Chewy Gluten-Free Molasses Cookies

These gluten-free molasses cookies are incredibly chewy and feature deep molasses notes and warm hints of holiday spices. This post is sponsored by Bob’s Red Mill and contains affiliate links. Please see my disclosures.

Holiday baking season is truly the most wonderful time of the year for us wannabe professional bakers.

I strive to add a new cookie to my recipe repertoire each year. This year, I decided to bake soft and chewy molasses cookies.

Many people confuse molasses cookies with gingersnap cookies, and with good reason. Both cookies contain the same ingredients – flour, butter, sugar, molasses, and holiday spices like cinnamon, cloves, and ginger. While they have similar ingredients, the cookies taste quite different.

Molasses cookies are soft-baked and chewy, whereas gingersnap cookies bake longer and turn out crispy and crunchy.

In this article, I’ll discuss a bit more about how molasses works in baked goods, what flour to use, and how to make the most wonderful chewy gluten-free molasses cookies of your life!

Baking with Molasses

Baking with molasses nets a chewy, soft, and sweet cookie that is genuinely melt-in-your-mouth delicious.

Molasses is gluten-free as long as it’s the only ingredient in the jar. Always check the product label to ensure no other ingredients have been added. I encourage you to read more about the different brands of gluten-free molasses in this article.

While molasses adds sweetness to your baked goods, it’s not as sweet as sugar and can even be bitter. Molasses contains antioxidants and small amounts of essential minerals such as phosphorus, calcium, iron, and magnesium.

Use either light or dark molasses when making sweet desserts. The darker the molasses, the fuller the flavor. That said, avoid baking with blackstrap molasses. It works best in savory dishes like baked beans and BBQ sauces.

Best Flour for Gluten-Free Cookie Baking

If you’re baking gluten-free cookies, I highly recommend using Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 Gluten-Free Flour Blend because it measures cup-for-cup to wheat flour.

For example, if a recipe calls for two cups of all-purpose flour, use two cups of Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 Gluten-Free Flour Blend, which is made from a blend of flours, starches, and xanthan gum (binder).

Remember, gluten is the glue that holds your cookies together and prevents them from crumbling. Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 Gluten-Free Flour Blend mimics the function of gluten, a protein found in wheat, rye, barley, and sometimes oats so that your cookies hold together and have a wonderful texture despite being gluten free.

Ingredients for Gluten-Free Molasses Cookies

My gluten-free molasses cookies are fairly easy to make. You’ll need the following ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 Gluten Free Baking Flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tablespoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar, plus additional sugar for rolling out the dough
• 1/3 cup molasses
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Making the Cookie Dough

To make the cookie dough, whisk together your flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and salt in a medium bowl. Set it aside.

Next, add the softened butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar to a large bowl and cream the ingredients together for about 1-2 minutes or until light and fluffy. 

Add the molasses, egg, and vanilla extract to the butter-sugar mixture and blend until smooth. 

Gradually add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix until no more streaks of flour remain, and you have a beautiful cookie dough. Please note the dough will be sticky to the touch.

Chill the dough in the refrigerator for an hour until it becomes firm and is no longer sticky. Chilling will allow the flour to hydrate and reduce the grittiness of the cookies.

Baking the Cookies

While the dough is chilling, preheat your oven to 350º F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Scoop out 1-inch balls of dough and roll each in granulated sugar before placing them on your baking sheet, leaving about 3 inches between each dough ball.

I can typically get 6-8 cookies on my baking sheet, and you’ll be able to make about 18 cookies in total. Bake the cookies in batches, storing the raw dough in the fridge until it’s ready to go into your oven.

Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes or until the edges are set. Remove the cookies from the oven and allow them to cool for five minutes on the baking sheet before transferring them to a cooling rack to finish cooling. Repeat the baking process with the remaining cookie dough until all molasses cookies are baked.

You’re now ready to enjoy these wonderful chewy molasses cookies, which, as you can see, are loaded with holiday spices and hints of bittersweet molasses.

This festive cookie is perfect for your holiday cookie exchanges and Christmas parties. Cookie lovers rejoice!

Icing the Cookies

To make the cookies look a little more festive, dip half of each cookie in melted white chocolate and top with colorful holiday sprinkles before the chocolate sets. (Read more about which brands of sprinkles are gluten free.)

Chocolate and sprinkles elevate these cookies and give them a little festive look.

FAQs, Substitutions, and Troubleshooting

Here are some tips for making the best gluten-free molasses cookies ever.

Chill that Dough! You must chill the cookie dough before baking. It will prevent the dough from being too sticky and deter it from over-spreading in the oven. Chilling also will improve the overall texture and flavor of the cookies. The flour will have time to hydrate, which reduces grittiness.

Space Dough Balls Wisely: You’ll bake these cookies in dough balls (do not flatten), so they will spread in perfect circles. Be sure to place the dough balls about 3 inches apart and bake the cookies in batches. Keep the dough balls refrigerated until you’re ready to bake them.

Make-Ahead Instructions: I always think these cookies taste best on day one. If you want to prepare the cookies ahead of time, prepare the dough as instructed and then shape the dough into balls. Freeze the dough balls in a zip-top bag. When you’re ready to bake the cookies, defrost the dough balls, roll them in sugar, and bake. Alternatively, you could bake the cookies, place them in a freezer-safe zip-top bag, and then place the baked cookies in your freezer. They will keep in your freezer for up to three months.

Flour Alternatives: This recipe has only been tested using Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 Gluten-Free Baking Flour. You can use another gluten-free flour blend at your discretion. Do not use almond flour. Please note that Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 Gluten-Free Baking Flour contains xanthan gum already. If your flour blend does not contain xanthan gum, add 1 teaspoon for every cup of flour. For this recipe, you’ll need 2 1/2 teaspoons of xanthan gum.

Dairy-Free Option: You can make these cookies dairy free by using a dairy-free butter option.

Egg-Free Option: I haven’t tested this recipe without egg, but if you want to try it, I highly recommend this egg replacer from Bob’s Red Mill.

Sugar Roll: Be sure to roll the cookie dough balls in sugar before baking them to give them a little sparkle. If you have sparkling sugar on hand, you can use that instead of granulated sugar.

Other Cookie Recipes You Might Enjoy

• Gluten-Free Pumpkin Cookies Loaded with Chocolate Chips
• Classic Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies
• No Spread Gluten-Free Sugar Cookie Recipe
• Gluten-Free Maple White Chocolate Cookies
• Gluten-Free Raspberry Thumbprint Cookies
• Amazing and Simple Gluten-Free Frosted Sugar Cookies