Julie Clark
Updated:
Molasses Christmas Cookies
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Christmas = Gingerbread. You need these soft gingerbread molasses Christmas cookies on your baking list.
This egg free cookie recipe is soft, chewy, and full of buttermilk and molasses flavor, with a sugary coating for extra sweetness. The ginger cookies are quick to make without refrigeration, and the big-batch recipe is easy to halve.
The molasses Christmas cookies that will hurry Santa down the chimney.
From what I remember, I didn’t grow up eating gingerbread. But about 7 years ago, I tried it. And it was amazing. And now I can’t get enough of it during the Christmas season.
These Soft Baked Gingerbread Cookies (AKA Molasses Christmas Cookies) are ones that my sister makes for Christmas every year (along with grandma’s sugar cookies). And to be honest, with all the chocolate chip cookies, buckeye candies, snowballs and soda cracker candy sitting around, I never was that big on eating these molasses cookies.
I should have just stayed away, because ever since I tried the gingerbread flavor, I’m hooked. If you love gingerbread as much as I do, try our gingerbread cheesecake, ginger spice pancakes, gingerbread loaf and gingerbread cake.
But first, start with these molasses Christmas cookies. They will make your house smell just like Christmas morning!
Enjoy! -Julie
What is gingerbread spice made of?
Ground ginger is the main spice that gives this molasses cookie recipe its amazing flavor. But don’t forget the cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg, too. I highly recommend freshly grated nutmeg. It will really boost the flavor of these cookies and you can use it in our apple pie recipe too. You can buy nutmeg nuts in the grocery store or on Amazon.
Soft Molasses Christmas Cookies
Molasses Christmas Cookies have the taste of gingerbread cookies, but are soft and thick. Roll the dough balls in sugar for the perfect sweetness!
Servings 60
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 8 minutes
Total Time 23 minutes
Ingredients
- 1 cup shortening or room temperature butter*
- 1 cup brown sugar packed
- 1 cup molasses
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 5 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 4 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 teaspoons salt
- 1/2 cup extra granulated sugar for rolling dough
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
- In a large bowl (or a stand mixer bowl with the paddle attachment), cream together the shortening, brown sugar, molasses and buttermilk. The mixture will look curdled, but don't worry…it will all come together with the dry ingredients. 1 cup shortening, 1 cup brown sugar, 1 cup molasses, 1 cup buttermilk
- In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and salt. 5 ½ cups all-purpose flour, 4 teaspoons baking soda, 1 teaspoon ground ginger, ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg, ¼ teaspoon ground cloves, 1 teaspoons salt
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix well. The dough will be very soft and slightly sticky, but you should be able to roll
- Use a cookie scoop to spoon out the dough and roll into balls. Then roll the balls in sugar.
- Place the cookie dough balls on an ungreased cookie sheet about 2" apart. Bake in the preheated oven for 8-10 minutes. Don't over bake the cookies. We remove them before they get browned.
- Allow the cookies to cool on the pan for 3-5 minutes before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
- If you choose to use butter, it should be at room temperature, not at all melted. And I recommend refrigerating the cookie dough for 30 minutes after you roll the balls if you use butter.
- Storage: Store in an airtight container at room temperature.
- This recipe makes a large batch, about 4-5 dozen depending on how big you make the cookies, but they freeze well. Allow the cookies to defrost completely before you unwrap them from the storage container. Learn how to freeze cookies.
Nutrition
Calories: 111kcal | Carbohydrates: 18g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 4g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 0.4g | Cholesterol: 0.4mg | Sodium: 119mg | Potassium: 105mg | Fiber: 0.3g | Sugar: 10g | Vitamin A: 7IU | Vitamin C: 0.001mg | Calcium: 21mg | Iron: 1mg
How to Make Molasses Christmas Cookies: Step by Step
Molasses Christmas cookies are one of the easiest cookies to make. The dough comes together quickly and easily and there is no need to refrigerate. You can scoop the soft dough and roll them in sugar, place them on a baking sheet and bake. Easier than cut out gingerbread cookies!
Mix wet ingredients. In a large bowl using a hand mixer, mix together the shortening, brown sugar, molasses and buttermilk. The mixture will look curdled, but don’t worry…it will all come together with the dry ingredients.
Mix dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the creamed sugar mixture and mix well. The dough will be very soft and slightly sticky, but you should be able to roll them without too much sticking.
Roll cookie dough balls. Roll the dough into balls and then roll the balls in sugar.
Bake the cookies. Place the cookie dough balls on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes. If you want the cookies to be soft, don’t over bake the molasses Christmas cookies.
I am trying out for a fall cookie contest and I am looking for the perfect cookie that is great in taste, texture, and appearance and I think I found the one!
What if you don’t have buttermilk or powdered buttermilk? Uh oh!
I made coconut lime buttercream to sandwich them—Whoopie!!
These are amazing.. I can’t find another word better to describe them. My mom and I always back lot of different Christmas cookies and we make trays and always have left overs for us. Well needless to say these we’re the main cookies to go. And what was left over my husband and father ate so im making more tomorrow. I was thinking of cutting the batch in half but since my mom didnt get to eat but only 2 cookies I’m not cutying in half I’m giving half to them and keeping the other half for my husband and… Read more »
You didn’t specify if you used dark or light brown sugar. I have always used light but since a ginger/molasses cookie, I wonder if you used dark brown instead.
I was craving the soft kind of ginger cookie. I made it this evening and they turned out amazing the buttermilk makes them so soft. I made them larger, I plan to cut them in half and fill them with coconut buttercream frosting It will be divine ginger coconut sandwich cookie:)
Could you use this recipe for gingerbread men?
Can i sub cream cheese Gor the shortening?
I love to make gingerbread molasses cookies, but they crack open on me every time. I have tried wetting the dough more and have tried increasing the molasses but to no avail. I shop at a local grocery super store that has a scratch bakery and their gingerbread molasses cookies don’t have cracks in them. How do I get the cracks from happening?
Is there an egg in this recipe?
How long can you keep these please? I’m thinking of making some for gifts for Christmas which is about a week away.
These are sooo good. It’s hard to resist them after baking too as the house smells wonderful. I stored mine in an airtight container and they remained soft.
For the soft baked gingerbread cookies, can you replace shortening with butter? Shortening is so unhealthy I don’t want to use it, but I have a feeling that butter will make them hard. What do you think?
Thanks!