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Made with spices, fresh ginger, and chopped dark chocolate, these bakery-style ginger molasses cookies are one of my favorite cookies recipes for fall, winter, or Christmastime. But don’t worry—they’re equally delicious all year long!
What’s Great About This Chocolate Molasses Cookies Recipe?
I enjoy using molasses and black treacle in baked goods, such as sticky toffee pudding, gingerbread loaf cake, gingerbread men, fruit cake, and gingersnaps.
Molasses offers an interesting depth of flavor, with notes of caramel and toffee, plus just the right balance of sweetness and slightly bitter notes. In addition, molasses makes cookies and cakes extra moist, and gives them a deep golden brown color (especially if paired with dark brown sugar, as in this recipe!)
With the combination of brown sugar, ginger, molasses, and spices like cinnamon and nutmeg, these remind me of soft gingerbread, but the addition of dark chocolate makes these almost like molasses chocolate chip cookies. They’re the best ginger molasses cookies for fall or winter.
These soft molasses cookies make an especially nice addition to a Christmas cookie tray. (I like that they’re Christmas-y in flavor, but not overtly “Christmas” cookies like gingerbread men or sand tarts.) However, you can make and enjoy this recipe all year long. I’ve been known to keep a batch in the freezer for whenever a ginger cookie craving strikes.
Ginger Molasses Cookies Tips and Tricks
I’ve used 1 teaspoon of ground ginger, along with a tablespoon of finely minced fresh ginger. These cookies definitely taste like ginger, but not overwhelmingly so. If you’re a hardcore ginger fan, you can increase the amount of ground ginger to two teaspoons.
Don’t skip the chilling steps in this recipe. The initial chill improves both flavor and texture, while chilling the scooped dough balls prior to baking will prevent the cookies from spreading too much in the oven, and help them to retain their round shape.
This recipe includes chunks of chopped dark chocolate, but feel free to substitute dark or semi sweet chocolate chips. You can also use milk chocolate chunks or chips.
As written, this molasses cookies recipe will produce 24 3-inch round cookies. I suggest using a half-sheet rimmed tray, and baking in two batches of 12 cookies each. Do not attempt to fit all 24 on the tray at one time (these cookies will spread!) and don’t put two trays in the oven at once.
For a photo-worthy bake, gently reshape molasses cookies with a round metal cutter, just after baking. Read on to learn how to do this properly.
Creating Perfectly Round Molasses Cookies
For perfectly round (and Instagram-worthy) cookies, I like to reshape my freshly baked cookies with a round metal cutter. Simply place the ring around the cookie and gently nudge or “swirl” into a round shape:
It’s important to do this immediately after removing the tray of cookies from the oven. If you wait even a minute or two, the molasses cookies will start to cool, and they’ll crack or break when you try to reshape them. So work quickly!
If you don’t own a round metal cutter set, it’s absolutely worth purchasing one for your baking toolkit. (I have several sets!) These round cutters work nicely for reshaping cookies, but they’re also great for tracing macaron or piped cookie templates, cutting rolled cookies, making biscuits and shortcakes, and creating fondant cake decorations, among many other things.
Molasses vs. Black Treacle
Depending on where you are in the world, you might have access to molasses but not black treacle, or black treacle but not molasses. Both of these are dark, thick syrups commonly used in baked goods like gingerbread and fruit cake.
Here in the UK I can find molasses, but it’s extremely expensive and requires an Amazon order or visit to a specialty shop, whereas I can buy a tin of treacle from any local supermarket. If you’re in the US, you’ll probably find yourself in the reverse scenario.
Although not exactly the same, molasses (I like the Grandma’s brand) and black treacle (Lyle’s is my go-to) will both work nicely in this cookie recipe. If using molasses, do not use blackstrap.
Make-Ahead and Storage Suggestions
This molasses cookie dough requires at least an hour of chilling time, but if desired, you can make and chill the dough up to 24 hours in advance. Cover the bowl in clingfilm/plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator until ready to bake.
You can also portion the dough with a cookie scoop, transfer to a small tray, and chill the balls up to 24 hours ahead of time. Do not roll the balls in granulated sugar until just before baking. The sugar will attract moisture in the fridge and will make your cookie dough sticky and damp.
Store baked ginger molasses cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to five days. You can also layer the cookies between sheets of parchment and freeze in an airtight container for up to three months.
Other cookie recipes you might enjoy:
Lavender-Lemon Latte Cookies
Parsnip Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting
Peppermint Cookies with Chocolate Ganache
Mint M&M Cookies
Rolo Cookies
And if you do make these, or any of my recipes, don’t forget to tag me @bastecutfold or use the hashtag #bastecutfold on Instagram. I always love to see what you’re making!
Chocolate Molasses Cookies
- Total Time: 2 hours 15 minutes (including chilling time)
- Yield: 24 3-inch round cookies 1x
Description
Ingredients
256 grams all purpose flour (2 cups)
25 grams cocoa powder (1/4 cup)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
170 grams unsalted butter, softened (12 tablespoons or 1 1/2 sticks)
155 grams dark brown sugar (3/4 cup, packed)
55 grams granulated sugar (1/4 cup), plus more for rolling
1 egg
115 grams molasses, or black treacle (1/3 cup)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
10 grams finely minced fresh ginger (1 tablespoon)
115 grams chopped dark chocolate (3/4 cup)
Instructions
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, ground ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and kosher salt. Set aside.
In a separate bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, mix the softened butter on high speed until light and fluffy.
Add the dark brown sugar and granulated sugar and mix on medium-high speed until well combined.
Mix in the egg, molasses, vanilla extract, and fresh ginger.
Add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
With a wooden spoon, stir in the chopped dark chocolate, reserving a few pieces for the tops of the cookies.
Cover bowl with plastic wrap and transfer to the refrigerator to chill, at least one hour.
Preheat oven to 350° F / 176° C. Line a half-sheet rimmed baking tray with parchment. Line a second small tray or plate with parchment, wax paper, or a silicone baking mat.
With a 1 1/2-inch cookie scoop, portion the chilled dough into balls. (You should have about 24 balls total.) Place balls on small prepared tray and transfer to the refrigerator to chill for 15 minutes.
Roll half of the balls in granulated sugar, then transfer to prepared tray. Add reserved chocolate pieces to the tops of the balls.
Bake in preheated oven for 10-12 minutes, or until big and puffy. For perfectly round cookies, quickly reshape with a metal cutter (see notes in the recipe above).
Cool on tray for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining balls of cookie dough.
Store molasses cookies in an airtight container, layered between sheets of parchment, for up to five days.
- Prep Time: 45 minutes
- Chilling Time: 1 hour 15 minutes, divided
- Cook Time: 10-12 minutes
- Category: Biscuits and Cookies
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: Desserts