If you love a balanced mixture of spices, melt in your mouth cookie, you need these chewy ginger molasses cookies. Make the dough with a hand mixer, measure out into balls, roll them in a little sugar ginger mixture and bake.
No need to refrigerate the dough prior and they bake in under 12 minutes. Make a batch of these chewy spice cookies so you can eat them and then bake some more!
I suggest eating them plain, serving with a scoop of ice cream, and my favorite way is to dip them in my morning coffee.
What makes a cookie chewy?
A chewy cookie’s structure is somewhat bendable and tearable. Below are some factors and adjustments to consider when making a chewy cookie recipe.
- Chewy cookies utilizes more brown sugar than granulated sugar.
- Adding more egg yolk in comparison to egg whites in a dough can result in extra chewiness. Egg whites tend to dry out when baked, so try replacing the whole egg for two egg yolks. I used a single whole egg to help maintain the shape and prevent over spreading.
- More baking soda and less baking powder.
- I’ve added molasses to this recipe which also results in extra chewiness.
- Swapping out some of the butter for shortening or in this case I have used creamy peanut butter. Butter adds flavor, however it can also evaporate in the oven. Shortening and butter can be swapped evenly. Just make sure for this recipe you use only 2 tablespoons of a no-stir creamy peanut butter.
- Under baking a cookie is also something I recommend for a chewy cookie. Don’t wait until the cookies look firm and crisp in the oven. Pull the tray out while they’re still slightly puffy and just golden on the edges.
- Move the cookies directly onto a cooling rack just 1-2 minutes after pulling removing from the oven. I use a large flat metal spatula to lift each warm soft cookie from the tray directly onto a wire rack to completely cool. This prevents over baking on the hot tray.
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Unsulphered molasses is key to the subtle molasses flavor and chew texture of these spice cookies.
- Dark brown sugar has more molasses than light brown sugar, so obviously extra is better!
- Granulated sugar for maintaining the cookies shape and for rolling the dough balls in a ginger sugar coating.
- Spice mixture of ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and allspice. Yes, all are needed for the best spicy cookie profile.
- Creamy peanut butter for added taste and chewy texture.
Tips for Baking Spice Cookies
Try some of these tips for ginger molasses cookies to ensure a consistent outcome.
- Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or you use a silicone baking mat.
- Weigh your flour and measure each ingredient accurately.
- Butter should be at room temperature, but not so soft it starts to melt.
- Choose a no-stir creamy peanut butter.
- I use a medium cookie scooop that measures about 3 tablespoons. This batter is a but thick, so I measure with the cookie scoop and then scrape it out with a tiny rubber spatula.
- Gently roll the measured dough in your hand for a roughly shaped ball. It is sticky so be gentle.
- Roll the cookie dough balls in the ginger sugar mixture before baking.
- Space the cookies 2-3 inches apart on the baking tray. They will spread quite a bit when baking.
- Remove pan from the oven when they start to looking slightly more golden on the edges. The centers will look puffed and under baked.
- When you pull the cookie tray from the oven set it on a wire rack and tap gently down to help the cookies deflate. They will also do this on their own as they cool.
- After just 1-2 minutes on the hot pan, carefully transfer each warm cookie directly onto a wire rack with a spatula to completely cool.
- I also sprinkle these warm cookies with a little extra ginger sugar.
- Not over baking the cookies is key to maintaining a chewy outcome and avoiding a hard crispy texture.
How to Store Chewy Ginger Molasses Cookies
Once your molasses cookie are completely cool you can transfer them to an air tight container. They will stay fresh for a week at room temperature.
To freeze the cookies, wrap them in plastic wrap and store in a freezer safe air tight container for up tp 3 months.
Ingredients
- 2 ⅔ cups (333 grams) all purpose flour
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon ground all spice
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ¾ cup (165 grams) dark brown sugar packed
- ¾ cup (150 grams) granulated sugar
- 14 tablespoons ( 1 ¾ sticks or 198 grams) unsalted butter softened at room temperature
- 2 tablespoons (32 grams) creamy peanut butter
- 1 large egg
- ¼ cup (85 grams) unsulphered molasses
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Ginger Sugar Coating
- ½ cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoong ground ginger
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F (180 C) and line a large rimmed cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- Make the ginger sugar coating by stirring the ingredients together with a fork or whisk in a small bowl. Set aside.
- Combine the flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, all spice, and salt in a medium sized bowl and whisk together. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine the dark brown sugar, granulated sugar, peanut butter and unsalted butter. Mix with a hand mixer on medium speed 2-3 minutes until creamy.
- Add the egg, molasses, and vanilla mixing to combine.
- Spoon ½ of the flour mixture onto the molasses mixture. Mix again to incorporate and repeat with the remaining half of the flour mixture to form a thick cookie dough.
- Using a medium cookie scoop, measure out 3 tablespoon sized balls of cookie dough.
- Gently form the cookie dough into loose balls with your palms and roll them one at a time in the ginger sugar coating.
- Place cookie dough balls 2-3 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet.
- Bake cookies on the middle rack of the oven for 12-14 minutes or until just the edges are starting to brown. The cookies will look puffed and under done in the center.
- Remove the tray from the oven and place on a cooling rack for 1-2 minutes.
- Option to sprinkle additional ginger sugar on top of warm cookies.
- Carefully transfer hot cookies from the pan directly onto the wire cooling rack with a large flat metal or rubber spatula. The cookies will deflate and slightly firm into a chewy texture as they cool.
- Repeat with remaining cookie dough.
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