These chewy ginger cookies without molasses are full of flavor with a little sharp bite from ginger that isn’t overwhelming and a hint of warm cinnamon. They’re soft and tender on the inside with a crispier edge for the perfect texture.
Why you'll love this recipe
- It's a super easy recipe made in one bowl with no chill time
- They're delicious chewy, soft cookies
- No cookie cutters or rolling pin necessary
- They're a perfect cookie for the holiday season with the warm ginger and cinnamon spices
Ingredients
These chewy ginger cookies without molasses use brown sugar in its place and are so soft and tender. Full list of ingredients with quantities can be found in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
- Flour: standard all purpose flour for baking.
- Unsalted butter: unsalted room temp butter! If you only have salted, halve the amount of added kosher salt.
- Brown sugar: dark brown or light brown sugar are best in this recipe because they serve as a replacement for molasses.
- Brown sugar is essentially white granulated sugar mixed with molasses, so light brown has less molasses than dark brown sugar, and in this recipe since we’ve omitted the added molasses all together, using dark brown sugar helps bring more of that flavor.
- Granulated sugar: a bit of granulated white sugar helps bring structure to the cookie.
- Egg: large eggs! One egg + one egg yolk is needed to get the right texture and spread.
- Vanilla: a must-have in cookies. Either vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste work great.
- Baking soda: the leavening agent. Since brown sugar has molasses which is technically acidic, baking soda is best as it reacts with that acid to rise.
- Cinnamon and ginger: warm ground cinnamon and spicy ground ginger give this cookie perfect fall flavor.
- Salt: kosher salt to balance the sweetness. I use Diamond Crystal.
Step by step instructions
These soft ginger cookies follow a pretty traditional dough making method, and even better they’re no-chill! So they're a quick cookie to make if you need a sweet treat, especially around Christmas time.
1. Combine sugar and butter. In a large bowl, mix the dark brown and granulated sugar with the room temperature butter until well combined.
2. Add the rest of the wet ingredients. Add the eggs and vanilla to the butter mixture and mix until well combined.
3. Add the dry ingredients. Add the flour, spices, salt, and baking soda to the wet ingredients. Mix until the flour is just combined.
4. Form balls & roll in sugar. Form 4 tablespoon sized cookie dough balls and roll them in granulated sugar. Place them on a parchment paper lined baking sheet (or cookie sheet) a few inches away from each other.
5. Bake. Bake the cookies at 375°F for 15 minutes until the edges are nice and golden but the centers are still on the lighter side. Let them cool on the baking tray for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. (! Important note: if you make the dough balls smaller, the bake time will be less. Start checking around 10 minutes.)
Tips and tricks
- Bake with room temperature ingredients! I know it sounds annoying and silly, but using room temperature ingredients helps them all mix together better, so you get a better textured baked good. The most important is the butter, because it needs to be able to seamlessly mix with the sugars.
- Use a wood spoon, spatula, hand mixer, or stand mixer (with the paddle attachment on medium speed when beating the wet ingredients, and on low speed when you add the dry ingredients) to make the dough.
- Use an oven thermometer. It’s important to know your oven is at the right temperature for baking, so if you have an oven thermometer or can get one, it’s really helpful to know you’re at the right temp!
- Mix in the flour until it’s just combined, if you over work the flour the cookies won’t be as soft and tender.
- Check the expiration date of your ingredients – if you’ve had your ground ginger for more than 5 years, I’d recommend replacing it before making these as it’s very likely the flavor has faded. If your baking soda is expired, it's likely it won't work.
- Use a cookie scoop to get the same size cookies! For the 4 tablespoon size, it's labeled as a #16 cookie scoop.
Recipe variations
While the base cookie for this should remain the same to avoid any baking issues, you can play around with the rolled sugar and add an optional topping if you'd like
- Top the cookies with a simple icing – mix powdered sugar with heavy cream and a dash of vanilla until you get a drizzle-able consistency.
- Top the cookies with a more complex royal icing – recipe here https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/royal-icing/
- Instead of rolling the cookies in granulated white sugar, sprinkle the tops of them with turbinado sugar (raw sugar).
Storage
- These chewy ginger cookies without molasses will last at room temperature in an airtight container for 3-4 days.
- You can freeze these cookies as dough or after you’ve baked them
- Dough: freeze the dough balls on parchment paper first, then transfer to a zip top bag or container for up to three months.
- How to bake cookies from frozen: bake at a lower temperature so they have time to spread. 350°F is a good base, and then keep an eye on them starting around 10 minutes in the oven.
- Baked: freeze the cookies on a sheet tray with parchment paper first, then transfer to a zip top bag or container for up to two months. Defrost in the microwave for a minute or two.
- Dough: freeze the dough balls on parchment paper first, then transfer to a zip top bag or container for up to three months.
FAQs
Gingerbread cookies are traditionally rolled out and cut into shapes, and cooked for a longer period of time to get crispy. Ginger cookies are chewy and baked in ball form.
Unsalted! Every salted butter has a different quantity of salt, so it’s hard to control just how much will be in your baked good unless you use unsalted and add the salt yourself.
For this recipe, I wouldn't recommend it, because fresh ginger is a bit more liquidy and can alter the texture of the cookie.
I'd recommend just following a vegan ginger cookies recipe.
Similar in flavor, but different in texture. Gingersnaps are crispier, whereas these are a softer chewier ginger cookie. If you're looking for crispy gingersnap cookies, try this recipe.
More cookie recipes
📖 Recipe
Chewy Ginger Cookies Without Molasses
Ingredients
- 2 sticks unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 ½ cups dark brown sugar
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 ¼ cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 ½ tsp ground ginger
For rolling the dough
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375℉.
- In a large bowl, mix the dark brown and granulated sugar with the room temperature butter until well combined.
- Add the eggs and vanilla to the butter mixture and mix until well combined.
- Add the flour, cinnamon, ginger, salt, and baking soda to the wet ingredients. Mix until the flour is just combined.
- Form 4 tablespoon sized cookie dough balls and roll them in granulated sugar. Place them on a parchment paper lined baking sheet a few inches away from each other.
- Bake the cookies at 375°F for 15 minutes until the edges are nice and golden but the centers are still on the lighter side. Let them cool on the baking tray for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. (Important note: if you make the dough balls smaller, the bake time will be less. Start checking around 10 minutes).
Adri says
Dear Haley,
my cookies turned out more fluffy rather than chewy. 🙁 Could you help me what went wrong? They were delicious but that wasn't the texture I was looking for, and mine blew up in the center with airy bubbles like sponge cake.
Haley says
Hi Adri, thanks for reaching out! You may have used too much flour or baking soda. Did you spoon and level your flour? And were you definitely using baking soda not baking powder? Baking powder has baking soda and an acid, so if you used this by accident you'd have too much acid in the recipe and the leavening agent wouldn't react properly. Whereas baking soda reacts with the natural acid in the recipe (molasses, brown sugar) to give just the right amount of lift. Hope this helps!
Adri says
Dear Haley,
thanks for the reply. I have used baking soda, however I live in Hungary and searched the internet to convert cups to grams for the flour and the butter so I am not sure that was accurate. I used 300 grams flour and 230 grams butter. Maybe this was the "problem"?
Thank you again.
Haley says
Hi Adri,
Ah, the flour grams measurement is 250g rather than 300g. Maybe that was the issue. Otherwise my other thought is confirming you used teaspoon rather than tablespoon? I will retest the recipe soon.
Adri says
Dear Haley,
thanks I have tried again yesterday morning with 280 grams of flour this time, and they didn't puff up as much so I arrived at the conclusion that the problem was the flour. 😀 I will try again with only 250 grams of flour, I think it will be perfect that way. (Although my friends at the salsa class loved it the way it was. 😀 ).
Thanks for the great recipe and the quick helping tips. 🙂 🙂
Haley says
Oh good I'm so glad to hear that!!! Thanks for giving them another try 😊
Joni says
Question..the ingredients list baking soda. The instructions state baking powder. I’m in the middle of making them. I’m going to guess it’s baking soda without any powder. Hoping they turn out.
Haley says
Yes! so sorry, did they turn out okay??
Jennifer says
Hello,
I made these cookies, and they turned out to be quite large. I had to slam the baking sheet with 5 minutes left to flatten them. They turned out well, but they were excessively sweet for my taste. I was, however, impressed with the texture, which had crispy edges and a soft, chewy center. There was no need to refrigerate them. I added allspice, pumpkin pie spice, and cardamom. I attempted to balance the sweetness by adding a bit more salt at the end, which helped somewhat, but they were still too sweet for my preference. I hope my boyfriend enjoys them.
Thank you for recipe
Haley says
Hi Jennifer – Sorry to hear you found them too sweet. I'd suggest trying them again without the spices you added (allspice, pumpkin pie spice, and cardamom), and if they're too big rolling them into smaller balls for your preference. Adding more salt to your liking was great! Hope your boyfriend liked them!