Chai Molasses Cookies

Everyone needs cozy cookies during the holidays! These Chai Molasses Cookies are filled with the most delicious warming spices, have a chewy center and just slightly crispy edges. The perfect comforting cookie to bring holiday cheer!

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About this Chai Ginger Cookies Recipe

There’s a lot of talk of cookies during the holiday season. I made the chai ginger cookies lately and they were an absolute knock-out! They have the best chewy center with just slightly crispy edges, truly a cookie that stands out among the others.

I love to make these for a cookie swap or to add to dessert platters. They’re an easy crowd-pleasing recipe that always turns out so tasty. Serve alongside some homemade apple cider for the most cozy and warming treat.

These chai molasses cookies are a go-to when I want to impress someone. When I make them for parties, I always get asked for my recipe! Not to brag, but I can see why because these cookies are dangerously addicitive!

Chai ginger cookies are are ever-so-slightly spicy with the perfect balance of sweetness. That bite of ginger with the warming spices of chai is so tasty! And the molasses is key to making the cookies chewy. You’re going to love this easy winter-inspired cookie recipe.

More chai recipes: Chai Old Fashioned Cocktail • Chai Snickerdoodles • Chai Syrup

Why you’ll love this recipe

There is so much to love about these Chai Molasses Cookies:

• These are always crowd-pleaser! They’re unique enough to add an element of surpirse, but have a classic flavor that everyone will enjoy.
• Make the cookie dough ahead of time to bake the next day. It’s a great way to save on prep time for your holiday parties.
• One batch of this recipes yields two dozens cookies! Easily serve a crowd — or eat all the cookies yourself, I’m not judging.

Tools & equipment

You’ll need measuring cups and spoons, mixing bowls and a stand mixer or hand mixer to make the cookie dough. Make sure that you’ve got a few baking sheets and parchment paper to bake the cookies, and you’ll also need plastic wrap.

A cookie scoop or ice cream scoop will help you make evenly sized cookie dough balls. And you will need a few wire cooling racks to cool the cookies as well!

Ingredients

Don’t let the long list of ingredient deter you! Most everything you need will likely already be in your pantry or spice cabinet. You can even substitute a pre-made chai spice blend for all the spices. The recipe is still incredibly simple to follow! Here’s what you’ll need:

• all-purpose flour
• baking soda
• ground cinnamon
• ground nutmeg
• ground ginger
• ground cardamom
• ground allspice
• black pepper
• coarse salt
• unsalted butter
• packed light brown sugar
• granulated sugar
• large eggs
• unsulfured molasses
• vegetable oil

Substitutions & variations

Gluten-free cookies: You can use gluten-free all purpose flour to make these cookies without gluten! The texture may end up a tad different, but don’t be afraid to give it a shot.

Butter swaps: Salted butter can be used in place of unsalted! Just keep in mind that you’ll likely need to reduce the amount of salt that the recipe calls for.

Sugar substitutes: Dark brown sugar works great in this recipe too. And if you’d like to reduce the amount of refined sugar in this recipe, swap the granulated white sugar for coconut sugar.

Chai options: You can swap all of the individual chai spices for a combo chai spice mixture if you have it on hand!

Instructions

Let’s make these delicious Molasses Chai Cookies!

1. In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cardamom, allspice, black pepper and salt then set the dry ingredients aside.
2. Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment or a hand mixer, beat together the butter, brown sugar and ½ cup granulated sugar on medium speed until the mixture is smooth, about 3 minutes. Mix in the eggs one at a time, then add the molasses and oil.
3. Reduce the speed of the mixer to low, then gradually add in the spiced flour mixture until well-combined. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate it for 1 hour or overnight.

4. Preheat the oven to 325°F (163°C) and then line a baking sheet or two with parchment paper. Put remaining ¼ cup of granulated sugar in a small bowl. Then form 1¾-inch balls of dough with your hands or an ice cream scoop.
5. Roll the balls in the sugar to coat, and place them onto the lined baking sheets spaced 3 inches apart. These cookies do spread a lot! Be sure to space them out well.
6. Bake for 17 minutes, rotating the baking sheet halfway through. The cookies are done when they are flat and the centers are set. Allow them to cool entirely on wire racks.
7. Store cookies between layers of parchment paper in an airtight container at room temperature. The cookies will keep up to 5 days when stored this way.

Tips & tricks

These few tips and tricks will help your chai molasses cookies turn out wonderfully:

• Allow your eggs and butter to come to room temperature before adding to the other cookie ingredients. It will ensure they mix evenly throughout the dough.
• Don’t skip refrigerating the dough! It helps stabilize the butter which is key to making these cookies chewy.
• These cookies spread a lot! Be sure to space them out well.
• It is really important to let the cookies cool completely before storing. If there’s any warmth left in the cookies, it will create condensation in the container and make the cookies pretty soggy.

Food pairings

These cookies go so well with other cookies. They’re perfect for holiday cookie trays alongside pretty snowflake sugar cookies and marshmallow-y avalanche cookies. We love chai around here, so you could also make chai snickerdoodles and chai muffins to go with them.

And of course, they’re delicious with a cup of French press coffee or a latte with chai syrup mixed in. A boozy chai old-fashioned cocktail would be the perfect late-night companion.

FAQ

ABOUT THE SWEETEST SEASON

This recipe is part of The Sweetest Season, an annual virtual cookie swap co-hosted by Erin of The Speckled Palate and myself. Every year, we get a big group of food bloggers together to share new holiday cookie recipes.

This year we are raising money for Cookies 4 Kids’ Cancer, which is a recognized 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to funding research for new, innovative and less-toxic treatments for childhood cancer.

This season, OXO will be matching every dollar raised through Dec. 31, 2023, up to $100,000. Whatever money we raise will automatically double on our fundraising page!

Donate now!

More Cookies Recipes

• Snowflake Sugar Cookies
• Hot Chocolate Cookies
• White Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies
• Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chai Molasses Cookies

Yield: 2 dozen

Prep Time: 1 hour hour 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 17 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour 37 minutes minutes

Sweet molasses, spicy ginger and chai flavors make these chewy Chai Molasses Cookies stand out above the rest. They're perfect for the holidays!

5 from 1 vote

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ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
• ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
• ¼ teaspoon ground allspice
• ⅛ teaspoon black pepper
• ½ teaspoon coarse salt
• ½ cup unsalted butter
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• ½ cup granulated sugar plus ½ cup for rolling
• 2 large eggs
• ½ cup unsulfured molasses
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

instructions

• In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cardamom, allspice, black pepper and salt. Set aside.
• In an electric mixer with the paddle attachment, mix together butter, brown sugar and ½ cup granulated sugar on medium speed until the mixture is smooth, about 3 minutes. Mix in the eggs one at a time, then add the molasses and oil.
• Reduce the speed to low. Gradually add in the spiced flour mixture until well-combined. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate it for 1 hour or overnight.
• Preheat the oven to 325°F (165°C) . Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Put remaining ¼ cup of granulated sugar in a bowl. Form 1¾-inch balls of dough with your hands or an ice cream scoop. Roll the balls in the sugar to coat, and space 3 inches apart on the lined baking sheets. (The dough spreads so do give them space.)
• Bake for 17 minutes, rotating the baking sheet halfway through. The cookies are done when they are flat and the centers are set. Let cool entirely on wire racks. Store cookies between layers of parchment paper in an airtight container at room temperature. Cookies will keep up to 5 days.

notes

Ingredient notes: Allow your eggs and butter to come to room temperature before adding to the other cookie ingredients. It will ensure they mix evenly throughout the dough.

Tips for better cookies: Don’t skip refrigerating the dough! It helps stabilize the butter which is key to making these cookies chewy. Also, these cookies spread a lot! Be sure to space them out well on the cookie sheet.

Storage tips: It is really important to let the cookies cool completely before storing. If there’s any warmth left in the cookies, it will create condensation in the container and make the cookies pretty soggy.

Based on the Chewy Molasses Crinkles recipe in Martha Stewart’s Cookies: The Very Best Treats to Bake and to Share

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cookie scoop set

silicone baking mat

aluminum half sheet pan

nutrition information

Yield: 2 dozen

amount per serving:

Serving: 1cookie Calories: 122kcal Carbohydrates: 25g Protein: 2g Fat: 2g Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g Cholesterol: 16mg Sodium: 109mg Sugar: 17g

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