Does anyone have a favorite chewy molasses cookie recipe? I specify chewy as opposed to cake-like or crunchy like a ginger snap. The two recipes I have both make cake-like cookies and I want something chewy.
Here’s one from one of my cousins-in-law. Within a year after first trying them, they were an instant classic in my extended family.
Carolyn’s Ginger Cookies
Combine: 2 1/4 cups flour
2 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
Beat for 30 seconds:
3/4 cup butter
Then beat in:
1 cup sugar
Then add and beat well:
1 egg
1/4 cup molasses (Brer Rabbit, not Karo)
Stir flour mixture into the beaten mixture. Shape dough into 1 1/2 inch balls. Roll balls in sugar to coat. Chill if dough too soft to handle. Space 2 1/2 in. apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake in 350 degree oven 10 minutes until light brown and still puffed. Do not overbake! Cool 2 minutes on sheet and then transfer to rack.
omg chewy molasses cookies <3 <3
I am so making these 
Well, first you catch two dozen moles…
The Cook’s Illustrated Molasses Cookie Recipe is amazing. I’ve never made a batch where people weren’t giddy over them.
My mother had a favorite cookie recipe she would use to make the gingerbread men at Christmastime. It may have originally been a Karo recipe, but she made it with sorghum. Oh, that woman loved sorghum! She’d go on and on and ON about it, and the first time I tasted it, I thought, “Huh? ICK!”
I believe the sorghum gave the cookies a chewy texture. Unfortunately, I do not have access to Momma’s recipes where I’m at now. I do recall that the cookies were called “Waxies.”
Ima gonna Google…
~VOW
Is that really ground ginger (not powdered)?
Here’s the recipe for my wife’s internationally-famous Carnahan Ginger Drops. They are incredibly good; I’ve been known to request them instead of cake for my birthday.
3/4 cup margarine (for this recipe, it works better than butter)
3/4 cup shortening
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup light molasses
3 1/4 cups flour
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. cloves
2 tbsp. ginger
Beat margarine, shortening, sugar and eggs until light and fluffy. Add molasses. Add flour sifted with baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and ginger. Drop by teaspoonfuls on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 8-10 mins. at 375 degrees. Makes about 7 doz. cookies.
Enjoy!
This is going to sound weird, but google “labor cookies.” It’s supposedly a recipe that has caused pregnant women to go into labor. It’s delicious.
Thanks for the replies so far! I’m excited to try these different recipes.
I am sad to announce that I don’t have a chewy molasses cookie recipe to share with you, but can you share with us the cake-like recipe(s)? My great aunt Mabel made the most fabulous cake-y molasses cookies with black walnuts. I’d love to try to recreate those if I can.
From the Joy of Cooking (the better of the two cake-like recipes)
Here you go:
Preheat oven to 350
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup molasses
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 1/2 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp cloves
1/4 salt
Cream butter and sugar until smooth, add egg and molasses. Beat until smooth. In a separate bowl combine all dry ingredients.
Add dry ingredients 1/3 at a time, alternating with the buttermilk. Beat until smooth. The batter will be like cake batter. They have the option to add 1/2 chopped raisins at the point. I did not.
Drop from spoon onto cookie sheet. Bake 8-12 mins. Mine were perfectly done at 9 mins.
My Mom’s Molasses Cookies
Cream together:
1.5 cups shortening
2 cups granulated sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup molasses
Add:
4 cups sifted flour
4 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp cloves
1 tsp salt
Roll the dough into balls a little smaller than a walnut, roll the balls in sugar
Bake on a greased cookie sheet at 375 for 7-8 minutes
Yields about 7 dozen cookies
If that’s to the recipe I posted, I’m not sure: I’ve never actually made them myself. I can say that they’re really not very gingery at all, and I think the only reason there’s any ginger in them is to provide an excuse for not calling them molasses cookies.
That’s the recipe I use, too. I take them to my neighbors all the time. Once I took them some other kind of cookie and they said (humorously) they only want the molasses cookies.
Thanks for typing that up!
My family/friends can’t decide between the molasses cookies and these Crispy Salted Oatmeal cookies as their favorite. The oatmeal cookies are fantastic - even if you’re someone who doesn’t like oatmeal cookies, you might like these. They’re not at all like the typically gooey raisin-filled oatmeal cookies (which I like as well, but some people don’t).