• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Sunny Side Up Nutrition
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • About Us
  • Resources
  • Work With Us
  • Shop
menu icon
go to homepage
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • About Us
  • Recipes
  • Resources
  • Work With Us
  • Shop
search icon
Homepage link
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • About Us
  • Recipes
  • Resources
  • Work With Us
  • Shop
×

Home » Recipes » Diet-Free Parenting

Molasses Spice Cookies

Last Updated: Oct 9, 2022 by Elizabeth Davenport · This post may contain affiliate links

  • Share
  • Email
Jump to Recipe·Print Recipe

It’s fall y’all! I love making these molasses spice cookies as the weather starts to cool off and the leaves start to turn. Of course, you don’t have to wait for fall! They taste great any time of the year. These cookies are soft, chewy, packed with flavor, and have a lovely sugar crust. 

Ingredients for Molasses Spice Cookies

Make molasses spice cookies for your next get-together.

They’re a crowd-pleaser! They taste incredible while still warm from the oven. (My older daughter loves to heat these for a few seconds in the microwave before eating them.) Next time you go to a friend’s house for dinner or have people over, make the cookie dough ahead and bake the cookies once dinner is over. Your guests will be thrilled! Who doesn’t love freshly baked, still warm cookies?!? They’re delicious on their own or served alongside vanilla or pumpkin (Graeter’s is my personal fav) ice cream.

Steps for making molasses spice cookies
Steps for making molasses cookies

What’s wrong with sweets? Nothing!

Do you worry about offering sweets to your kids? What is it about allowing sweets that worries you? So often, the messages we hear vilify sweets. But, sweets aren’t the problem! Fear-based messaging is the problem! We've all had someone tell us that foods like cookies don’t have any nutrients. That's FALSE! Cookies (and other sweets) do contain nutrients. The cookies in this recipe contain carbohydrates (flour and sugar), protein (egg), and fat (butter). Sweets also taste good, they're part of family traditions, and they’re fun to eat! If you’d like practical tips on offering sweets, read Anna’s post What About Dessert?. I also highly recommend the post Let’s Talk About Sugar by Le’Vena Tan, Nutrition Masters Student & Guest Post Writer.

Cooking and baking with kids

I’ve been baking versions of molasses spice cookies since I was a kid - so for a long time! A wonderful babysitter knew I loved to bake and gave me my very first cookbook when I was maybe 9 or 10—Betty Crocker’s Cookies. The recipe below is adapted from that cookbook. I’ve always loved to cook and bake—one of my earliest and fondest memories was cooking lunch, (open-faced toasted cheese sandwiches and tomato soup) at preschool for our parents. Who would I be if my preschool teacher, Harriett Andrews, hadn’t had us cook lunch for our parents?? Here at Sunny Side Up Nutrition, we’re big fans of cooking with kids. Baking cookies offers lots of ways for kids of all ages to help! If you’d like more info and simple ways to cook with kids, read my posts, Simple Tips for Cooking with Kids and Homemade Soft Pretzels - Cooking with Kids Part 2.

Molasses Spice Cookies

Questions about baking molasses spice cookies

Can I use light brown sugar instead of dark brown?

Sure, just know that the cookies will be lighter in color and won't have quite as much depth of flavor. Dark brown sugar contains more molasses than light brown so it's got a more complex flavor and is darker in color.

Is there any way to easily get the molasses out of the measuring cup?

Very lightly spray the inside of the measuring cup with Pam cooking spray.

What if I don't have a scoop to make the cookie dough balls?  

No worries! You can scoop out a heaping tablespoon of dough using a tablespoon measure or a regular spoon. Then roll the dough into a ball with your hand. If you want to purchase cookie dough scoops, click here for the ones I have. Any brand will do though.

Let us know if you have other questions!

Drop your questions in the comments section which you can find at the top of the blog post.

Print

Molasses Spice Cookies

Print Recipe

These molasses spice cookies are soft, chewy, packed with flavor, and have a lovely sugar crust. 

 

  • Author: Elizabeth Davenport
  • Prep Time: 30 minutes
  • Cook Time: 8 minute
  • Total Time: 38 minutes
  • Yield: about 36 cookies
  • Category: Dessert

Ingredients

¾ cup room temperature, unsalted butter

1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar

1 egg

¼ cup molasses

2 ¼ cup all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

¾ teaspoon ground cloves

1 ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 ¼ teaspoon ground ginger

¼ cup granulated sugar for coating

Instructions

  1. Preheat your oven to 375 F.
  2. Gather your ingredients together.
  3. Measure flour, spices, salt, baking soda into a medium mixing bowl and gently whisk to combine
  4. Place the butter and dark brown sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Using the paddle attachment cream the butter and brown sugar on medium-high for approx 3 minutes or until light and fluffy.
  5. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula.
  6. Add the molasses to the butter-sugar mixture and mix on medium speed to combine.
  7. Add the egg and mix to combine. 
  8. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl again.
  9. Add the flour mixture and mix on low speed to combine.
  10. Put the ¼ cup of granulated sugar in a bowl. Scoop the cookie dough using a 1 ½ tablespoon cookie dough scoop. Place the dough balls on the parchment-lined baking sheet.
  11. Roll each ball of dough in the granulated sugar and transfer back to the sheet pan. Gently press each ball of cookie dough with the palm of your hand to flatten out the roundness just a bit.
  12. Bake cookies for approximately 8-10 minutes*. Allow cookies to cool for a few minutes and transfer to a cooling rack.
  13. Makes about 36 small cookies

 

Notes

I bake them for 8 minutes, but ovens vary. If they look like they need a few more minutes, give them a minute or so longer in the oven.

Keywords: molasses spice cookies

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @sunnysideupnutritionists on Instagram

Anna and Elizabeth making a salad

SIGN UP for our email list and receive our FREE downloadable PDF:

20 Sunny Side Up Snack Ideas and 5 Tips for Snack Time. 

Sunny Side Up Nutrition logo
« An Alarming Eating Disorders Epidemic
The Spooky Language of Halloween »

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe rating ★☆ ★☆ ★☆ ★☆ ★☆

Primary Sidebar

Elisabeth and Anna outside smiling

Welcome to Sunny Side Up Nutrition! 

• Are you looking for sound, practical nutrition and cooking information?

• Do you want to opt out of diet culture and the hype around food?

• Do you want to be empowered to foster healthy relationships with food in your home?

If so, then you've come to the right place!

More about us →

Popular Posts

  • An Open Letter to My Daughter's Camp Counselor
  • Please Don't Teach My Kids to Diet: 5 Resources to Give Teachers and Schools
  • A School Nutrition Lesson: The Edible Parts of a Plant
  • Growth Charts & What to Ask of Your Pediatrician
  • Thanksgiving Traditions and Steamed Pumpkin Pudding-Part 2
  • 7 On-The-Go Summertime Snack Ideas

Family Dinner Recipes

  • Easy, Homemade Macaroni and Cheese
  • Pasta with Bacon and Brussels Sprouts
  • Spinach Lasagna: An Easy Meal for a Return to Busy Nights
  • Summer Tomato Basil Pie
  • "Go-to" Summertime Meals
  • 15-Minute Lentil Ragout

Footer

  • terms of service
  • privacy policy
  • subscribe
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Facebook