These soft molasses cookies are filled with the warm holiday flavors of cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and molasses. The rich, earthy flavor pairs perfectly with a cup or coffee, or a tall glass of milk.
Many of us have warm memories of food and family during the holidays. Especially as we grow older and have children of our own. I cannot stress how important it is for the younger generation to take the time to learn these traditions from your elders while you can.
My Aunt Mary didn’t write her recipes down. They were all in her head and unfortunately lost when she passed away. I have spent years experimenting with different recipes trying to chase down the flavors of the past. I have come close with some, but most still elude me. If I had spent more time with her while she was here, I would have not only the memories of learning from her, but also her recipes to carry on.
If there are written family recipes, please, please make sure that you have your own copies. Even if you believe that someone in the family will carry on the tradition, recipes can be lost, damaged, or altered over time.
How to Make Molasses Cookies
This is an old fashioned, New England recipe from Kevin’s side of the family. Kevin’s mother, Rena baked an amazing amount of cookies at Christmastime. Out of all the holiday cookies she made, these soft molasses cookies are his favorite.
This cookie dough is very forgiving. In fact, Rena used her recipe as a rough guideline, and added ingredients until the dough felt right. This version is for a drop cookie, but she often added more flour, rolled out the dough, cut it into shapes with cookie cutters.
Here are a few tips before your begin:
- Let the Butter Warm Up: Creaming softened, room temperature butter with the sugar and molasses is key to achieving a light and fluffy cookie. Chilled butter is too hard to blend, and melted butter doesn’t hold air and may even dissolve the sugar. Be sure to let your butter and egg warm to room temperature for about an hour before making your cookies.
- Chill the Cookie Dough: After mixing the ingredients, pop the dough into the refrigerator to chill for at least an hour before baking. Chilling hardens the butter slightly, which prevents the cookies from flattening out when baked. Chilling the cookie dough will give you nice round, puffy, cake like cookies.
- Use a Cookie Scoop: A cookie scoop makes it easy to scoop out the same amount of cookie dough, so your cookies bake evenly.
The full detailed recipe can be found at the bottom of this article, but here are the steps to making molasses cookies:
Step 1: Combine the Dry Ingredients
Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and cloves to a medium mixing bowl and whisk to combine. Set aside while you mix your wet ingredients.
Step 2: Beat the Wet Ingredients
In a large mixing bowl, cream the softened butter with molasses and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg, water, and continue mixing until combined.
Step 3: Make the Cookie Dough
Reduce your mixer to low and add the flour mixture to the butter mixture a little at a time. Mix well and scrape the sides of the bowl as needed after each addition. Once everything is combined, cover and chill the cookie dough for at least one hour.
Step 4: Bake the Molasses Cookies
Preheat your oven and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Drop rounded tablespoons of dough 2 inches apart onto the prepared baking sheets. Flatten balls slightly with wet fingertips. Bake until the edges are set, about 8 to 10 minutes.
Cool the cookies on a rack. Let the cookies cool completely, and then store in an airtight storage container for up to a week, or freeze for longer storage. Makes 48 cookies.
Rena’s Soft Molasses Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 cups unbleached all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/2 cup molasses
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1/2 cup cane sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1/4 cup water
Instructions
- Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and cloves to a large mixing bowl and whisk to combine. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, beat butter, molasses, and sugar with electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in egg, add water, and mix until well blended.
- Add the flour mixture a little at a time, and mix until well blended. Cover and chill for at least one hour.
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- Drop rounded tablespoons of dough 2 inches apart onto the prepared baking sheets. Flatten balls slightly with wet fingertips. Bake 8-10 minutes or until set. Cool cookies on cooling rack. Makes 48 cookies.
Nutrition
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Tammi says
I recently made a variety of whoopie pie flavors for an Independent Living Retirement Community and used this recipe as one of the flavors. It was wonderful. I added a bit of pumpkin pie spice to the creme filling and sandwiched two cookies together. They were a big hit!
©Rachel Arsenault says
Tammi, That sounds delicious!
Catherine says
Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe! It brings happy memories from my childhood! I substituted butter with Greek yogurt and had great results!
©Rachel Arsenault says
Catherine, I am so happy you enjoyed this recipe. Nice trick subbing yogurt for butter. Thanks for letting me know.
Jordan says
Hi Rachel, my father and I have been attempting to make these cookies because they look just like how his mother use to make them, but once we get them in the oven for the 10 minutes, we notice that the center is undercooked, we don’t want to over cook and burn them, any advice?
©Rachel Arsenault says
Jordan, I am sorry you are having problems with the recipe. This is a recipe that is used frequently in our household, so it has been tested extensively. There are several things that can cause the centers to be undercooked, including the temperature of your oven, the size of the cookie, and even the thermal properties of your baking sheet. Are you pre-heating your oven before baking the cookies? Are your cookies larger than a tablespoon? You may need to reduce the temperature of your oven to 350°F and cook them 3-5 minutes longer. This will give more time for the centers to cook.
Megan Stevens says
These remind me of my husband’s Grandma Martha’s molasses cookies!! But hers are made with Crisco! 😉 Ha, love the butter in yours and that same soft texture and nostalgia of old recipes. So sweet.
ChihYu says
I love soft and moist cookies. These will be perfect for the holiday season!
Suzanne says
This is almost the same recipe my grandmother used to make except she alternated the water and dry ingredients. And she topped them with buttercream frosting. They’re delicious!!
Mindimoo says
Hi, thank you for the recipe, it looks great. Can you tell me if this freezes well? I would like to make them a few weeks in advance.
©Rachel Arsenault says
Yes, they do freeze well. In fact, Rena would make batches ahead of time then pull out the cookies for gifting and serving around the holidays.
Mindimoo says
Thank you Rachel, that’s very helpful. I’m always on the lookout for cookies that freeze well because time is limited around holidays and celebrations. BTW, one of my best friends in high school was called Rena! 🙂
Christine says
Rachel, I’m making the cookies and in the list of ingredients it lists ‘1 egg’ but in the directions it states, ‘beat in eggs’ – plural. Which is it please?
©Rachel Arsenault says
1 egg. Thanks for letting me know about the typo.