Chewy Old-Fashioned Molasses Cookies

These cookies are completely perfect.  They are soft and chewy, have just enough spice and molasses flavor without being overwhelming, and they have a coarse sugar crunch on the outside.

Molasses cookies have been around for forever and are most popular around the holidays and throughout the winter months, when warm spicy flavors reign supreme.

I devoured this year's holiday issue of Southern Living Magazine, and that is where I discovered this incredible recipe.

We ended up baking a ton of these to give away as gifts and I got more requests for the recipe than for anything else we  baked this year.  These cookies are so easy to make and one of the best things about them is that the dough requires no chill time, you can go directly from mixing to baking!

I'm re-creating Southern Living's recipe here, and the only change I made was to re-word the instructions for baking on one oven rack at a time, which is what I did when making these.  You can also find the original recipe right here on Southern Living's website.

Chewy Old-Fashioned Molasses Cookies

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• Author: Southern Living (adapted slightly)
• Yield: ~48 cookies

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Ingredients

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• ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
• ¾ cup packed light brown sugar
• ¼ cup light molasses
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 ½ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp kosher salt
• ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
• ¼ tsp ground ginger
• ¼ tsp black pepper
• ½ cup coarse sanding sugar (I used Demerara)

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Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375F with rack in the center of the oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
2. Beat butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
3. Add molasses and vanilla and beat on low speed just until combined.
4. Add egg, and beat on medium speed until mixture thickens slightly, about 30 seconds to one minute.
5. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and pepper. Gradually add to butter mixture, beating on low speed after each addition until just combined. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl to make sure all of the dry mixture has been incorporated.
6. Place sanding sugar in a shallow dish or bowl, and drop cookie dough by heaping tablespoonfuls (or use a large cookie scoop) into the sugar and roll to coat. Place dough balls onto prepared baking sheets 2 inches apart.
7. Bake until cookies are just set, 8 to 9 minutes, rotating pans halfway through. Cool on pans 5 minutes and then remove to wire racks to cool completely. Allow pans to cool (or use new baking sheets, you can re-use the same parchment paper) and repeat above steps with remaining cookie dough.

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