Gluten-Free Soft and Chewy Ginger Molasses Cookies (2024)

Gluten-Free Ginger Molasses Cookies are soft and chewy with warm flavors of molasses, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger spice. The perfect cookiethis holiday season!

These gluten-free ginger molasses cookies are my husband's favorite holiday cookie recipe. They have the perfect amount of warm spices, a soft chewy center, and crispy sparkly sugar coating. We love to serve them for holiday parties, cookie exchanges, or give them away as gifts.

For more holiday cookie recipes, check out my Gluten-Free Chocolate Mint Cookies, Gluten-Free Chocolate Crinkle Cookies, and my Gluten-Free Spritz Cookies.

Why you'll love this recipe

• Easy to make - This recipe uses simple ingredients, and you can make the dough 2-3 days in advance. Once you decide to bake them, the cookies will last 4-5 days at room temperature.
• Entertaining and gift options - This is a great recipe to impress family and friends on a holiday cookie tray, or cookie box that you can gift.
• The perfect holiday cookie! - These cookies have a warm ginger molasses flavor, a soft and chewy center, with sugar-coated crispy edges. The perfect holiday cookie!

Ingredients

• Gluten-Free Flour: My favorite gluten-free flour blendisBob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour.It gives these cookies the perfect texture!
• Butter: Softened butter helps the cookies rise, puff up, and become lighter as they bake.
• Egg: One large egg adds moisture to the dough and helps bind the ingredients.
• Molasses: You'll want to use unsulphured molasses, not blackstrap molasses. Unsulphured molasses has the perfect amount of sweetness, while blackstrap molasses has the lowest sugar concentration of all varieties.
• Dark Brown Sugar + White Sugar: Dark brown sugar creates a soft chewier center while white cane sugar creates crispy edges. The cookie dough balls are rolled in additional white sugar for an extra crunchy exterior.
• Vanilla Extract: Use a high-quality vanilla extract for the best flavor.
• Baking Soda: Two teaspoons of baking soda is what puffs up the cookies and gives them the lift they need to help with the signature crack.
• Salt: A pinch of salt helps bring forward all the flavors.
• Spices: Ground cinnamon, ground ginger, ground nutmeg, and ground cloves, are the perfect blend of holiday spice.

Instructions

1. Whisk the dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, whisk theflour, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt until combined. Set the bowl aside.
2. Cream the butter and sugars. Add the softened butter and both sugars to a large mixing bowl or stand mixer. Cream together on high speed for 4-5 minutes until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl.
3. Add the molasses. Mix for an additional minute.
4. Add the egg and vanilla extract. Continue to beat until combined.
5. Pour in the dry ingredients. At low speed mix until a dough forms. The dough will be thick and sticky. Cover the bowl with foil and transfer the dough to the refrigerator to chill for at least 2 hours or up to 24 hours before baking.
6. Scoop and roll the cookie dough. Preheat oven to 350°F.Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set them aside. Remove the cookie dough from the refrigerator. If the dough chills over 2 hours and is stiff, let the dough come to room temperature for 15 minutes, then proceed to bake. Pour the extra granulated sugar into a small bowl. Using a medium cookie scoop, scoop the dough into even portions, (30 grams each). Roll each ball of dough into a uniform shape, then gently roll in the sugar to coat. Place 6 cookie dough balls on a baking sheet spacing 2 inches apart.
7. Bake the cookies. Place one baking sheet at a time in the oven for 8-10 minutes or until the edges look golden and set and the centers look slightly underdone.
8. Round out the cookies. If desired, you can use a large circular cookie cutter or circular glass to coax the cookies into perfect circles while they are hot in the oven. Let the cookies cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a cooling rack to continue cooling.

Substitutions and Variations

• Dairy-Free: For a dairy-free option you can use vegan butter or shortening in place of the butter.
• Vegan: For a vegan option, try using vegan butter or shortening, and swap the egg for a flax egg.
• Chocolate Molasses Cookies: Once the cookies are cooled you can drizzle or dip half of them in melted dark chocolate or white chocolate.
• Orange Molasses Cookies: Add a tablespoon of zest for a spicy citrus flavor.
• Spices: These molasses cookies are slightly spicy, but feel free to cut back on the ginger. You could also swap in different spices such as allspice or cardamom.
• Coarse Sugar: For a more distinct textured look, try rolling the cookie dough balls in coarse sugar also known as turbinado sugar.

Tips for the best molasses cookies

1. Measure your flour: Measuring the flour is very important and that is why I recommend using a food scale. Too much flour will result in cakey-dense cookies, and too little flour will cause the cookies to overly spread.
2. Chill the dough: The chilling process is crucial for both flavor and texture. Chill the dough for at least 2 hours if not overnight. The texture should be somewhat like playdough and workable when rolling. If the cookie dough starts to warm up the cookies will flatten and spread. Between batches, I recommend placing the dough back in the refrigerator.
3. Cracked tops: In order to get those beautiful crackly finished tops, you'll want to make sure your dough is chilled, and that the baking soda is fresh. If they do not appear cracked when removing the baking sheet from the oven, you can bang the baking sheet on the counter three times to help them flatten.
4. Do not make the cookie dough balls too big: Scoop, measure, and roll the cookie dough balls no larger than 30 grams, to avoid overly large cookies that may spread.
5. Round out the cookies: For perfectly round cookies, I use a large cookie cutter or glass to coax the cookies into perfect circles while they are hot from the oven.Allow the cookies to rest on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Storage

To store: Molasses cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.

To freeze: Once the cookies are cooled, you can store them in a freezer-safe zip-lock bag, in the freezer for up to 3 months.

To make ahead: You can make the cookie dough and chill it in the refrigerator for up to 2–3 days.If the dough is too hard to start with, let it sit at room temperature for 15 minutes.

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