molasses Flood in 1919? I didn't until I moved to Boston. I'm not making this up…you can google it for the details.
Molasses (aka black treacle in the UK) was a very important commodity for quite a while in the US, made as a byproduct of crushed sugar cane or sugar beets. Rum is the result of fermenting then distilling sugarcane molasses or sugarcane juice. So sugar begets molasses which begets rum.
Sugar, molasses and rum were also part of the Triangle Trade between New England, Africa, and the Caribbean in the 18th Century (a shameful part of history, to be sure).
Questions asked and answered
Here are some questions you might have...
Like its cousins, honey, golden syrup, and maple syrup, molasses is an invert sugar (meaning a liquid sugar). Molasses helps to keep the cookies soft.
In the US, there are 3 main types of molasses: light, dark, and blackstrap, and they differ by their colors and sweetness level. Generally speaking, dark molasses is what's used for baked goods like bread, gingerbread, and Molasses Pie (aka Shoofly Pie). It has a rich flavor and lends its color to the finished products. Blackstrap is less sweet as it is bitter, not something you want in your baking!
Gingerbread cookies (aka gingersnap cookies) generally are thin with a crispier texture than molasses cookies without ginger.
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I hope you like this recipe! Let me know if you have any questions, and don't forget to leave a comment and rating. Thanks!
Slainté! L'chaim! Cheers!
- Tammy
Recipe
Old Fashioned Molasses Cookies
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1½ teaspoons baking soda
- 1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ to ½ teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground, see Recipe Notes
- ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ½ cup unsalted butter, melted
- ⅓ cup molasses, not blackstrap
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup light brown sugar, unpacked
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- ½ cup powdered sugar, sifted
Instructions
- Move the racks to the upper and lower-middle positions and preheat the oven to 375 °F. Line two half sheet baking pans with Silpat silicone mat or parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together t2 cups all-purpose flour, 1½ teaspoons baking soda, 1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon, ½ teaspoon kosher salt , ¼ to ½ teaspoon black pepper (to taste), ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom, and ¼ teaspoon ground cloves until well combined.
- In a separate bowl, beat together ½ cup unsalted butter (melted), ⅓ cup molasses, ⅓ cup granulated sugar, ⅓ cup light brown sugar, and 1 large egg until smooth.
- Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and stir until just combined. Cover the bowl and chill the dough for 15 minutes.
- Using a small cookie scoop, portion out 1 tablespoon of dough and roll it into a ball. Toss the ball in t½ cup powdered sugar, then knock off the excess sugar. Place the ball on the baking pan, flattening slightly with your fingertips.
- Bake until the cookies are puffed and cracked, 8 to 10 minutes. The cookies will be soft.
- Let cool on pan 2 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Storage instructions: These cookies keep well stored in an air-tight container for up to 5 days.
- Make-ahead instructions: The uncoated dough balls can be frozen for up to 3 months. Allow the frozen dough ball to defrost on the counter for about 15 minutes, then roll in powdered sugar and bake at 350 °F for 10 to 12 minutes.
Linda Hewitt says
Why can't blackstrap molasses be used in this recipe? TY
Tammy Spencer says
Hi Linda, that’s a good question. Unlike regular molasses, blackstrap is very dark and bitter. It’s much too a strong a flavor to use in these cookies. Thanks for asking, and happy baking! 😉
Joanne Glover says
Though I haven't tried this particular recipe, these are my very favorite cookies. I add chopped crystalized ginger for extra burst of flavor. I will give this recipe a try! Thanks.
Tammy Spencer says
Hi Joanne, I hope these will become your new go-to recipe, and the crystallized ginger sounds like a yummy addition. Thanks for sharing, and happy baking! 🙂
Dianne Sanders says
Yum, these sound delicious, definitely trying them, always with your bits of history and humour , love this site!
Tammy says
Thanks for your kind words, Dianne!