This is the classic molasses crinkle cookies recipe that I’ve seen versions of everywhere from old cookbooks to the back of jars of molasses.
It’s a classic for a reason, and it should give you a good, crackled appearance on the tops of the cookies when they cool off. But I’ve added a little extra cinnamon because that makes it even better.
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Molasses crinkle cookies
This soft and chewy molasses cookies recipe is easy to do and makes the classic molasses crinkle cookie that you remember Grandma making. It's a simple and fast treat for the holidays at Christmas, or any time of year.
Equipment
- 1 mixing bowl or stand mixer
- 1 rubber spatula
- 2 cookie sheets
- Parchment paper
- 1 small ice cream scoop or teaspoon for scooping dough
- 1 small bowl for granulated sugar
Ingredients
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
- 3/4 cup vegetable shortening
- 1/4 cup molasses
- 1 egg
- 2 1/4 cup AP flour
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1/2 tsp ground cloves
- 1/4 tsp salt
- granulated sugar to roll the dough in.
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375F
- Mix brown sugar, shortening, molasses, and egg until combined.
- Stir in the dry ingredients and mix until combined.
- Cover the cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- Scoop balls of cookie dough, or make rounded teaspoons of dough.
- Put the granulated sugar in the small bowl and dip the balls of dough into the sugar.
- Put the dough balls onto the cookie sheets about 2" apart.
- Bake for about 8-10 minutes, or until the cookies look set but not too dry.
- DON'T OVERBAKE the cookies! They'll continue to firm up when they cool.
- Slide the parchment sheets off of the cookie sheets onto the cooling racks.
- When the cookies cool off for a few minutes, remove them from the parchment and finish cooling them on the racks.
- Store the cookies in an airtight container or freeze in a plastic freezer bag.
Equipment list for the cookies.
These are some of the things you’ll need to make the cookies, and the ones that I like on Amazon (all links are affiliate links):
For a sunflower seed butter cookie recipe, click here.
Tips for making the molasses crinkle cookies.
- These are pretty easy to make, but I’ve heard of people who have trouble getting them to crinkle when they cool off. I think that part of that could be baking them too much so that they dry out. If you follow the recipe and don’t overbake them they should crinkle a little when they’re baking but then more as they cool off.
- Check them after about ten minutes, and if they look really wet they probably need a minute or two more, but they shouldn’t look totally dry when you take them out of the oven.
- These cookies are pretty fragile when they come right out of the oven, so slide them off of the cookie sheet onto the cooling rack, then let them cool off a little before using a spatula on them. They’ll solidify pretty quickly as they cool off.
- Store them in an airtight container once they cool off, or freeze them in a plastic freezer bag.
