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If you love baking and sharing delicious cookies but don't have a lot of time to fuss with fancy recipes, these Easy Molasses Ginger Cookies are for you!
These Easy Molasses Ginger Cookies just might be my favorite ginger cookies ever!
Have you heard the saying "A girl can never have too many shoes"? I'm not so sure about that but I would definitely agree that "a girl (me in particular)l can never have too many ginger cookie recipes."
If you've been following The Café for a while, you might recall several (well, maybe more than several) other ginger cookie recipes. I'll go right ahead and admit it upfront: I'm crazy for ginger cookies. When standing in front of a bakery display of cookies, I'll always choose the sugar-topped, crinkly-crackly ginger cookies over anything else. That's why I couldn't resist trying a delicious looking recipe I came across on Pinterest.
Scott's always asking why I try new recipes for things that I already have a great one for. My question is "why not?" I'm always searching for that "even greater" recipe. And although that's not always the result when I try new things, sometimes it is. And then, I get to share another stellar recipe with you! Perfect example, these Easy Molasses Ginger Cookies!
Is butter always better?
The original recipe for these Easy Molasses Ginger Cookies calls for ¾ cup of vegetable shortening in addition to the flour, sugar, molasses and spices found in most ginger cookies. Not being a huge vegetable shortening fan, I decided to substitute butter for part of the shortening for better flavor. But not 100% butter, as vegetable shortening does help keep baked goods moist and results in crisp exteriors with cookies.
With the first batch, using ½ cup butter and ¼ shortening, the cookies had delicious flavor but were flat and not super attractive. Round two yielded perfect results (¼ cup butter and ½ cup shortening). The cookies had delicious flavor but also moist centers and crispy edges. In addition, they were pretty enough to be sold in a fine bakery shop. A win-win-win!
As much as I love the flavor of butter in cookies, it’s not always the better choice. This combination is a good compromise!
There's one more win with these cookies. They're EASY! Yup, just like the name implies, it's a simple, one-bowl, no-mixer recipe that you can stir together in minutes. You will need to plan on a one-hour chilling time before rolling into balls and baking but if you're a bit impatient, you can pop the dough in the freezer for about 20 minutes and you'll be good to go.
You won't believe the deep, gorgeous cracks that will form on the tops of these cookies as they bide their time in the oven. If you haven't guessed, Scott had lots of fun capturing them with this camera!
So many reasons to make these ginger cookies...
These delicious Easy Molasses Ginger Cookies are perfect for dessert buffets, afternoon teas, midnight snacks, treating the neighbors, gift-giving and sending to loved ones far away. They can also mend rifts, thank teachers, make new neighbors feel welcome and, who knows, maybe even elicit marriage proposals! They're that good!
Most likely, you have everything you need to make these wonderful Easy Crack Topped Ginger Cookies. Just take the time to get the butter nice and soft and you'll be ready to roll - literally! If you have children, this will be a super fun project to do with them. I think you'll be happy as Scott is that I tried one more ginger cookie recipe!
Café Tips for making these Easy Molasses Ginger Cookies
- Make sure your butter is nice and soft. Even if you leave it out overnight, it might not get really soft during cooler months of the year. I use my microwave and set it at power level 1 (10%) for a minute or two. Every microwave is different so experiment a bit with yours to see how long it takes to soften butter without melting it. Perfectly softened butter will leave a finger indention when lightly touched.
- I really like using a trigger ice cream/cookie scoop for scooping up even-size cookies. I have lots of different size scoops for making different types of cookies. For these Easy Molasses Ginger Cookies, I used this scoop.
- If you look at the close-up picture of these cookies, you'll notice that the sugar coating is coarse and more angular than regular granulated sugar. I use sanding sugar for my cookies as I love the pretty look it gives. Sanding sugar can be purchased in lots of larger grocery stores in the cake mix section and online. You could also use granulated sugar, Demerara sugar or turbinado sugar for rolling with equally delicious results.
- You may wonder why this recipe doesn't include salt. I didn't forget the salt, it's just a bit incognito in this recipe. There are two teaspoons of baking soda in the ingredient list for these cookies. Baking soda has a high sodium (salt) level so be assured, you won't miss the salt.
- I love these pre-cut parchment paper sheets. They're the perfect size for sheet pans and come in an easy to store, flat box. With 100 in the box, they last forever!
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If you love baking and sharing delicious cookies, but don't have a lot of time to fuss with fancy recipes, these Easy Molasses Ginger Cookies are for you!
- 1 cup sugar
- ½ cup vegetable shortening
- ¼ cup very soft butter
- 1 egg
- ¼ cup molasses
- 2 cups flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- ½ cup sanding sugar Demerara, Turbinado or granulated sugar, for rolling
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Combine shortening, softened butter, sugar, egg and molasses in a large mixing bowl. Stir with a wooden spoon or sturdy spatula until smooth and creamy, about 1 minute.
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Sprinkle flour, baking soda and spices evenly over the mixture in the bowl. Stir until all flour has been incorporated.
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Cover bowl with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for one hour.
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Preheat oven to 350˚F. Line 2 sheet pans with parchment paper for easy clean up.
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Place rolling sugar (sanding, Demerara, Turbinado or granulated) in a medium-size shallow bowl. Scoop up dough and roll into 1 ½-inch balls. Roll balls in sugar until coated.
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Place dough balls on prepared sheet pan, spaced 1 ½-inches apart. Bake for 9-11 minutes. Allow to cool on pan for one minute, then transfer to cooling rack. Cool completely.
Penny Mecklenburg says
I am hoping there are laels for these ginger cookies. If so, will you please send me the pdf?
Chris Scheuer says
Hi Penny, we do not have labels for this recipe at this time.
Sandy Martin says
What shortening do you use?
Chris Scheuer says
Hi Sandy, I use Crisco for these cookies.
Laura Jansen says
The cookies tasted great but they flattened out when baked. They didn't look like the picture. Would you recommend using all shortening so the cookies would be puffier and have more cracks?
Chris Scheuer says
Hi Laura, it's hard to say why your cookies didn't puff and get cracks without having been right there in the kitchen with you. I've never made them with all shortening and don't think the flavor will be as good.
Ranjana Mahajan says
So disappointed followed the recipe exactly my cookies were a disaster! They flattened out completely and no crack
Es. Where did I go wrong plz help