Molasses Cookie Comparison
Molasses cookies were an enormous part of my childhood. My mom and I baked her soft gingersnaps together nearly each December—I even published her recipe in Sally’s Baking Addiction cookbook. Over the years, I’ve shared many molasses cookie recipes on my website and in my cookbooks. Most stem from the same-ish recipe, so let’s review each:
Soft Molasses Cookies: Super chewy with soft centers. Soft White Chocolate Chip Molasses Cookies: Studded with white chocolate chips, these cookies are tender, lusciously soft, and mega chewy. You’ll love the combination of cozy spices and white chocolate. Soft Gingersnap Molasses Cookies: These flavorful cookies are fat and fluffy! Ginger Pistachio Cookies: I added salty pistachios to my mom’s classic recipe. These ginger molasses cookies are soft, salty, sweet, and wonderfully spiced. Find this recipe in Sally’s Cookie Addiction cookbook. Chocolate Ginger Cookies: These are an elevated twist to our classic molasses cookies. You’ll appreciate the added cocoa flavor and how they are beautifully finished with dark chocolate and crystalized ginger.
What Makes These Crisp Molasses Cookies Different?
It seems like we’ve done it all in the molasses cookie world. But my my my, we are so very mistaken. We’ve never ventured over to the other side. You know, the crunchy side. The under appreciated, mega traditional crisp molasses cookies. They snap when you break them in half, a drastic change from “slow bend” oatmeal scotchies. But they’re not only snappy in texture. They’ve got some SUPER snappy flavor too! Deeply spiced, a big ol’ nod to my spiced gingerbread loaf. We’re talking lots of ground cloves and cinnamon, with a dose of ginger and lots of dark molasses. These cookies are exactly what I associate with Christmas and a tall glass of cold milk.
The Science Behind the Crispy Texture
What makes these molasses cookies crispy molasses cookies?
Granulated Sugar: In today’s recipe, we use all granulated sugar in our cookie dough. Granulated sugar helps encourage spread and also creates a crispier cookie. Think about it: there’s no moisture in granulated sugar. Meaning there’s not much softness, no tenderness, etc. Unlike brown sugar, which creates a soft-baked texture in recipes like my chocolate chip cookies. Molasses: Adding a liquid (in this case, molasses) to the cookie dough weighs it down. This means that the cookies have that beautiful molasses flavor and come out a little thinner. Thinner cookies tend to be more crispy. Sugar for Rolling: Try rolling the cookie dough balls in a coarse sugar. I use half Sugar in the Raw and half regular granulated sugar for rolling. I like the larger granules with the more fine granules. The combination makes pretty cookies AND adds extra crunch. Bake Time: A few extra minutes in the oven produces a crispier edge.
How to Make Crisp Molasses Cookies
These cookies are fun to watch baking and cooling. They puff up in the oven, gently crack at the top, then slightly fall leaving valleys of crinkles. So much character in each cookie. 🙂 Crisp molasses cookies are a wonderful make-ahead option for all your holiday baking. Why? The cookies get even crispier by the next day!
More Christmas Cookie Recipes
Gingerbread Cookies Shortbread Cookies Peanut Butter Blossoms Snickerdoodles Rugelach Spritz Cookies Christmas Sugar Cookies Lace Cookies Gingerbread Cookie Bars
And here are 75+ Christmas cookies with all my best success guides & tips.
