Chewy Five Spice Ginger Molasses Cookies
This chewy ginger molasses cookies recipe is easy to make and creates soft cookies with a hint of five-spice and vanilla flavor. They are fantastic on their own, and absolutely to die for when paired up with ice cream and made into an ice cream sandwich!
Servings: 30 Large Cookies
Calories: 176kcal
Ingredients
Wet Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cup butter (unsalted and soften)
- 1 ½ cup sugar
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup fancy molasses
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Dry Ingredients
- 4 cups all purpose flour
- 4 teaspoons baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon Chinese five spice powder
- ½ cup coarse sugar (or regular sugar) (for rolling)
Instructions
Preparation
- Leave 1 ¼ cup butter in room temperature for a few hours until it is soft.
Making the Cookie Dough
- Using a stand mixer or hand mixer, cream together 1 ¼ cup butter and 1 ½ cup sugar until it is a pale yellow color and fluffy. It is important the butter is soft before starting this step.
- Add in 2 large eggs, one at a time and continue to mix
- Add in ½ cup fancy molasses and 1 tablespoon vanilla extract and continue to mix until everything is well incorporated and fluffy. Make sure you are also scraping down the sides of the bowl so that everything is evenly mixed.
- In a separate bowl, combine 4 cups all purpose flour (make sure you scrape off excess flour from the measuring cup and it is level, you don't not want to use heaping cups), 4 teaspoons baking soda, ½ teaspoon salt, 2 teaspoons ground ginger, 1 ½ teaspoon cinnamon, and 1 teaspoon Chinese five spice powder and mix well. If your baking soda is clumpy, make sure to break apart the clumps with your fingers before adding it to the dry mixture.
- Slowly add in the dry mixture in a few batches into the wet mixture and mix on low speed (so the flour doesn't fly everywhere). Remember to occasionally scrape down the bowl so you mix the dough evenly.
- In a bowl, add in ½ cup coarse sugar (or regular sugar). We are going to use this to roll the cookie dough balls in, after they have been formed. Don't worry if it doesn't seem like enough sugar, you can add more later if you run out.
Baking the Cookies
- Pre-heat the oven to 350F (176C) and set your oven rack to the middle of the oven.
- Line your cookie trays with parchment paper and set aside.
- Scoop out 3 tablespoons of cookie dough and roll it into a ball (It should be slightly larger than a golf ball). If your hands are super warm and are finding the dough tough to work with since it is very soft, try cooling your hands down by running cold water on your wrists.
- Roll the cookie ball in the sugar and add them to the cookie sheet with 2 inches of space between them. No need to press down the dough, keep them as balls. You will need to bake these in a few batches. I can fit about 6 cookies on each cookie sheet.
- Bake the cookies, 1 tray at a time for 9-11 minutes. Since every oven is different, start with baking it for 9 minutes and watch it. It should start to get puffy at around 8 minutes or so. It is very important not to overcook the cookies, else they will not flatten during the cooling stage. I remove the cookies at 11 minutes but my gas oven runs a bit cooler than an electric oven. You should start your first batch at 9 minutes, unless you know your oven runs cooler.
- *IMPORTANT* Do not remove the cookies from the cookie sheets for at least 10 minutes. Let the cookies cool on the cookie sheet and don't move it. It is still cooking from the residual heat. During this time the cookie will slowly deflate and flatten itself down. I like to have 2 cookie sheets on the go so that I can have one batch in the oven while the other batch is cooling on the cookie sheet.
- Once the cookie has cooled for 10-15 minutes, transfer them to a cooking rack.
- Enjoy them as is or sandwich them with some vanilla ice cream!
Notes
- The dough for this cookie is very soft but it is intentionally to create a soft and chewy cookie. Try to work fast when rolling them into balls use the bowl of sugar to coat the cookie dough balls by swirling it around so you don't need to touch it too much. If your hands are too warm to handle the dough (gets very soft and melty on you) cool your hands by running some cold water on your wrists.
- Give the Cookies Room: When placing your cookie dough balls on the baking sheet, make sure they have about two inches of space between them. This will allow them to spread out properly as they bake.
- Be Precise with Your Flour Measurements: When measuring out your flour, make sure to level off the cup. Too much flour can make your cookies dry, and cakey and will not flatten so avoid the temptation to use a heaping cup.
- Don't Make the Cookies Too Small: Each dough ball should be approximately 2-3 tablespoons, and they should look slightly larger than a golf ball. If you make the cookie dough balls too small, they will not flatten properly and they may stay puffy because they would fully cook in the oven, and it won't have a chance to deflate when it cools afterwards.
- Let The Cookies Cool For 10 Minutes: It's very important not to touch the cookies after you pull them out of the oven. Don't transfer them to a rack or plate, let them sit on the cookie sheet for the whole 10 minutes. This is when the cookie will slowly deflate to it's flat shape, and the residual heat will continue to cook it. You may need two separate cookie sheets to keep a baking rotation of letting one rack cool and one rack bake.
- For the Signature Flatter Ginger Molasses Cookie Shape, Don't Overcook the Cookies: This is paramount for achieving the right texture. Your oven may be hotter than mine, so make a smaller batch at the lowest time (9 minutes) first and see how they turn out. They will look puffy and feel soft when they come out of the oven, do not touch them and let them cool on the baking sheet for about ten minutes. They'll continue to cook with the residual heat and will deflate to a flatter size. If they are not as flat as you want them to be, cook them for even less, like 8 minutes for your next batch.
- Do Not Use Melted Butter: It's important that the butter is softened and not fully melted. If you plan to soften your butter in the microwave, make sure the butter doesn't turn to liquid. Cookies made with fully melted butter, will not flatten and will keep their puffy shape.
