These Chewy Ginger Molasses Cookies are absolutely the best I’ve ever tasted! Nice and chewy molasses cookie with warm spices and bits of crystallized ginger, a bit of crunch from the Turbinado Sugar streusel, and a uniquely beautiful flavor from rye flour!
When I was a kid, I always wanted to make and decorate a Gingerbread House. Not because I had any architectural dreams or artistic home decorating ideas, but really just because I wanted to eat the gingerbread. So, one winter, our Mom made some gingerbread cookies and let us decorate them. I think because she knew we really cared more about eating the cookies than building the house (these were the days before those DIY kits with all the pieces already made). So she got the gingerbread cutters and made some dough, carefully cut out the gingerbread people and baked them. They were adorable!
We couldn’t wait to eat them. We waited for them to cool, decorated them with frosting and cinnamon candies. It took awhile, because we were a family of 8, so she must’ve made 50 of those ginger people. So when they were finished, and the mess properly cleaned up, I took a long-awaited bite….. So disappointing! They were rock hard, kind of bland, and, well, not what I expected. Perfect for house-building but sadly, not for snacking. So I steadfastly avoided Gingerbread cookies most of my life.
But that’s where these Easy Ginger Molasses cookies come it. They are as close to perfect as a gingerbread cookie can be: soft and chewy, with some crunch from the simple streusel topping, and chew from the bits of crystalized ginger. Their flavor is not overly sweet, but warm with gingerbread spices and molasses. Also they have an unexpected ingredient that adds a certain something special to the cookie. And that ingredient is what drew me in! Rye flour. Not as unexpected as you’d think. It adds some nuttiness, maybe a little “malty” flavor? And totally amps up the chewy texture! Something truly special that compliments all the flavors and textures in this holiday treat.
These soft and chewy ginger molasses cookies are a party of both flavor and texture. And to me, they are perfect as can be. I believe they will be for you, too! And will likely be a permanent fixture in my holiday repertoire.
This recipe is from Bon Apetit, December 2019. I baked these soft and chewy gingerbread cookies exactly as directed, except for substituting Turbinado sugar for Raw sugar. And I only made that substitute because I have had this big bag of Turbinado sugar in my house for awhile. But next time, I’ll use raw sugar for sure because I believe it adds a little extra caramelly flavor. Not that these beauties need anything extra. They’re pretty scrumptious as they are!
As an added bonus, no electric mixer is required, just a whisk and a spoon. Roll the dough balls in your palm and then dredge in the streusel mixture and pop them into the oven. I ended up with a lot of extra streusel, so I’d definitely recommend piling on the streusel as it does melt into the cookie while baking. Because, as we all think know, more is better, more is extra. And we all need a little extra sometimes.
So try these Ginger Molasses Cookies made with rye flour. Let me know if they are your idea of the perfect Ginger Molasses Cookie. Because they are mine. And of others at my table.
I’m curious to know: Have you ever baked with rye flour? What did you make? Because after tasting these Chewy Ginger Rye Cookies, I’m excited to use more of it in my baking!
Enjoy!
These cookies are the star of my Christmas Treat plate this year, and will accompany my Chocolate-Dipped Coconut Macaroons, Ina Garten’s Jam Thumbprint Cookies, my awesome English Toffee with Pecans, and this not-too-sweet Caramelized White Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge.
Other Christmas treats include this White Chocolate Cranberry Loaf and my incomparable Chocolate Coconut Pecan Tart.
Recipe Details ->
These Chewy Ginger Rye Molasses Cookies are easy as can be. Just gather your ingredients, chopping the crystallized ginger tiny, like in my first photo below. Then whisk up the molassses, brown sugar, melted butter in a bowl. Add the yolks, whisk again. These are your wet ingredients.
Next, in a separate bowl whisk the dry ingredients: flour, spices, salt. Then stir in the finely chopped ginger. Fold the dry into the wet ingredients, just until there are no streaks of flour. Let that lovely dough rest for 30 minutes.
While you wait for the dough to thicken up a bit, preheat the oven and make the streusel. Just whisk together the dry ingredients, then take the back of a spoon and mash in the butter until the streusel looks like the photo below.
Then use a 1-oz, 30ml, or 2 T size scoop, (This is the one I use) and scoop balls of Ginger Molasses dough. Roll each in the streusel, place on a baking sheet, 3 inches apart. On a Standard half-sheet pan you should be able to get 8-10 per sheet. Bake until the dough is set around the edges and slightly cracked on top. Let them stay on the warm sheetpan 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Cookies will appear puffy but will deflate a bit upon cooling.
You can store them in an airtight container at room temperature for 3 days, or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Chop the crystallized ginger 
Molasses, brown sugar, butter, yolks 
Fold into the dry ingredients til just mixed 
Streusel 
3” apart on baking sheet 
Out of oven – crackly and golde
Chewy Ginger Molasses Cookies
These Ginger Molasses Cookies are absolutely perfect! Warm spices in an ultra chewy cookie, studded with bits of crystallized ginger. Rye flour adds not only a lovely slightly nutty and a bit malty flavor, but also whole grains to the party. And it amps the chewiness of the cookie. Raw or Turbinado sugar in the streusel glaze adds a nice crunch! Seriously, these are EVERYTHING!
I found this recipe on Bon Apetit. I used Turbinado sugar instead of raw sugar. I think raw sugar would add a bit more caramel flavor, but turbinado was the sugar I had on hand. Be sure to get as much of the streusel as you can attached to the cookie dough, as it adds so much texture!
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 8-10 mins per batch
- Total Time: 55-65 min (includes wait time)
- Yield: 24–26 cookies 1x
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
For the Cookie Dough:
- 1 cup (128g) AP Four
- 1 1/4 t Baking Soda
- 1 1/2 t Ground Cinnamon
- 1/4 t Ground Cloves
- 3/4 c (110g) Rye Flour
- 2 t Ground Ginger
- 1 t Salt
- 1/3 c (50g) crystallized ginger, finely chopped
- 2/3 c Full-flavored (aka “dark”) Molasses
- 1/4 c (50g) Dark Brown Sugar, packed
- 3/4 c Unsalted Butter, melted
- 2 Lg Egg Yolks
For the Streusel:
- 6 T (60g) Rye Flour
- 6 T (90g) Raw Sugar (can sub Turbinado sugar if necessary)
- 1 t Ground Ginger
- 1/4 t Salt
- 2 T Butter, room temperature
Instructions
Make the Cookie Dough
- In a Medium Bowl, whisk together the AP flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, rye flour, ginger and salt. Stir in the finely chopped ginger until evenly incorporated.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together Molasses, brown sugar and melted butter, until nicely combined. Add in the two egg yolks and continue whisking for about 10 seconds until incorporated.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and fold in until you see no streaks of flour. Let the dough sit, uncovered at room temperature for 30 minutes (See Note). During this time, preheat your oven to 375F (Conventional) or 350F (Convection/Fan), and prepare the streusel.
Make the Streusel
- Whisk the 6 T Raw (or Turbinado)sugar, 6 T Rye Flour, 1 t ginger and 1/4 t salt in a small bowl, making sure to combine well. Mash in the 2 T room temp butter until the mixture resembles wet sand.
Make the Cookies
- Using a 2 T (1 oz, 28 ml) scoop, scoop the dough into 24-26 pieces. Roll each in your hands into a ball, then dredge the ball in the streusel. Place 9-10 streusel-coated balls on a baking sheet, 3 inches apart. Sprinkle a bit more streusel over the top if you like, as it melts into the cookies.
- In a conventional oven, place the baking sheet on the middle rack in the oven and bake until they have spread and are just set around the edges and appear slightly cracked. Streusel should appear slightly browned. In my oven this took 8 minutes, but could take as many as 10 minutes. (If your oven is a Convection oven, you could put a 2 or 3 sheets in at the same time, on top and bottom levels of oven, as the heat is distributed by the fan.) (See Note 2)
- Let baked cookies cool on the sheet a full 10 minutes before removing them to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Cookies keep at room temperature several days, or refrigerated in an air-tight container up to a week.
Notes
1. As the batter sits for 30 minutes, it will thicken a bit.
2. In my convection oven, I baked the first sheet on the middle rack and subsequent 2 sheets on top and bottom racks. There was no perceivable differences between the cookies baked on any of the racks. But if you have a conventional oven, I would stick to 1 pan at a time on the middle rack.
Keywords: Molasses Ginger Cookies, Chewy, Gingerbread
These are amazing! Do you think you can refrigerate the dough to bake a couple days later? Thank you!
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Hi, Emily!
I imagine they might be even better after refrigeration. I have not tried this, and I would think that it’s possible they might not spread out as much if the dough has been refrigerated a couple of days. What I often do is bake a few today, a few tomorrow and a few after 2 days, and compare. But let me know if you try it and how they turn out! I have to say, these are among my favorite cookies of all-time, so Im thrilled you love them, too! Thanks for the question!
I love ginger cookies and these look perfect Laura. Thank you for a great recipe. Have a wonderful festive season 🙂
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Thanks, Ashika! Hope your Holidays are joyful!
Oh these ginger cookies look to good Laura! I haven’t had gingerbread in like absolutely ages. And isn’t ginger such a festive and appropriate spice for the time of year? I use rye flour in some of my bread recipes but never in my cookies, love that idea!
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Thanks, Neil! I love gingerbread so much, but this is the first recipe that has that “something extra” we all love so much! And, I’d been looking to use rye flour in a sweet recipe, so this one was perfect! Can’t wait to try another sweet rye recipe!
You are totally talking my kind of language with these cookies, Laura! I absolutely love gingerbread, and chewy cookies are the best. I totally know what you mean about biting into gingerbread cookies that are hard as a rock. No bueno! Those might be good for building gingerbread houses, but not for actually eating. Speaking of actually eating, I’m super intrigued by the rye flour in here. I’m gonna have to make a batch now! It’s the perfect season for these, and I know a certain 4-year-old who loves gingerbread just as much as his Dad does! 🙂
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Awesome, David! I look forward to hear what you think! I’ll definitely be using rye flour again in sweet treats, I completely love everything it added to these cookies in terms of flavor and texture! Thanks for visiting and hope you and your gingerbread loving boy love these!
You got me with rye flour since I have never made cookies using it but am absolutely opened to the twists 🙂 🙂 Thank you dear !
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Thanks, Davorka! It was definitely the rye flour that drew me to this recipe, too! I’ll most definitely use it again. I already have a recipe chosen, and cant wait to give it a try!☺️😉
I love all kinds of gingerbread, from crispy and almost hard to soft and chewy. This version looks phenomenally delicious! Love their texture. Also, loving the idea to use rye flour (Never tried but sounds intriguing!) and the incorporation of candied ginger. Splendid!
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Ben, I agree, using rye flour was intriguing to me, too, and you can bet I’ll be using it again in sweets! Loved the notes it added to flavor and texture here!
Mmmm I bet the rye flour in these cookies adds such a unique taste! Love that there’s crystallized ginger in these too! I want two or three of these right now!
Thanks, Kelly! So do I! I do love them! And plan to make them every Christmas! Thanks for visiting!
I do like a chewy cookie, I’m not a big fan of ginger though so I guess I could use nutmeg or cinnamon instead?
Caroline – that is a really good question! If it were me that didn’t want the ginger, I’d probably just omit the ginger in the dough, and in the streusel, I’d use cinnamon instead of dried ginger. You could maybe add a bit of nutmeg (1/4-1/2 tsp?) nutmeg or maybe cardamom to the dough. But, since I haven’t done this, it is just my guess. Hope you give it a try, though, as I’m curious how it’d turn out, and always love a good variation! Thanks for your question!