This recipe for old-fashioned molasses cookies is one of my favorite cookie recipes. If you're looking for an easy recipe to try at Christmas, you'll love my Grandma's Molasses Cookie Recipe.⬇️⬇️
Estimated reading time: 7 minutes
The classic combination of white sugar and butter in the original recipe is a simple, old-fashioned style flavor. Just what we want as part of our Christmas baking family tradition.
Everyone in our family loves to bake and/or eat. One of my favorite childhood memories is baking with my grandmother when I visited her home on an island in northern Ontario.
Each Christmas, she'd bake rum balls, vanilla balls, chocolate chip cookies, shortbread, mince pies - all of our favorites.
And as I grew up and had a family of my own, she gifted me several of her cookbooks.
I cherish these as they not only include her recipes but also her notes on the recipes that my grandfather and my dad liked. And didn't like!
⬇️Want the printable recipe card? It's at the bottom of this post.⬇️
Family Favorite Christmas Cookies
When my sons were small, they'd bake alongside me. My son Blake started experimenting with simple recipes when he was about eight years old.
He loved old-fashioned soft molasses cookies, as well as making ginger snaps.
Together, we tried many different versions and experimented until we created this one for the best molasses cookies.
It has just the right amount of spice, a chewy center, and is a perfect treat on a cold winter day.
This is the same recipe my daughters and I made last year. And now that I'm a grandmother myself, I'm naming this Grandma's Molasses Cookie Recipe.
Psst - looking for more delicious cookie recipes? Try my Carrot Cake Cookies, or my daughter-in-law Lindsay's This and That Bars. And if you love Turtles, give these Turtle Cheesecake Cookies a try.
Know any kids who love The Grinch? If so, these Grinch Oreo Balls are a must-bake treat. And if you love sourdough, give these Sourdough Molasses Cookies a try! Great recipes to use up leftovers!
Ingredients for Grandma's Molasses Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
- ¾ cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 cup white sugar (you will need one extra cup of sugar in a bowl to roll cookies in before baking)
- 1 large egg
- ¼ cup molasses
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
How I Make Grandma's Molasses Cookies
Over the years, I've made this recipe by hand, using a hand-held electric mixer and my KitchenAid stand mixer. They all work just fine.
It's a great recipe that makes great cookies regardless. It's also an easy recipe to double or even triple for holiday dinners. In fact, it's a great recipe to add to your Christmas potluck ideas board or file.
Directions:
Mix together softened butter, white sugar and egg until smooth in a medium bowl.
Stir in molasses.
Combine flour, baking soda, salt, a teaspoon of cinnamon, a teaspoon of cloves, and ginger) in a large bowl. Then blend the dry ingredients into the molasses mixture.
Cover with plastic wrap or beeswax wrap and chill dough for at least 2 hours.
- Heat oven to 375 F.
- Place 1 cup sugar in a small bowl and place on the side.
- Place parchment paper on a cookie sheet.
- Take the dough out of the fridge and form dough into 1-inch balls.
- Roll ball in white sugar.
- Place cookie dough ball on baking sheet.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes, until the tops are cracked.
- Cool on pan for 3 minutes, then move to cooling rack.
Makes Two Dozen Molasses Cookies
These old-fashioned molasses cookies store well in a cookie jar or other airtight container on the counter. But be warned - they won't last!
Molasses Cookie Tips and FAQs
Tip: Some recipes for molasses cookies call for one cup shortening. Don't try it!
We like chewy molasses cookies, and I find that using shortbread changes the texture and taste of this recipe. It also doesn't seem to produce as many molasses crinkles.
I prefer to use fancy molasses instead of dark molasses, giving this recipe a robust flavor. I used blackstrap molasses the first time I made these; the flavor was too strong for my liking.
Yes, you can substitute light brown sugar for white sugar. It slightly changes the taste of the molasses cookie recipe, but you might like it better!
I like to use butter at room temperature. A friend says she puts her butter in a small bowl on her stovetop while she heats her oven. I'll try that next time.
You can use a cookie scoop instead of spoons or your hands to form the little dough balls.
This recipe takes about 3 hours if you include the chill time.
These cookies freeze well. I like to get ahead of my holiday baking and often make these in late November. Then, I store them in large freezer bags to bring out during the holiday season.
Or just freeze the dough until you're ready to start your holiday baking.
Recipe
Grandma's Molasses Cookie Recipe
Ingredients
- ¾ cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 cup white sugar you will need one extra cup of sugar in a bowl to roll cookies in before baking
- 1 egg
- ¼ cup molasses
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
Instructions
- Mix together softened butter, white sugar, and egg until smooth
- Stir in molasses
- Combine flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves and ginger
- Blend spices into molasses mixture
- Cover with plastic wrap and chill for a minimum of 2 hours
- After 2 hours of chilling, preheat oven to 375 F
- Place 1 cup of sugar in a small bowl and place on the side
- Place parchment paper on a cookie sheet
- Take the dough out of the fridge and roll it into small balls, about the size of a walnut
- Roll each cookie dough ball in white sugar
- Place cookie balls on cookie sheet
- Bake for 8-10 minutes, until the tops are cracked.
Nutrition
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