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These soft and chewy molasses crinkle cookies get their deep, dark flavor from dark brown sugar, a full half cup of molasses, and a blend of cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and cardamom. Using just an egg yolk keeps the centers soft, and a roll in coarse sugar gives molasses crinkles that crackled, sparkly top. It’s a forgiving recipe even for a beginner, and the cookies bake in just 9 minutes.
Pull Them Out While the Centers Are Still Soft
Plenty of molasses cookie recipes call for baking until the edges look firm. This one is different. If you wait for firm edges here, you’ll end up with a hard cookie instead of a chewy one, so pull them out after 8 to 9 minutes while the centers still look soft and let them finish setting on the wire rack.
Beating the butter with both sugars for 3 to 5 minutes until light and fluffy gives the dough some body, and a 2 tablespoon scoop keeps every cookie the same size so the whole pan bakes evenly. They’re a cookie worth keeping in your rotation from fall straight through the holidays.
A Betty Crocker Cookie, Reworked with Butter
I grew up making molasses crinkles from my mom’s old Betty Crocker cookbook, and they were the cookie I associated with the holidays. Most of those old recipes use shortening, which makes a soft cookie but flattens the flavor. I wanted the cookie I remembered with real butter carrying the molasses and spices. The butter version has more depth, browns a little better at the edges, and still bakes up chewy in the middle. I did something similar with the Crisco snickerdoodles I grew up on, which became these soft and chewy brown butter snickerdoodle cookies.
Cardamom Is the Change Nobody Expects
Most molasses cookies lean on allspice, and I think it makes them too sharp. Cardamom in its place gives you a warmer, rounder spice that lets the ginger and cinnamon come forward without competing. The cloves stay, so you still get that deep spice cookie flavor, just without the edge. If you’ve made molasses cookies before and found them a little aggressive, this is the swap that fixes it.
Why the Sugar Coating Is Not Optional
Rolling the dough balls in coarse sugar (also sold as sprinkling sugar) does two things. It gives the cookies their crackly, crinkled top, and it adds a real crunch against the chewy center. I’ve tried turbinado and demerara, and both work, but I keep coming back to coarse sugar because the larger crystals stand out and give the best crunch. If you like a coarse sugar finish on a holiday cookie, orange rosemary shortbread cookies rolled in Demerara sugar get a similar crunchy coating.
What I’d Tell You Before You Start
- Use butter that’s at room temperature, meaning soft enough to press a finger into but still holding its shape. Cold butter won’t cream into the sugar, and melty butter will spread the cookies thin.
- Stop mixing as soon as the flour disappears into the dough. Beating it longer makes the cookies tougher.
- Unlike chewy lemon crinkle cookies rolled in powdered sugar, you don’t need to chill this dough. Scoop, roll in the coarse sugar, and bake right away.
A Spice Drawer and a Jar of Molasses
The exact amounts are in the recipe card below.
- Molasses: I use blackstrap molasses, which is less sweet and has a stronger flavor. For a milder cookie, use regular molasses instead.
- Cardamom: If you can only find whole pods, grind the seeds fresh. Pre-ground cardamom works fine here, though.
- Dark brown sugar: The extra molasses in dark brown sugar deepens the flavor. Light brown sugar will work, but the cookies won’t be quite as rich.
- Sprinkling sugar: The coarse coating that gives these their crackly top and crunch.
How to Make Molasses Crinkle Cookies
Step One: Whisk the Dry Ingredients
Step Two: Cream the Butter and Sugars
Give this the full time. Properly creamed butter and sugar is what gives the cookies their texture. Cutting it short leaves them dense.
Step Three: Add the Egg Yolk, Vanilla, and Molasses
Step Four: Add the Flour
Step Five: Scoop and Coat
Coat them fully. A generous, even coating is what gives you the crackly top and the crunch. Don’t go light here. Here is the brand I use for large sugar crystals.
Step Six: Bake
These are the cookies I make when I want the house to smell like the holidays, and they disappear about as fast as I can get them off the cooling rack. If you’re putting together a cookie tray and need ideas, you’ll find plenty in my cookie and bar recipes.
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Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- ½ teaspoon ground cardamom
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 12 tablespoons unsalted butter room temp
- ⅓ cup dark brown sugar
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ½ cup molasses
- ½ cup coarse sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375º. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, cardamom and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine butter, white sugar and brown sugar and beat on medium-high until light and fluffy, 3-5 minutes. Scrape the sides of the bowl and add the egg yolk and vanilla and beat to combine. Add the molasses and beat until completely incorporated.
- Turn the speed to low and add the flour, mixing just until incorporated.
- Use a 2 tablespoon scoop and roll the dough into balls. Place the coarse sugar in a bowl and roll the balls until they are completely coated and place on the prepared cookie sheet. Bake for 8-9 minutes. The center should still be soft. Cool on a wire rack.
Notes
- This dough needs no chilling, so scoop, roll in the coarse sugar, and bake right away.
- Pull the cookies at 8 to 9 minutes while the centers still look soft, because they finish setting as they cool.
- For a milder cookie, use regular molasses instead of blackstrap.
- Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days, or freeze them.
