If you love an old-fashioned fall cookie, one that makes you think of days gone by, you’re going to love this simple recipe! It starts with a simple and inexpensive ingredient used “back in the day” - molasses!
What is Molasses?
I had to ask that question, myself, y’all! In all the years I’ve been baking I’ve never used it. (I think that’s, in part, because I’m allergic to gingerbread, another treat that calls for molasses.) But when it came time to bake this recipe I wasn’t sure what molasses really was, to be quite honest.
Molasses is a thick, dark syrup made from sugarcane (or sugar beet juice) during the sugar extraction process. Molasses comes in a variety of types, which include light, dark, and blackstrap molasses, depending on how much sugar has been removed. Light molasses is sweeter. Blackstrap molasses is thicker, bolder, and less sweet.
Molasses is either sulphured or unsulphured. Sulphured molasses is made from young, immature sugar cane. Unsulphured is made from more mature cane, riper and containing more natural sugar. For the sake of this recipe, I used unsulphured because that’s what I found at my local grocery store.
How to Bake with Molasses
In baking, molasses is commonly used to sweeten and flavor recipes. It adds a lot of depth and moisture to products like gingerbread, cookies like today’s recipe, cakes, cupcakes and breads. In other words, it’s versatile! Molasses also contributes to the chewy texture of certain cookies and enhances the caramelized flavors in baked goods. But that’s not all it’s known for!
Molasses helps baked goods with:
- Richness
- Sweetness
- Moisture Retention
- Texture Improvement
- Color Development
- Deepening Hue
- Binding
- Structure
- Leavening
Sounds like a handy addition to your baked goods, right?
Molasses Cookies Ingredients
You will find a full printable recipe card at the bottom of this post but here’s a peek at what you’ll need. These are simple ingredients you might already have on hand.
- 2 cups all-purpose alour
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup molasses
- 1 Large Egg (room temperature)
- ½ cup raw or sanding sugar (granulated will work if you don’t have raw or sanding sugar)
How to Make Old-Fashioned Molasses Cookies
Whisk dry ingredients together (flour, spice, soda, salt)
Place oil and sugar in a mixing bowl or bowl of a stand mixer with paddle attachment. Mix well. Add molasses and egg. Mix until it comes together.
Add dry ingredients and mix well.
Cover and refrigerate for a couple of hours. I speed up this process by putting mine in the freezer for about 20 - 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 375.
Grab your dough from the fridge or freezer. I put mine back in a bowl with the raw sugar nearby.
Scoop chilled dough into balls using cookie scoop and roll in sugar. Place on parchment paper lined baking sheet.
Place in preheated oven. Bake for 10 - 11 minutes. They will puff up and fall as they cool.
Remove from oven and place baking sheet on wire rack to cool.
After ten minutes transfer cookies directly to rack to continue cool.
Serve and enjoy!
Store leftovers in airtight container at room temperature. They should stay good for 4-5 days.
What to Expect from these Cookies
If you like gingerbread, you’re going to love these cookies! To me, the best part was the raw sugar (turbinado sugar) on the outside. It added just the right sweetness and crunch to counterbalance the flavor and texture provided by the molasses. I cooked mine for 11 minutes because I made 20 larger-sized cookies. If you use a smaller scoop you’ll want to bake yours for no longer than nine minutes. They firm up after baking. It’s kind of fun to watch how they change shape as they cool. All in all, I’m very happy with this recipe and so were my friends. I took the batch to them and they loved them!
Other Fall-Themed Cookies
If you like these you’re going to love some of my other autumn-themed cookies! Here are some fan favorites:
- Pumpkin Spice Shortbread Cookies
- Super Soft Pumpkin Cookies
- Pumpkin Spice Golden Girls Cookies
- Crumbl Churro Cookies
That’s it for this post, friends! I hope you enjoyed this delicious recipe.
If you make this recipe and love it, don’t forget to leave a review and a comment below. And while you're at it, go ahead and pin some photos to your Pinterest boards!
See this recipe at
Follow me on social media!
Old-Fashioned Molasses Cookie
If you love an old-fashioned fall cookie, one that makes you think of days gone by, you’re going to love this simple recipe! It starts with a simple and inexpensive ingredient used “back in the day” - molasses!
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose alour
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup molasses
- 1 Large Egg (room temperature)
- ½ cup raw or sanding sugar (granulated will work if you don’t have raw or sanding sugar)
Instructions
- Whisk dry ingredients together (flour, spice, soda, salt)
- Place oil and sugar in a mixing bowl or bowl of a stand mixer with paddle attachment. Mix well. Add molasses and egg. Mix until it comes together.
- Add dry ingredients and mix well.
- Cover and refrigerate for a couple of hours. I speed up this process by putting mine in the freezer for about 20 - 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 375
- Scoop chilled dough into balls using cookie scoop and roll in sanding sugar.
- Place on parchment paper lined baking sheet and place in preheated oven. Bake for 10 - 11 minutes. They will puff up and fall as they cool.
- Remove from oven and place baking sheet on wire rack to cool.
- After ten minutes transfer cookies directly to rack to continue cool.
- Serve and enjoy!
- Store leftovers in airtight container at room temperature. They should stay good for 4-5 days.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 20 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 166Total Fat: 8gSaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 7gCholesterol: 9mgSodium: 184mgCarbohydrates: 23gFiber: 0gSugar: 23gProtein: 0g
The nutrition information is a product of online calculators. I try to provide true and accurate information, but these numbers are estimates.