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Delicious Chewy Ginger Molasses Cookies

These cookies pretty much taste like Christmas in your mouth. They are honestly one of my favourite cookies. I am a girl that LOVES Christmas and I don’t mean on the same level that normal people love Christmas. I mean in the way that I bought my house because it had the bottom of the stairs facing the front door. This was important as it meant I could have a beautiful Christmas garland down the banister that would be seen when anyone walks in the front door. This is my level of Christmas loving, lol. For me, it’s a time for family and coziness and there is a little magical quality about it that I love, like a LOT! Other normal people love these cookies too so it‘s not just me.

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Actually, for me, I think I may just love ginger overall now that I think about it. My favourite drink in a Moscow Mule and I’m even going to try my hand at making some lactose fermented ginger beer that I plan on using to make my own mule from scratch. I am even growing ginger right now in my sewing room. If you’re making a WTF face right now let me explain. The ginger WAS growing outside in a pot like normal ginger. Here is a picture to prove it. I was really hoping it would have one of the beautiful ginger flowers I had heard about but woe is me I got not a single one this year.

Ginger plant in pot

But it’s already getting cool here in Canada and ginger has a long growing season. I can’t just leave it anywhere in the house because my cats eat ANYTHING green. I don’t know if it’s just a Sphynx thing because other cats seem to eat fewer plants than my guys do. If you’re curious about Sphynx cats I answer all your questions in this post, plus you get to see pictures of my wee beasties. Anyway, due to them eating all the plants I had to hide it away from them and they don’t go in my sewing room, thus the ginger ended up in there. See it kind of makes sense when I explain it like that.

Copper and wood measuring  cups and spoons

I’m so in love with my copper and wood measuring cups, so you can imagine my joy when I discovered the matching copper and wood measuring spoons. Any old set will do, I just love these cause they are so damn pretty and I’m currently in a copper/rose gold and wood phase of my life. My goal is to get the copper Kitchen Aid mixer, ***swoon***, but I’m still saving my pennies. Talking about measuring spoons my mum recently gave me the ones I grew up with. I’m seriously stoked about having them and I’m thinking of mounting them in a shadow box to hang in the kitchen.

Old measuring spoons

Now its time to get down to some serious cookie making! Go ahead and set your oven to 350F, fish two cookie sheets out of that dangerous cookie sheet/baking supplies cupboard and cover them in parchment paper. If you don’t have parchment paper then you can definitely use aluminum foil. That was my go-to until a friend turned me onto the miracle that is parchment paper and now I’m hooked. Anyway, once they are both lined set them aside for now.

Cookie sheet cupboard

Grab a medium-sized bowl and add in all the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, allspice and (preferably) freshly ground pepper. Then give them all a good mix with a whisk.

Dry ingredients

You are going to need another bowl, this one should be a bigger one as all the dough is going to end up in this one. Start with the room temperature butter and then add in the brown sugar and the granulated sugar (excluding the stuff you set aside in another little bowl). If your butter is not at room temperature then you have three choices.

  1. Leave it all in the bowl and go binge watch some Netflix until it is soft.
  2. Play the microwave roulette and either end up with perfectly softened butter or liquid gold.
  3. Trust your mixer can handle the firm butter and press on ahead

Once you have decided on your course of action, grab your electric mixer and beat all the ingredients until they are light and fluffy. Until I save up my pennies for the Copper Kitchen Aid mixer I will keep using my adorable retro looking ice blue Kitchen Aid hand mixer. I really hate when recipes say “light and fluffy” because truly what the heck does that look like? I picture mounds of fulffy egg whites and we ain’t getting anywhere near that. So anyway I have included a picture to define my version of light and fluffy. If yours looks anything close to this then you are good to go, if not beat it a bit longer.

Ginger molasses cookies

Add the egg and molasses into the wet ingredients and mix it into the sugar and butter. Fun fact, when I was a kid my mum used to get me to eat a spoonful of molasses because I was anemic and blackstrap molasses has a high iron content. About 5 tablespoons of molasses contains close to 95% of your daily iron requirements. So what I’m saying is technically these cookies are health food, or at least that’s what I tell myself.

Ginger molasses cookies

At this point, you are going to want to turn down the speed on your mixture or risk a disaster. Fast mixers and dry ingredients are a bad combination, trust me… So with the mixer now set on a respectable slow speed. Gradually add the dry ingredients into the wet ones until it is all combined. If it gets too stiff you may need to switch to a wooden spoon.

Cookie batter

When the dough is mixed, go ahead and separate it into two pieces. We are going to roll these into logs that are about 9″ long and 2” across. Then we need to wrap them in plastic wrap and then pop them in the fridge to chill for about 20 minutes, so back to Netflix for a bit.

Cookie dough

Once they are chilled, take the logs from the fridge. Cut each one into little discs, and roll each piece into a 2-inch ball.

Cookie ball on hand

Then we are going to dip the tops of each ball in the sugar that we set aside in a little bowl. Once this is done put them sugar side up on the parchment.

Ginger molasses cookies

***Stop here if you want to freeze them and see below***

Assuming you need cookies now and not later, let’s press ahead. Gently flatten each of the balls into a disc shape and top with any remaining sugar.

Ginger molasses cookies

Now it’s time to pop them into the oven and let them cook for about 10-11 minutes. I like to undercook mine a little so that they are chewy in the center. If you like your cookies crisper then you can let them go for 12-15 minutes. Just keep an eye on them to make sure they don’t burn. Once they are done they should look cracked on top.

Ginger molasses cookies

When they are done, take them out of the oven and leave them for a minute or two on the cookie sheet to cool. Then carefully transfer them to the cooling rack to finish cooling completely.

Ginger molasses cookies

Ginger Molasses Cookies

These cookies pretty much taste like Christmas in your mouth. They are honestly one of my favourite cookies because I really love Christmas.
Prep Time1 hr
Cook Time10 mins
Total Time1 hr 10 mins
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: cookies, ginger, molasses
Servings: 30 Cookies
Calories: 122kcal

Equipment

  • Cookie sheet
  • Mixing bowl
  • Wooden spoon
  • Measuring cups and spoons

Ingredients

  • 12 Tbsp Butter (1 1/2 sticks)
  • ½ Cup Brown sugar (packed)
  • ½ Cup Granulated sugar
  • 6 Tbsp Molasses
  • 1 Egg (Large)
  • 2 ½ Cups All-purpose flour
  • ½ Tsp Salt (you can skip if you are using salted butter)
  • 2 ¼ Tsp Baking soda
  • 1 Tbsp Ginger powder
  • ½ Tsp Allspice
  • ½ Tsp Freshly ground pepper
  • Extra granulated sugar for coating cookie tops

Instructions

  • Remove any random pots and pans from your oven.
  • Set your oven to 350F and cover two baking sheets in parchment paper and set them aside for now.
  • Grab a medium-sized bowl you are going to want to mix all the dry ingredients together. So add in the flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, allspice and (preferably) freshly ground pepper and give it all a good mix with a whisk.
  • In a large bowl, add in the room temperature butter, brown sugar and the granulated sugar (excluding the stuff you set aside in another little bowl).
  • Using an electric mixer beat all the ingredients until they are light and fluffy.
  • Add the egg and molasses into the wet ingredients and mix it into the sugar and butter.
  • Set the mixer on a low speed and gradually add the dry ingredients into the wet ones until it is all combined.
  • If it gets too stiff you may need to switch to a wooden spoon.
  • Once the dough is mixed, separate it into two pieces and roll each one into a log.
  • Wrap them in plastic wrap and then pop them in the fridge to chill for about 20 minutes.
  • Take the logs from the fridge, cut each one into little discs, and roll into 2 inch balls.
  • Dip the tops of each ball in the sugar in the little bowl and set them sugar side up on the parchment. ***Stop here if you want to freeze them and see below***
  • Gently flatten then down and top with any remaining sugar.
  • Pop them into the oven and cook them for about 10-11 minutes.
  • They should look cracked on top.
  • When they are done, leave them for a minute or two on the cookie sheet to cool.
  • Then carefully transfer them to the cooling rack to finish cooling completely.
  • Set them out for Santa with some milk or devour them yourself or share them with your friends.

Notes

If you want to freeze these cookies, just place them on a lined cookie sheet and put them in the freezer until they are frozen (about 30 minutes).  Then you can put them into a freezer bag or if you have a vacuum sealer then you can use that instead.  Just make sure to write the cooking temperature and time onto the bag.
Ginger molasses cookies on wire rack

This recipe makes a lot of cookies, so one thing I started doing after my sister told me about doing it herself in college, is freezing the cookie balls. It’s easy to do and is perfect for when you just want a cookie or two rather than a whole batch.

Frozen cookie balls

When the cookie dough is rolled into balls and the tops of the balls are coated with sugar grab a cookie sheet and line it with parchment paper or aluminum foil. Then lay out the cookie balls with some space between them with the sugared tops facing up. Clear a space in the freezer and then carefully balance the cookie sheet on top of all the other things in your freezer. Once they are frozen through you can pop them into a freezer bag and write the cookie type and cooking instructions on the bag. Or if you are lucky enough to have a food saver vacuum machine, this is the one I have and love then to can pop a line of frozen balls into the bag and seal them.

Vacuum sealed cookie balls

So there you have it, cookies that taste like Christmas. What is your favourite Christmas cookie?

3 Comments

  • Romina
    November 7, 2019 at 9:42 pm

    Oh these look so tasty and cute!

    Reply
  • Nicolette
    November 7, 2019 at 10:15 pm

    These look sooo yummy!! I can’t wait to try them this weekend!

    Reply
  • Heather | The Blessed Mama of 4
    November 7, 2019 at 11:30 pm

    These cookies look so delicious! I love ginger, so I will be trying this recipe very soon.

    Reply

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