These gingerbread cookies without molasses are soft & chewy and are packed with warm cozy spiced flavors that blend very well together. These are the ultimate Christmas cookies that you are looking for. They taste delicious both warm and at room temperature. Make this gingerbread cookie recipe ahead and freeze a stash of cookie dough to enjoy anytime with friends and family on any occasion in the cozy month of December.
Ingredients you’ll need:
- All purpose flour: I highly recommend weighing all your ingredients using a kitchen scale for accurate recipe results. If you’re using cups, don’t scoop your cup into the flour. Spoon the flour into your cup and level it off with the back of a knife. You can also use whole wheat flour instead, but the cookies will be more dense.
- Leaveners: To ensure that these cookies get puffed up and get those crinkly tops, you will need to add baking soda to them.
- Ground ginger: You will need ground ginger to add to these cookies. Spices help to add a warm flavour to baked goods making them perfect for the cozy weather.
- Ground cinnamon: You will need ground cinnamon to add to these cookies. Spices help to add a warm flavour to baked goods making them perfect for the cozy weather.
- Ground nutmeg: A small amount of nutmeg along with cinnamon helps to bring out its flavours even more and add depth to them. I don’t recommend leaving this out.
- Ground cloves or cardamom: A pinch of ground cloves or ground cardamom helps to enhance the flavour of all these spices and goes very well with these cookies.
- All spice powder: You will need all-spice powder to add to these cookies. Spices help to add a warm flavour to baked goods making them perfect for the cozy weather.
- Kosher salt: Adding a pinch of salt helps to balance out the flavours in the cookies. I have added sea salt for a little extra flavour however you can use normal iodised salt too.
- Unsalted Butter: It is very important to have your butter at room temperature. You can ensure this by lightly pressing your finger on the block of butter. It should slightly leave an imprint. I also prefer to use unsalted butter because salted butters have varying amounts of salt content in them and it is always a good idea to add it on your own and avoid your bakes from being too salty.
- Dark Brown Sugar: Adding a higher amount of brown sugar as compared to granulated sugar adds a richer texture, chewiness and moistness to your cookies. I highly recommend using dark brown sugar as it has a higher content of molasses and thus give a more well rounded flavour to these cookies when combined with homemade molasses.
- Granulated Sugar: This will help to add sweetness and also give structure to your cookies.
- Eggs: Use large eggs and bring it to room temperature before mixing in. Eggs strengthen the binding of your muffins and also add moisture. Having your eggs at room temperature makes it easier to incorporate them and allow them to mix thoroughly in your cookie dough. A good way of doing this is by letting them sit in a bowl filled with room temperature water for around 10 minutes or until they come down to room temperature.
- Vanilla: You must use a high quality pure vanilla extract in your recipes. This helps to add a rich flavor to your baked goods. Pure vanilla extracts are typically dark brown in color. This enhances the flavor of all ingredients and you should never leave this out.
- Homemade Molasses: You can make homemade molasses to make this recipe. If using molasses, be sure to use unsulphured molasses and not blackstrap molasses.
- Powdered Sugar: You will need powdered of confectioners’ sugar to add to your vanilla icing. It mixes in like a breeze and leaves no grainy lumps at all!
FAQ
This recipe calls for homemade molasses. But if you have access to molasses, you can use those instead. Regular dark molasses gives these cookies a deep, robust flavor without being too overpowering. For a rich flavor that combines nicely with the warm spices, I recommend using unsulphured molasses. Generally speaking, I do not bake with blackstrap molasses as I find the flavor a bit too bold and slightly bitter.
1. Cream together room temperature butter and sugars until the mixture is made light and fluffy.
2. Add in the eggs one at a time along with vanilla and homemade molasses.
3. Whisk together flour, baking soda, salt and spices.
4. Add the dry ingredients into the wet to make the cookie dough.
5. Chill the cookie dough.
6. Roll cookie dough out on a lightly floured surface and cut out cookies in the desired shape. Place them on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
7. Preheat oven and bake cookies and cool on wire rack. Decorate gingerbread cookies as desired.
I can almost guarantee these ginger cookies won’t even make it to the cookie jar but if you do have a few leftover, store them tightly covered at room temperature. To keep them extra fresh, place a piece of soft bread or salt-line cracker in the container alongside the cookies to absorb the excess moisture and prevent them from becoming soggy.
One of the things I love most about these cookies is that they freeze beautifully. To freeze them before baking, place the dough on a parchment lined baking sheet in the freezer for about an hour. Then transfer it to a large plastic bag and freeze for up to 3 months. When ready to bake, defrost the cookie dough at room temperature and cutout cookies just before baking.
To freeze the baked cookies, cool them completely and then wrap tightly in a plastic bag. Store flat in the freezer for up to three months. Defrost at room temperature before serving. Or just pop them into the microwave for 10 seconds and feel like you’re eating a warm cookie fresh from the oven.
Either ways, be sure to date the plastic bags before freezing them.
Absolutely! These cookies will stay fresh for nearly a full week at room temperature so they’re the perfect make-ahead dessert.
Yes. For an extra dose of gingery goodness and added crunch, add up to a 1/4 cup of diced candied ginger.
If you over bake the cookies or add too much flour, they will bake up hard and crunchy instead of soft and chewy. Be sure to measure your flour correctly, bake no more than the suggested time and check your oven temperature using an oven thermometer.
There is a slight flavor difference between molasses and my Homemade Molasses Substitute, as the flavor cannot be exactly replicated. The purpose of this substitute is to provide whatever you’re baking with the same texture as molasses, that moist dense chew. In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, over medium heat, add 2 cups dark brown sugar, 3/4 cups water, 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar, and 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice. Once the sugar dissolves, turn down the heat and let the syrup simmer steadily until it becomes a slightly thick syrup that drips off your spatula slowly. This will takes just 3 to 4 minutes. Don’t worry if you think it is a bit runny at this stage because as it cools it will get thicker. Use this molasses substitute in any recipe in place of molasses. It will last 3-4 months in an airtight container at room temperature. After a while, if you notice it hardens, heat it back up again to dissolve the granules. It makes 1 1/2 cups of molasses substitute.
These gingerbread cookies are incredibly soft, chewy and moist at the same time. This is because of a few reasons. Firstly, the amount of brown sugar in this cookie recipe is more than the granulated sugar. This adds softness and moisture to these cookies. Another very important tip would be to take out these cookies under-baked. Yes, you read it right! These cookies continue to bake as they cool. Taking them out when almost done is the best way to ensure that they stay soft. Lastly, chill your cookie dough. This is so important to prevent your cookies from over spreading and instead helping them to rise above and result in thicker cookies.
Tips to make the best gingerbread cookies without molasses:
- Measure the flour carefully. Too much flour in the mix is the number one reason why cookie recipes fail. Excess flour makes cookies {and most other baked goods} dry and prevents them from spreading in the oven. Carefully spoon your flour into the measuring cup and then level it off with the flat edge of a knife. Whatever you do, don’t scoop the flour directly from the bag or container with the measuring cup as it causes the flour to be packed in too tightly.
- Do not hold back on the spices. I know, a teaspoon ground ginger and adding along some cinnamon, nutmeg and all-spice might sound a lot at first and leave you holding back from adding them. I get it that you’re sceptical. Trust me friends, they blend in so well in these cookies and give them the perfectly cozy winter flavours you’re looking for!
- Do not over bake. For those soft, gooey centers be sure to pull the cookies from the oven when the edges are set and golden brown and the center of the cookie is puffed and pale. The middle of the cookies might seem slightly under baked but the residual heat from the pan will continue to bake the cookies once they are removed from the oven. Once the cookies cool they will have perfectly soft and chewy centers.
HOW TO GET THE BEST RESULTS FROM THIS RECIPE?
All of the recipes on the blog are thoroughly tested multiple times and carefully designed so that anyone can reproduce these delicious baked good in their own kitchen and enjoy them to the fullest. The only way to make this possible is when anyone can exactly replicate the measurements and temperatures.
- In order to standardise the way ingredients are measured, I highly recommend that you weigh them in grams. Volume measurements are nearly not as accurate and have a lot of scope for errors. To precisely be able to replicate the recipes, all you will need is a kitchen scale!
- Every oven heats up differently. Your oven might be over heating or under heating by around 50 degrees or more and you might not even know. In order to ensure that you are baking at the right temperatures, I highly recommend investing in an oven thermometer!
If you would still like to bake using volume measurements, I mentioned those below. However, I primarily test my recipes in grams and cannot promise the best results if you do so. Trust me, once you’ll start using these tools you’d never want to go back!
I hope you’ll enjoy these easy Gingerbread Cookies without molasses this Christmas and don’t forget to bookmark this sugar cookies recipe for the holidays. These cute cookies are my favorite and perfect to celebrate any occasion with friends and family!
Happy Christmas baking! x
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Gingerbread Cookies Without Molasses
- Total Time: 3 hours 30 minutes
- Yield: 36 cookies 1x
Description
These gingerbread cookies are soft & chewy and are packed with warm cozy spiced flavors that blend very well together. These are the ultimate Christmas cookies that you are looking for.
Ingredients
Gingerbread Cookies
- 438g (3½ cups) all-purpose flour, spooned and levelled
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ tablespoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon ground ginger
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon all spice
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 145g (⅔ cup) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 150g (¾ cup) packed brown sugar
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 160ml (⅔ cup) homemade or unsulphured molasses
- 1 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Vanilla Icing
- 120g (1 cup) powdered sugar, sifted
- 1 tablespoon full fat milk
- ¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- In a large bowl, add the butter, light brown sugar and granulated sugar. Using a hand mixer or a stand mixer, beat on medium speed until creamy, about 2 minutes. Add in the egg, molasses and vanilla extract. Beat again until combined. The mixture will now be light and fluffy.
- In a separate bowl, combine the flour, ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, ground ginger, all spice powder, ground cloves, baking soda and kosher salt.
- Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients about 4-5 tablespoons at a time and beat on low speed until combined. Repeat until all dry ingredients are added. The cookie dough will be slightly thick. Don’t over mix the dough.
- Wrap the cookie dough in a plastic wrap and place in an airtight container. Chill the cookie dough in the refrigerator for atleast 3 hours and upto 2 days.
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Meanwhile, line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats and set aside.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll each disc of dough until it’s 1/4” thick. Cut out 3” gingerbread men with a cookie cutter.
- Place the cookies 1” apart on the prepared sheets, and bake for 10-12 minutes, until the bottoms and edges are lightly browned. Let cool for about 5 minutes on the pan, and then move the cookies to a wire rack to completely cool.
- Whisk all ingredients for icing together in a mixing bowl until smooth. If your icing is too thin, add in a little more powdered sugar. If your icing is too thick, add in a tiny bit of milk.
- Use a piping bag, or a ziplock bag (with the corner snipped off), or a plastic squeeze bottle to pipe the icing onto the cookies.
- Allow to set. Enjoy!
- Prep Time: 3 hours 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Category: Gingerbread, Christmas Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: gingerbread cookies without molasses, Christmas gingerbread cookies, gingerbread cookie recipe without molasses,
So delicious, I’ll try this recipe to make cookies this time
So delicious, I’ll try this recipe to make cookies this time