Chewy Brown Butter Molasses Cookies

A vintage tray of crinkly molasses cookies with icing.

Chewy Brown Butter Molasses Cookies

Molasses Cookies are thick & chewy, with a crinkly exterior and crisp edges. They have incredible depth of flavor that comes from plenty of ginger, molasses, brown butter, and dark brown sugar. Dunk these in a quick maple glaze for a polished finish and watch them fly off the plate during the holiday season (or any time of year!)

Course Cookies, Dessert

Cuisine Dessert

Keyword Molasses Cookies, Chewy Molasses Cookies, Christms Cookies

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 10

Servings cookies

Calories 349kcal

Author Stephanie Simmons

Ingredients

For the Molasses Cookies

14 tbsp salted butter 200 grams before browning, 156 grams after - See Notes
1/3 cup + 1 tbsp molasses 130 mL
3/4 cup dark brown sugar 163 grams
3/4 cup granulated sugar 156 grams
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 and 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, spooned & leveled 423 grams
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp ground ginger
1 and 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
extra granulated sugar, for rolling

For the Maple Glaze

3 tbsp maple syrup 45 grams
1 cup powdered sugar 130 grams
pinch of cinnamon
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
milk as needed, to thin the glaze

Instructions

Brown the Butter (Optional): Add butter to a medium saucepan over medium heat. Melt the butter, stirring occasionally. Once it's melted, turn the heat to medium-low, and continue cooking the butter, stirring frequently. The butter will get foamy and bubbly, then turn a deep golden shade with a nutty, caramely aroma. (This will take about 4-6 minutes once the butter has melted.) Pour into a large bowl, making sure to scrape in the brown bits from the bottom of the pan, and allow to cool in the freezer for 40 minutes while you gather the other ingredients. (See note about brown butter & skipping this step below.)
Make the Dough: Add the cooled brown butter (or melted & cooled regular butter) to a large mixing bowl and whisk in the molasses. Add the sugars and whisk to combine. Add the eggs and vanilla, and whisk until smooth and combined, about 30-45 seconds. Stir in the dry ingredients, making sure to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl to get any hidden dry bits from the flour mixture. (You can also do this part with a mixer.)
Chill the Dough: Scoop dough balls that are 70 grams (2.5 ounces) in size (about 3.5 tbsp) and chill in the freezer for at least 30 minutes, or in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
Smaller Cookies: You can make cookies 35-40 grams in size to stretch the recipe yield. Bake for 8-10 minutes. The recipe will yield about 26 cookies with 40 gram dough balls.
Bake: Preheat your oven to 365℉. Line a few cookie sheets with parchment paper. Roll dough balls in granulated sugar and place 5-6 on a cookie sheet, leaving space for them to spread. Keep remaining dough balls in the fridge while each cookie sheet bakes.
Bake cookies for 12-13 minutes. They will be a little puffy and crinkly on top, and the edges will appear set. Immediately place a round cutter around the outside of each cookie and swirl the cookie within it to "scoot" them into perfect circles. This also helps them appear thicker.
Place baking sheet on a wire rack to let the cookies cool for at least 20-30 minutes.
Make the Glaze. Whisk together all glaze ingredients and adjust to taste.
Serve + Store: Dip the warm or cooled cookies in the glaze or drizzle it on. Enjoy cookies immediately, or let the glaze set! Store cooled cookies with the glaze in single layers in airtight containers in the fridge for 5-7 days. Unglazed cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for 4-5 days.
Make Ahead Tips: Cookie dough can be balled, frozen on a sheet pan until solid, then transferred to a freezer bag or airtight container. Freeze for 1-2 months. Bake from frozen, adding 1-2 mins to the bake time. You can also refrigerate the dough balls for 2-3 days before baking.

Notes

A note about Brown Butter: When you brown butter, you will lose some of the volume, as some of the water content in the butter will evaporate. This is why we begin with 14 tablespoons although the quantity we want to end up with for the recipe is 11 tablespoons.

Regular Butter: If you don’t want to brown your butter (but why not!?) use 156 grams or 11 tablespoons of regular salted butter instead.

Brown Sugar: I prefer the depth of flavor that dark brown sugar adds in this recipe, and it works exceptionally well for molasses cookies, but you can use light brown sugar in a pinch.

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