Notes of caramel, molasses, and fragrant spice make these brown butter ginger molasses cookies a standout for cookie exchanges and holiday gatherings. With ground and candied ginger, plus cinnamon, nutmeg, and black pepper, these cookies are super flavorful, balanced, and oh-so-delicious.
The Best Cookies
The best cookies go beyond the basics of buttery sweetness and offer something more complex. These brown butter ginger molasses cookies are packed with flavor – coated in big grains of turbinado sugar and juuuuuuust crisp on the outside, they yield to a supremely satisfying, chewy bite with notes of caramel and layers of gingery spice, all balanced by the sharp edge of molasses and black pepper.
Ginger Molasses Cookies: Step by Step
These ginger molasses cookies come together pretty simply, but they do need some time to chill between steps.
The first step is to brown the butter. This recipe does best with butter that’s just edged golden brown. Once the butter starts to brown, it can burn quickly, so keep a close eye. Once the butter is browned, add the fresh ginger. The butter will froth up a bit here, but a wooden spoon placed across the saucepan will keep the butter from bubbling over.
Give the warm butter mixture time to cool before proceeding to the next steps.
Stir the spices, sugar, molasses, and vanilla into the cooled butter mixture. Fresh, delicious spices are key here, so make sure your ginger and cinnamon are nice and fragrant. Once the dough is prepped, it should be chilled at least 2 hours or overnight. This gives this relatively soft dough time to firm up, but it also helps the flour hydrate and allows flavors to develop, so don’t skip this step!
When you’re ready to bake the cookies, use a #40 (2-tablespoon sized) cookie scoop to ensure the cookies are uniform. If you don’t have a scoop you can also measure the dough balls – they should be about 30g each. Roll the cookies in a large-grained sugar like turbinado or demerara to give them sweetness and crunch. Cane sugar will do in a pinch, but the large grain sugars are really nice here.
Notes of caramel, molasses, and fragrant spice make these brown butter ginger molasses cookies a standout for cookie exchanges and holiday gatherings. With ground and candied ginger, plus cinnamon, nutmeg, and black pepper, these cookies are super flavorful, balanced, and oh-so-delicious.
Recipe adapted from Sohla El-Waylly for The New York Times.
- 16 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3 tablespoons peeled, finely grated fresh ginger
- 1 tablespoon ground ginger
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt (I used Diamond Crystal – reduce by half if using another salt)
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons unsulphured molasses
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons finely chopped candied ginger
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Place butter in a medium-sized saucepan and set over medium heat. Stirring often, melt butter, let it froth up and then recede. At this point the milk solids in the butter will begin to turn golden. Remove from heat just as they edge golden brown. Remove pan from heat and carefully stir in the fresh ginger. Set saucepan in the fridge for 20 minutes.
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Remove saucepan from the fridge. Stir in the spices, salt, sugar, molasses, vanilla, and baking soda. Scrape mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment or into a mixing bowl and use a handheld mixer. With mixer on medium, beat in the egg until mixture is pale and frothy. Switch speed to low and fold in the flour, scraping down the sides as needed and mixing just until combined. Fold in the candied ginger, mixing just until combined.
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Turn dough out onto a sheet of plastic wrap. Flatten into a disc, wrap tightly, and chill in the fridge 2 hours or overnight.
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When ready to bake, preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment.
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Use a 2 tablespoon sized cookie scoop to measure the dough. Roll dough into a sphere, set in the sugar bowl, and toss to coat. Arrange on cookie sheet, allowing 4 inches between cookies. Chill dough in the fridge for 10 minutes.
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Bake cookies 10 minutes, remove from oven, and cool on cookie sheet 10 minutes. Use a spatula to move them to a wire rack to cool completely.
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These cookies are best eaten the day they’re baked but they’re still delicious after a day or two.
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