If you’ve ever been lukewarm on gingerbread — maybe you find gingersnaps too hard, or molasses desserts a bit too intense — this recipe is worth a second chance. These cookies bake up soft, chewy, and perfectly spiced, and they have a way of winning over even the pickiest cookie critics. Best of all, there’s no dough-chilling required, so you can go from “I want cookies” to “cookies are cooling on the rack” in well under an hour.
Prep time: 15 minutes
Bake time: 20 minutes
Yield: about 24 cookies
What You’ll Need
- ¾ cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- ¼ cup unsulphured molasses
- 2½ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- Granulated sugar, for rolling (optional)
A quick tip on the spices: the amounts above give a mild, family-friendly warmth. If you’re a fan of bold gingerbread flavor, feel free to double the cinnamon to 2 teaspoons and push the ginger up to 1–2 teaspoons.
How To Make Them
Get the oven ready. Preheat it to 350°F so it’s hot and waiting by the time your dough is mixed.
Cream the butter and sugar. In a large mixing bowl, beat the softened butter and sugar together until the mixture turns pale, light, and fluffy. With an electric mixer, this takes about 2 to 3 minutes.
Add the wet ingredients. Crack in the egg and pour in the molasses, then mix until everything is smoothly blended together.
Mix the dry ingredients separately. In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and ginger so the leavening and spices are evenly distributed.
Combine everything. Pour the dry mixture into the wet ingredients and stir just until a soft dough comes together, with no dry patches of flour left.
Shape the cookies. Scoop out portions of dough slightly smaller than a golf ball. If you want that classic sparkly finish, roll each ball in granulated sugar before placing it on the baking sheet. Give them 2 to 3 inches of breathing room, since they’ll spread as they bake.
Bake and cool. Slide the tray into the oven for 10 to 12 minutes. Once they’re out, let the cookies rest on the hot baking sheet for about 10 minutes — this helps them set — before transferring them to a wire rack to finish cooling completely.
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