Homemade soft molasses cookies with crackly tops are super chewy and perfectly spiced. They stay seriously soft for days—if they last that long—and are always a holiday favorite.
Molasses cookies have always been my top choice because they bring me right back to my childhood. I grew up helping my mom bake them. After rolling the dough in the sugar and watching them bake through the little oven window, my sweet reward was biting into a warm cookie fresh from the oven. In addition to the nostalgia, the soft texture paired with cozy molasses puts them above any other cookie.
Sorry, chocolate chip cookies, you don’t even compare.
Molasses Cookie Comparison
Since they’re a favorite, I have plenty of gingersnap/molasses cookie recipes on my website and in my cookbooks. Most stem from the same-ish recipe with the exception of the crisp variety. Let’s review what makes each one individually and undeniably delicious:
- Soft White Chocolate Chip Molasses Cookies: Studded with white chocolate chips, these cookies are lusciously soft and mega chewy. You’ll love the combination of cozy spices and white chocolate.
- Soft Gingersnap Molasses Cookies: These extra soft cookies are fat and fluffy!
- Ginger Pistachio Cookies: I add salty pistachios to my mom’s classic recipe. These ginger molasses cookies are soft, salty, sweet, and spiced. Find this recipe in Sally’s Cookie Addiction cookbook.
- Crisp Molasses Cookies: Another favorite! These are extra crisp. If you’re looking for a crunchy molasses cookie, this one’s for you—they actually snap when you break them!
- Chocolate Ginger Cookies: These are an elevated twist to our classic molasses cookies. You’ll appreciate the added cocoa flavor and how they are beautifully finished with dark chocolate and crystallized ginger.
If I had to choose, I would always reach for my mom’s recipe that lives in Sally’s Baking Addiction cookbook. Nothing compares to mom’s.
What Makes These Molasses Cookies Different?
Another molasses cookie recipe? Yes! These cookies are different from my other varieties and here’s why: they’re soft, crackly, and chewier than all the rest. I used my traditional soft gingersnap molasses cookies recipe as a starting point (the cute puffy ones!). My goal was to produce a flatter, chewier cookie with the same amount of softness. To accomplish this, I used the same ingredients but slightly altered the ratios:
- Flour: I reduced the flour considerably to yield a flatter cookie.
- Baking Soda: To avoid a super flat and overly greasy cookie, I increased the baking soda. Need that lift!
- Spices: Same amount. This careful blend of ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves is exactly what every molasses cookie needs!
- Butter, Brown Sugar, Egg, + Vanilla: Same amounts. Brown sugar is what helps produce the softest molasses cookie ever. (In fact, it’s the first thing I changed when making my crisp molasses cookies.)
- Molasses: Make sure you’re using unsulphured or dark molasses, but do not use blackstrap because it is too intense for these cookies.
Mission accomplished. These cookies are mega chewy, mega soft, and mega crackly!
Which Molasses Do I Use?
There are varying intensities of molasses on store shelves from lighter molasses to blackstrap molasses. Go for an unsulphured or dark molasses, also sold as “robust” molasses. Blackstrap molasses can be quite intense—I don’t bake with it too often.
I’m not working with any of these companies, but I prefer Grandma’s, Brer Rabbit, or Wholesome brands. Wholesome’s organic molasses is super dark, so it will make your cookies a little darker. Look how dark it makes my spiced gingerbread loaf. As opposed to the same recipe as a cake (gingerbread cake) made with Grandma’s brand. What a difference in color!”
How to Make Soft Molasses Cookies
- Whisk the dry ingredients together.
- Combine the wet ingredients together.
- Mix the wet and dry ingredients together.
- Chill cookie dough. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
- Roll cookie dough into balls. Use about 1 Tablespoon of dough per cookie.
- Generously roll each cookie dough ball in granulated sugar. For sparkle, of course!
- Bake. The cookies will puff up as they bake then gently sink back down. This is what creates those familiar crinkles and crackles we love. If your cookies aren’t cracking, gently bang the cookie sheet on the counter 2–3x which will help those warm cookies spread and crack on top. See recipe direction #5.
This is a wonderful make-ahead recipe because the cookies stay seriously soft for days (if they last that long!).
Sally’s Cookie Palooza
This recipe is part of my annual cookie countdown called Sally’s Cookie Palooza. It’s the biggest, most delicious event of the year! Browse dozens of cookie recipes over on the Sally’s Cookie Palooza page including:
- Chocolate Butter Cookies
- Easy Cookie Icing
- Peanut Butter Blossoms
- Lemon Crinkles
- Gingerbread Cookie Bars
and here are 75+ Christmas cookies with all my best success guides & tips.
Seriously Soft Molasses Cookies
- Prep Time: 1 hour, 45 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours
- Yield: 30-32 cookies
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
These seriously soft molasses cookies are the most tender and chewy gingersnap cookies around!
Ingredients
- 2 and 1/4 cups (281g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup (12 Tbsp; 170g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1/2 cup (100g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup (80ml) unsulphured or dark molasses (do not use blackstrap; I prefer Grandma’s brand)
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Rolling
- 1/3 cup (67g) granulated or coarse sugar, for rolling
Instructions
- Whisk the flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and salt together until combined. Set aside.
- In a large bowl using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and both sugars together on high speed until creamy and combined, about 2 minutes. Add the molasses and beat until combined. Then add the egg and vanilla extract and beat until combined, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.
- On low speed, slowly mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until combined. The cookie dough will be slightly sticky. Cover dough tightly with aluminum foil or plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour and up to 2–3 days.
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. (Always recommended for cookies.) Set aside.
- Remove cookie dough from the refrigerator. If the cookie dough chilled longer than 2 hours, let it sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes. The cookies may not spread in the oven if the dough is that cold. Roll cookie dough, 1 Tablespoon each, into balls. Roll each in granulated sugar and arrange 3 inches apart on the baking sheets. Bake for 11–12 minutes or until edges appear set. If the tops aren’t appearing cracked as pictured, remove the baking sheet from the oven and gently bang it on the counter 2–3x. This will help those warm cookies spread out and crack on top. Return to the oven for 1 additional minute.
- Remove from the oven and allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Cookies will stay fresh covered at room temperature for 1 week.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: You can make the cookie dough and chill it in the refrigerator for up to 2–3 days. Baked cookies freeze well for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature, if desired, before serving. Unbaked cookie dough balls (before rolling in sugar) will freeze well for up to 3 months. Let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes, preheat the oven, then roll in granulated sugar. Bake as directed. Read my tips and tricks on how to freeze cookie dough.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Glass Mixing Bowl | Whisk | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Paper | Cooling Rack
- Be sure to check out my top 5 cookie baking tips AND these are my 10 must-have cookie baking tools.
Forward recipe exactly. Chilled overnight. Let dough sit out for 30 minutes. The cookies kept their shape and after letting them cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes, they came out soft but completely crumbly.
This recipe brings me back to my childhood!
Great recipe. Froze my dough ahead of time. Thawed it overnight in the fridge and baked them this morning to bring to a Christmas Eve gathering. Perfect!
These cookies were great and came together quickly (aside from the cooling period) and easily. However, mine came out light and fluffy, not chewy, and didn’t spread a ton. I weighed all the ingredients and I added an extra yolk because I’m stuck in some kind of baking pyramid scheme where I always seem to have either leftover yolks or whites. I don’t want to be one of those people that substitutes everything and then complains about the recipe, but my understanding is that, if anything, adding a yolk while changing nothing else should make it MORE chewy. Could I have baked it too long? I actually made a double recipe and have only baked half, so maybe underbaking the next few could work??
Regardless of being not chewy, the taste is great. (I did also substitute the spices here, volume for volume, for speculaas spice mix and the combo is amazing).
Give it a thumbs down followed the recipe . Spread all out not a normal chewy molasses cookie
Mine weren’t chewy at all, but a crisp cookie. I followed the recipe exactly.
Kathy,
The secret is shortening. Butter makes them crunchy.
Wonderful recipe full of Christmas spice flavors. Came out beautifully exactly as shown, I did however use a larger cookie scoop, rolled in turbinado raw sugar & baked a couple minutes longer due to larger size. Great recipe, definitely a keeper!
I followed the recipe as written. However, my cookies did not flatten but they did crack. They stayed puffy and have cake texture. They taste fine, but more cake then cookie.
What did I do wrong? I followed the recipe but mine came out flat and hard. I can’t seem to figure out which step I messed up :/
Rolled them in sugar, half mixed with red, other half green for the Holidays.
Hi Sally!
All I have right now for molasses is blackstrap. I saw in the recipe that you said that it was too strong for this recipe, but is there a combination of blackstrap and corn syrup or something that could work? Thanks!
Hi Lily, We haven’t tested it, but you could try to sub a portion of the molasses with honey to soften the flavor a bit. Let us know if you give it a try!
I made these to add to the cookie boxes this year and finally a molasses cookie that taste like molasses! I weighed all the ingredients but did make a smaller cookie (my boxes were on the smaller side) so I reduced the cooking time and chilled the dough before cooking. Like I said the flavor is on point and the texture was chewy but mine were very flat. Just wondering if you have any suggestions to help with the spreading. Either way these a definitely going in my “Keeper” file for next year. Thanks for another great recipe and sharing your baking knowledge.
Also your scone recipe is outstanding. I always get rave reviews when I make a batch and gladly share your website when asked for the recipe.
A little confused because I had the opposite issue of what some are saying.. mine spread out too much, seemed maybe a little over cook but I took them out just under 11 minutes. I also had refrigerated them again for a bit after shaping them into balls to avoid that issue but it still happened. They have good flavor but not particularly chewy as they are on the thinner side.
My husband loves these cookies. They are so moist and chewy. I’m not a fan of molasses so I use sorghum instead and they are still perfect.
Hi Sally!
I baked these today, and they ended up a little flatter (spread too much) than they should be, and they fell in the middle.
I made the dough last night, stuck it in the fridge, and took it out this morning in advance of baking.
They were still looking a little mounded in the middle, with the edges spreading, at the halfway mark, so I panicked and banged them on the counter before putting them back in the oven.
I’m a fairly adept baker, so I’m surprised I didn’t totally nail it, and I know your recipes never disappoint.
Any idea where I went wrong? (Maybe in multiple places, haha)
Thank you!!
Hi Mar, we’re happy to help troubleshoot! Banging on the counter can help initiate spread, so that could be part of the reason why they seemed to spread too much. Otherwise, here are all of our best tips to prevent cookies from spreading. Hope this is helpful for your next batch!
These are THE best! ***read all the directions/tips first…measure flour correctly and you won’t be disappointed!
This molasses cookie recipe was fire. I hate to even write this but they are so much better than my grandmas and my mother’s recipe. Omg I ate half a dozen when they came out. So tasty.
I love this recipe! I make these every fall and during the holiday season, and they are always such a hit that I have to double the recipe every time. I made them today for a potluck at work tomorrow and I used browned butter – omg they are so good I kept a dozen for home. Your website is always my go-to for recipes! They’re always delicious and the instructions are always so easy to follow. Thank you
I am about to bake these, but I don’t have parchment paper or foil. Can I use cooking spray to avoid sticking?
Hi Cheryl! You can, but the cookies will brown faster and bake more unevenly. But they should be ok – just keep an eye on them in the oven. Enjoy!
Hi there! These cookies were so delicious, but mine were kind of tall and not very cracked. I tried banging the tray on the counter right when they came out of the oven, but that didn’t help a whole lot. Did I do something wrong?
Hi Lily! Happy to help. Usually when cookies do not spread, there is too much flour in the dough. How did you measure the flour? Make sure to spoon and level (instead of scooping) to avoid packing in too much flour into your measuring cups – or use a kitchen scale. You can read more about properly measuring baking ingredients in this post.
100% agree that spoon scooping the flour, and/or using a kitchen scale to get exactly 281 grams is what makes the difference between soft and gooey/ and hard little cakes. I measured the butter down to the gram as well and the recipe turned out beautifully.
Mine turned out great! Crinkles and ALL!
I feel the need to say that for the people claiming they were dry or not chewy, you definitely messed the recipe up. The were soft, moist, and chewy af. It ain’t Sally’s fault you can’t follow a recipe!
“These are the best cookies you’ve ever made. Better than chocolate chip.”
–my husband
Folks, there is no higher praise
Delicious! Everyone who said the cookies turned out puffy, I left my dough out on the counter long enough to become soft again. Also taking the cookies out about 2 minutes before they were done and gently tapping the pan on the counter a few times made my cookies deflate and crack just like the recipe states. Perfect! Thanks Sally!
I think I messed this recipe up big time. They turned out like molasses lacey cookies. I blame no one but myself.
I tried out this cookie recipe for my Christmas party. Only 2 we’re missing from the plate at the end of the night. They were okay, pretty dry. Nothing to write home about.
These are delicious!! I made these omitting the white sugar and halved the butter with applesauce (I just don’t like the flavor of butter) and they are amazing! I also topped some with an orange and clove glaze for a cookie swap.
bland & didn’t crackle, tasted more bready than like a cookie.
Too thick, too dry, no crackle and not sweet enough. This is NOT a chewy, gooey, crackly molasses cookie.
Normally I like I thick cookie, but these did not flatten at all. They did not get the nice crackle either. I’ve had much better success with other recipes, Won’t use this one again
Add 1/4 cup more flour.