These old-fashioned molasses cookies with white chocolate icing will bring back memories!
We use our grandmother’s authentic recipe from more than 100 years ago and give it a tiny update with white chocolate icing.
Did you know there’s a secret to the best molasses cookies? It’s full-flavored molasses! Deep, dark, and full-bodied, so the flavor is rich and traditional.
In this classic recipe from grandmother, we use Brer Rabbit (unsulfured) full-flavored molasses, just like she did. Can you believe that brand has been around that long?! Pretty cool.
If you don’t have that brand available, just look for full-flavored, unsulfured molasses. Molasses made from ripe sugar cane is called unsulfured molasses because it has no additives.
You can also use blackstrap molasses in this recipe, but it will require adding more sugar to balance any bitterness.
Our Molasses Cookie Tradition
One of my husband’s fond memories was receiving a coffee can full of his grandmother’s soft, chewy molasses cookies each year at Christmas.
One year, determined to bring this childhood memory alive for him, I saved a coffee can to pack the same cookie recipe and placed it under the tree. I wondered if the residual aroma of the coffee somehow penetrated the cookies—the secret ingredient, if you will.
Let me just say it was tough to match what he remembers. (Some women are convinced their mother-in-law leaves out something in a recipe, so it is never just like what she made for him.)
“Close,” he said, but still not the same as Grandma’s.
I decided close was good enough.
Our traditions serve as ballast, connecting generations in continuity.
Stories of favorite memories, recipes, quirky habits, scriptures, sacred moments—whatever makes the holiday uniquely memorable.
Grandma Sarah’s Molasses Cookies
Years ago, when Grandma Sarah wrote out the recipe card for me, I was careful to save it.
The significance of carrying on this tradition didn’t sink in until a few months before her 102nd birthday she passed away.
As we mingled and traded stories after the funeral, a cousin began to reminisce about receiving her molasses cookies as a kid (evidently, it was a fond memory for all the grandchildren). Another lamented they had no idea if the recipe had ever been written down.
At that moment, it felt like I held something sacred, a precious generational memory. They were all relieved to know the recipe was not lost.
A few weeks later, the original recipe arrived in the mail with a few other keepsakes from Sarah’s life. To say I felt honored to have her mother’s molasses cookie recipe is an understatement.
No one knows for sure if it is her own handwriting or her mother’s.
Looking at them side-by-side, I suspect it was how her mother passed the recipe on to her, now ready to be passed on to a fourth generation.
Grandma’s comments on the recipe card:
“This is a double recipe. I have better luck if the dough is stiff. This is my mother’s recipe. She made good molasses cookies—Good Luck.”
−Grandma Sarah
Yes, Grandma Sarah, your mother did make good molasses cookies and based on the fond memories of your grandchildren, you did too. Love, Judy
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Old Fashioned Molasses Cookies Get A Modern Twist
Grandma’s Molasses Cookies are still a central theme to our holiday baking each year, stirring childhood memories not only for my husband but for our kids as well.
This recipe is an adjusted version of Grandma Sarah’s old-fashioned molasses cookies to include butter instead of shortening and a simple icing of melted white chocolate. Of course, you’re welcome to use the original ingredients if you like.
Molasses Cookies with White Chocolate Icing Step by Step
- Use full-flavored, unsulfured molasses.
- Mix dough, adding enough flour to make a stiff dough.
- Roll half the dough on a floured surface to 1/4-inch thick.
- Stamp with a cookie-cutter into 2-inch rounds.
- Bake at 375°F for 8-9 minutes on a parchment-lined cookie sheet. Cool on a wire rack.
- Melt white chocolate and spread on top of each cookie in a thin layer with the back of a spoon.
- Cool completely until the chocolate is set.
TIPS & Variations
- I find that brown sugar helps to keep the cookies soft, but white sugar can also be used.
- Adding vinegar to baking soda is an old-fashioned way of activating the soda if they didn’t have baking powder, giving baked goods a little lift. We still use the method to preserve the tradition.
- Due to the dark color, it can be difficult to know if the cookie is done. It is best to test one or two at 8 or 9 minutes rather than over-baking so the cookies remain chewy.
- Use royal icing instead of white chocolate to frost the cookies.
- Yields 4 1/2 dozen 2-inch cookies.
More Christmas Baking Recipes You’ll Love
- The BEST Sugar Cookies
- Orange-Ginger Biscotti
- Ghirardelli Brownie Cookies: Soft Centers and Chewy Edges
- Russian Tea Cakes
- Peppermint Chip Chocolate Cookies [Gluten-Free]
- Blueberry Cream Cheese Christmas Stollen
- Sprouted Whole Wheat Cinnamon Rolls
Grandma’s Molasses Cookies with White Chocolate Icing
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoons vinegar
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour , organic, unbleached
- 1 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoons ground cloves
- 1 teaspoons ground ginger
- Pinch sea salt
- 3/4 cups Brer Rabit Full Flavor Molasses
- 1 cups brown sugar , or regular granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 cup butter , softened, or non-hydrogenated shortening
- 1 pound Ghirardelli White Melting Chocolate , melted (optional)
Instructions
- Heat oven to 375°F.
- Dissolve baking soda in vinegar. Sift 2 cups flour with 1 teaspoon each of cinnamon, ground cloves, and ground ginger, and a pinch of sea salt.
- Mix 3/4 cup molasses, 1 cup packed brown sugar, 2 eggs, 1/2 cup butter, and dissolved baking soda together in a large mixing bowl.
- Stir in flour and spice mixture. Add more flour 1/4 cup at a time until the dough is pretty stiff—1/2 to 3/4 cup more total.
- Divide the dough in half. Roll out one half at a time on a lightly floured surface to 1/4" thickness. Stamp with a cookie-cutter into 2" rounds. If the dough is sticky, use a pastry knife to lift cookies from the counter.
- Bake at 375°F for 8-10 minutes on a parchment-lined cookie sheet until cookies are set and just beginning to brown at the edges. Cool on a wire rack.
- Once cookies are cooled, melt white chocolate in a double boiler until smooth. Spread melted chocolate on top of each cookie in a thin layer with the back of a spoon. Set on a wax paper-lined tray and allow to cool completely until chocolate is set.
Notes
- I find that brown sugar helps to keep the cookies soft, but white sugar can also be used.
- Adding vinegar to baking soda is an old-fashioned way of activating the baking soda if they didn’t have baking powder. We still use the method to preserve the tradition.
- Due to the dark color, it can be difficult to know if the cookie is done. It is best to test one or two at 8 or 9 minutes rather than over-baking so the cookies remain chewy.
Nutrition
Kimberli Ann Edwards says
These are absolutely delicious! I did make a few changes I did not have quite enough molasses, I only had a half a cup so I made up the additional fourth of a cup with apple butter. My second change is I did not roll these out all I did was scoop them in a cookie scoop and place them on the pan.They made the most delicious soft cakey warm spicy cookies I’ve ever had in my life. I am so glad I found this recipe! Try it you will not be disappointed I promise!
Judy Purcell says
Hi Kimberli, thanks so much for letting me know you enjoyed these so much! We love them too! And this year, I’m going to skip rolling them out and do the scoop method you mention. 🙂
Kary says
These remind me of the cookies my grandma made for us years ago. Thank you for stirring the memory!
Dawn says
Help….I am an experienced baker and trying to make these cookies – I added lots of flour and it’s still sticky! What am I doing wrong?
Judy Purcell says
Hi Dawn,
I’m sure you didn’t do anything wrong, the molasses can make the dough sticky, so you’ll need a floured board to roll them out. Otherwise, you might try rolling it into a log, cover with plastic wrap, and chill the dough so you can cut them instead. 1/4″ thickness works pretty well. This was one of those recipes I had to get a feel for since I wasn’t given an exact measure of flour. You shouldn’t need to add more than 5 cups in total.
Dawn says
Judy……the cookies were a success! Although the dough was really sticky…i add more flour and mixed with my hands, rolled into balls and rolled in Sugar in the Raw. They were awesome! My co-worker (who doesn’t just say things to be nice) Said they were REALLY, REALLY GOOD!
Thank you for sharing! It’s a keeper!
Shannon says
Slightly late, but thank you so much for linking up to Friday Food last week on Momtrends.com! I just love this. The recipe I shared was my gram’s and I think her mother’s as well (I’d have to ask my mom to find out). There is something extra special about making the same recipes they did, especially with my own kids. ~Shannon
Tinkers says
I love your story because it’s very similar to mine but the food to be recreated was YaYa’s noodles! I finally got it right last year and even made my uncle cry when he tried them.
Just a idea of the missing flavor/ingredient based on Grandma Sarah’s age and that of her mother…..could they have used lard? Crisco wasn’t really popular until the 30’s and for some, it was too expensive when lard could be made at home.
Anyways, thanks for sharing!
Judy Purcell says
Hello, thanks for your comment. I have heard so many stories like this, last year it was a Christmas Bread Wreath that brought tears to a father’s eyes when his daughter recreated her grandmother’s recipe. I love it when food goes beyond the flavor!
Like you, I had wondered about lard, but when she was making them for my husband in the 60’s, I’m pretty sure it was shortening she used. Maybe I’ll have to try the lard some time, just to see.
Alea Milham says
What a special recipe! I treasure the handwritten recipes that have been passed down through the generations. I have my great grandmother’s cookbook from finishing school. I love that she scratched out recipes and wrote her modifications. Thank you for sharing this treasure with the Hearth and Soul Hop.
Pati says
How wonderful for you to hold such a sweet memory, to then be handed down to your girls.
Three-Cookies says
This sounds like a more flavourful version of gingerbread/gingernut cookie. Molases would add great flavour and aroma
Kathryn Coulibaly says
What a beautiful post. This time of year I can’t help but think of my grandmothers and how much I miss them. Thanks for a really lovely – and edible – way to honor those women who have done so much!
Kathy
spulmano says
Wow. Its an honor to be able to make cookies from someone who’s seen the world for so many years. Thank you for sharing.