Soft and Chewy Molasses Cookies

These Soft and Chewy Molasses Cookies are easy to make, seriously-soft and chewy, and perfectly spiced!  Warm spices and deep molasses flavor make these cookies deliciously sweet and oh so addictive! 

These are my absolute favorite to bake around holidays, fabulous when accompanied with a hot beverage!

 What is Molasses? 

Molasses is a thick, dark syrup made during the sugar-making process.  

First, Sugar cane or sugar beets are crushed and the juices are extracted. The juice is then boiled down so that it forms sugar crystals. Molasses is the thick, brown syrup left after the sugar crystals has been removed from the juice. This process is repeated several times, and each time a different type of molasses is produced.

Molasses can also be made from products other than sugar cane and sugar beets. Pomegranate, sorghum, carob and dates are all used to produce molasses, especially for Middle Eastern cuisine. 

Molasses is an excellent vitamins, minerals and trace elements naturally present in the sugar cane plant and is a good source of iron, vitamin B6, potassium, calcium and magnesium. 

Sulphured vs. Unsulphured Molasses 

Most molasses is labeled as– Sulphured or Unsulphured.

Sulphur dioxide is sometimes added to molasses as a preservative because molasses will ferment over the time.  However, the addition of Sulphur dioxide does change the taste of the molasses making it less sweet with a strong chemical flavor.

The Unsulphured molasses is most common variety available in stores these days for commercial use due to its robust, sweet and original molasses taste.  It has the best flavor, is made from sun-ripened cane which has grown 12-15 months. 

Different Types of Molasses 

Light Molasses – It comes from the first boiling of the sugar syrup and one of the most commonly available molasses. It is the lightest in color and mildest in flavor and color.  

It is also known as First molasses, Original molasses, Regular molasses, Mild molasses, Sweet molasses or Barbados molasses.  It is mostly used in baking for softer cookies and crustier breads.  In cooking it is often used in making sauces, dressings and marinades. When a recipe calls for any type of molasses – you can use Light molasses for sure!

Dark Molasses – This molasses comes from the second boiling of the sugarcane juice, it is darker, thicker and less sweet than the light or regular molasses. It has a very strong dominating flavor compared to light molasses so be careful while using it for a recipe.

It is also known with other names like Full Flavor molasses, Robust molasses, Second molasses. This is often used in gingerbread cookies.

Blackstrap Molasses – Blackstrap is made from the third and final boiling of the molasses. It is considered the healthiest (richer in minerals) of all molasses since it retains the most vitamins and minerals. It is the thickest in consistency and darkest in color, also has least sweet in flavor with slight hint of bitterness

This is also often used in various savory dishes, use it when a recipe specifically calls for it. 

Fancy molasses– This type of molasses tastes very sweet and therefore, commonly used as a topping for pancakes etc. Fancy molasses is condensed from the pure juice of the sugar cane so it’s the lightest and sweetest of the different types of molasses.

Cooking molasses – It is a blend of fancy molasses and blackstrap molasses. When used in recipes, it results in baked goods that are less sweet but with more molasses flavoring than just using fancy molasses.

The use of Cooking Molasses results in a darker, less sweet baked product and is often used in ginger snap cookies.

Which Molasses Do I Use? 

I use the Wholesome brand Organic Unsulphured molasses. I also buy and use Brer Rabbit brand as well.

What Ingredients you need for Molasses Cookies? 

All-purpose flour – I always use unbleached all-purpose flour for all my recipes but feel free to use regular bleached flour if you don’t have the unbleached kind.

Baking powder – helps produce a light, fine cookie texture.

Baking soda – helps the cookies rise and produce that chewy cookie texture.

Dried spices – I like to use dried ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg for this recipe.  I do not add dried clove powder unlike what most recipes call for, for me personally it gets very over powering.  But feel free to add ¼ tsp of cloves if you prefer

These cookies definitely have strong ginger flavor, cut down to half the amount mentioned in the recipe card for mildly spiced cookies. 

Salt – I use Himalayan salt, substitute with any other finer grain salt.

Butter – Use unsalted butter, vegan or regular as preferred. If you are using salted butter then do not add the salt.

Molasses – I like to use Wholesome brand Organic Unsulphured molasses for these cookies but any other full flavor molasses will work too.

Milk – I use oat milk, but any other plant-based milk will work.  You could also use regular dairy milk as well.

Sugar – This recipe calls for coconut sugar, it enhances the molasses flavor but light brown sugar works just fine as well.

I also roll the cookie dough balls in to the same coconut sugar to get that light crush on the exterior of the cookies but you could also sub it for some granulated sugar or light brown sugar if you wish.

Vanilla extract – I like to double up the vanilla flavor to compliment the spices, 2 teaspoons to be exact!

Helpful Tips 

Under-baking the cooking a little results in soft and chewy cookies, let it cool on the baking sheet itself, that will help to cook the cookies through without over baking them in the oven!

Consistency of molasses vary from brand to brand which may result in wet dough mixture or too hard. If it’s too wet refrigerate for another half an hour.  If it is too hard then add 1 or 2 tablespoons of milk, you could also form dough balls and flatten it between your palms to help it spread while baking.

Make sure to use Dark Molasses for this recipe, light molasses could work too if you do not have the dark but it will not be as flavorful as the dark molasses.

Make sure to keep the cookie dough balls the same size so they finish baking evenly and at the same time.  Using a cookie scoop helps.

You can also add ¼ tsp of clove powder if you prefer.  I do not since it is very overpowering for my taste buds.

Do not overbake these cookies, mine takes exactly 12 minutes, bake this for 10-13 minutes depending upon your oven.  The cookies should appear slightly wet and soft when you remove it from the oven.

Let it cool on a baking rack completely before storing in a container.

How to Store

1. Molasses cookies should be stored in an airtight container, at room temperature up to 5 days.
2. Freeze up to 3 months.