If a gingerbread man knocked up a snickerdoodle… this is what you’d get. Not to be bawdy or anything, but that’s pretty much the best way to describe these softly spiced cookies.
Holiday is perhaps my favorite time of year, only because I have a legitimate reason to make batch after batch of holiday cookies. No other time of year is that acceptable (not like I let that stop me, though, still…) While I often turn to my tried-and-true holiday staples (like my grandmother’s gingerbread or these mint-stuffed chocolate cookies), sometimes it’s nice to mix it up a bit with something new. Like these, an updated twist on an old-fashioned recipe that are sure to be a new holiday favorite.
Normally snickerdoodles are light, almost white in color, and then rolled in cinnamon sugar. This version, however, is a ruddy brown with a richer flavor from the added molasses. While they might seem plain (they are not stuffed or salted, nor filled or frosted) they are anything but ordinary. Soft and chewy in the middle, with crispy edges and bottoms, these cookies will please both the soft cookie lovers and the crispy cookie lovers among us. I swear, these cookies could bring about world peace.
I’ve also made a version of these that get rolled in a cocoa/cinnamon/sugar mixture, instead of just cinnamon sugar, and you can certainly do that as well for an added element of intrigue. Use granulated sugar for a delicate sparkly exterior, or coarser turbinado sugar for a crystalline appearance and added crunch.
One of the best aspects of these cookies is that they’ll stay soft for days because of the hygroscopic, or moisture absorbing properties of molasses (take that, 8th grade science class!) Because of that they’d make great care package cookies, arriving just as soft and chewy as the day they were baked.
Molasses Snickerdoodles
Ingredients:
- 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup light molasses
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 tablespoons granulated or turbinado sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- In a bowl, whisk together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt until well blended. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes. Add molasses and beat until combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add egg and vanilla and mix until smooth. Add dry ingredients and mix on low speed until incorporated and no dry flour remains.
- In a small dish, mix sugar together with cinnamon until well blended.
- Drop dough by the tablespoonful into sugar mixture, rolling until completely coated. Dough will be sticky, but the sugar mixture should keep it from sticking to your hands. Arrange on non-stick or parchment-lined baking sheets, leaving 2 inches of space between cookies. Repeat with remaining dough.
- Bake for 9 to 10 minutes or until cookies are just set on top and bottoms are lightly golden brown. Let cool for 5 minutes on baking sheets then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Cookies will keep, stored in an airtight container, for up to 5 days.
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A lot of folks like to take a new recipe and make changes to it and really come up with their own creation, not necessarily the recipe as it was written. I’m not one of those people. unless there are food, allergies, or other dietary considerations involved, I always follow the recipe exactly if I can. I followed this recipe exactly only changing what I couldn’t find. I couldn’t find anything called light molasses, so I used regular dark molasses. I used granulated sugar with the ground cinnamon for rolling them in prior to baking. And I baked them exactly 10 minutes (although I did watch them closely) and they were delicious. These are definitely going into my cookie recipe rotation. Thank you so much for the recipe!
I am so glad you enjoyed these as much as I do! And regarding molasses, there is no ‘standard’ for labeling here which can make things tricky. Grandma’s “Original” is basically light, and similar to the Brer Rabbit “Mild” (my favorite), both work great here! As long as you don’t use blackstrap (which is very dark and bitter) you’re good to go. :)
My son loves these cookies and they make a perfect snack at school. But, mine don’t spread out like yours. What am I doing wrong? Would love to get some tips.
It’s really easy to overmeasure flour, sometimes even a tablespoon can make a huge difference. I know I don’t have weights for this recipe yet, but if you make them again try maybe 2T less flour and see what happens! You can also try baking at a slightly lower temp, flattening the dough into more of a ‘puck’ shape vs a ball, or even increasing the baking soda by a tiny bit (all things that can make a cookie spread more).
These are so good, even my neighbors picky husband ate the whole plate. I didn’t even tell anyone they were GF. I tweaked just a couple minor things: I split the measure of molasses between regular and black strap, and split the sugars with regular and brown. Also, I added 1 tsp of ginger powder and 1 cup of chopped sugared ginger bits! Then into the fridge for several hours ( something I learned when using GF flour). Absolutely perfect! About as close as I can get to Trader Joe triple ginger cookies. Can’t wait to make these again!
Delicious! Baking tons of cookies is one of my favorite Christmas tradition!
Made these today for the first time out standing cookies. I cut back on the sugar. Will make again.
I am LOVING this molasses & snickerdoodle combo!
Molasses snickerdoodles sounds so good! My family will go nuts for them. Thanks!
Love this combo – molasses adds such a beautiful touch to cookies and certainly would take these to the next level! Love the idea of the cinnamon sugar cocoa coating! Delish
I’ve been looking for a new molasses cookie to try this holiday season. These look perfect!!
Ha! I’m so happy that the gingerbread man knocked up the snickerdoodle, because these look amazing!! :)
It’s a perfect cookie marriage – hope I’m on the invite list!
I love this idea! I find gingerbread cookies to be a little overpowering and, too often, dry. This solves both problems! Love it!
I love the wrinkle look of these. Sounds tasty
I usually don’t like snickerdoodles, but these look so perfect!
These sound and look fantastic! Will have to give them a try :)
May I ask how you get the lighting on your food posts so perfect and appetising? Do you use natural light or artificial?
I made a cookie a few days ago that I called Molasses Gingerdoodles. Kind of a hybrid of everything all rolled into one and yours look awesome! I totally think they’d bring about world peace :) pinned!
These sound scrumptious! Snickerdoodles