I Can’t Stop Baking These Super-Soft Molasses Cookies (They’re Sparkly!)

I welcome fall and winter baking with open arms — especially if there’s maple syrup involved. But there’s another sweetener hiding in your pantry that I love just as much for baking: molasses. Made from the same process that’s used to make maple syrup (sugar is basically boiled down into a syrup), molasses has really deep flavors that add so much depth to whatever it’s added to. It’s also the key flavor in molasses cookies, one of my favorite classic cookies.

Molasses cookies are a celebration of molasses and warm spices, and they’re beautifully crackly on top and sparkly all over, thanks to a coating of sugar before baking and a firm bang of the baking sheets to help deflate the cookies and get even more crackles post-baking. The texture of these cookies is what makes them stand out: chewy in the middle and a tad crisp on the outside, with a nice crunch from the sugar coating.

• Smells like fall and the holidays. These cookies are chock-full of warm, winter-y spices like cinnamon and nutmeg. Your kitchen will smell amazing as these cookies bake. Our tester’s son even said, “We should make them for Santa!”
• So many fun textures. The cookies are soft and chewy in the center, a little bit crisp on the edges, and have some added crunch if you use a coarse or sanding sugar on the outside.

• Molasses: Made from sugar cane or sugar beet juice that’s boiled down until syrupy, molasses has very deep, almost smoky flavors. Light, dark, full, and unsulphured molasses can all be used here — but skip blackstrap, as it has bitter flavors.
• Sugars: You’ll need a combination of granulated sugar and dark brown sugar for the cookie dough. You’ll also need sugar to coat the cookie dough balls: granulated, sanding, or coarse sugar all work well.
• Warm spices: Ground cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves all work together to warmly spice the dough. For the best flavor, don’t use old spices; this is an opportunity to stock the spice cabinet with new spices so you’re set for the holiday baking season.

1. Make the dough. Beat butter, sugar, and salt together until light and fluffy. Beat in an egg, molasses, and vanilla, then beat in flour, baking soda, and spices until a sticky dough forms.
2. Chill the dough. Refrigerate the dough until firm enough to scoop.
3. Scoop and coat the dough balls. Scoop out 2-tablespoon portions of dough and roll them between damp hands into smooth balls. Coat in granulated or coarse sugar.
4. Bake and cool. Bake until the cookies start to crack on top. Bang the baking sheets against the counter so they deflate and crack more. Let cool for a few minutes before transferring to a rack and cooling completely. 

• Use a light molasses if you want the flavors of the spices to be more dominant, or use a darker molasses if you want deeper, more caramel flavors in the cookie dough.
• Pumpkin pie spice (3 3/4 teaspoons) can be used in place of the cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves.
• Granulated sugar will make a subtle sparkly coating on the cookies. For more sparkle and a crunchy texture, coat the dough balls in sanding or coarse sugar instead. 

• The cookie dough balls can be formed, rolled in the sugar, and frozen solid on a baking sheet. Transfer to a zip-top bag and freeze for up to 2 months. Bake the cookies from frozen, adding 1 to 2 minutes to the bake time.
• The cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days.

My son said, “These are the best cookies you’ve ever made! We should make them for Santa.” Really nice texture: chewy on the inside and kinda crisp on the outside with that nice crunch from the coarse sugar. The cookies that finished on the bottom third of the oven had more of a crackle texture than the other pan, but both looked nice. They are uniform and bake evenly. The flavor of molasses and baking spices really comes through and are well-balanced. —Patty, September 2025