Spicy Chai Molasses Cookies are soft and chewy on the inside with deliciously crispy edges. Infused with fragrant chai spices, these take old-fashioned Molasses Cookies to another level! Video.
These soft and chewy Chai Molasses Cookies are very much like old-fashioned molasses cookies but with the addition of flavorful chai spices – cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, black pepper and ginger.
Perhaps these will do nothing for many of you. But to some, it will take you somewhere. Perhaps back to India. Perhaps to the place in dreams, that feel so much like home that slip out of memory once we awake. Going to India felt like that to me. Like I had been there before, like I knew it, so very familiar. Yet, every time I asked myself “why”, the gates of perception in my mind shut down tight. It was while drinking a cup of chai, that an answer like a whisper floated through me, like air – so light and fleeting…
Chai molasses Cookie Ingredients
- Butter (softened): Provides richness and flavor to the cookies.
- Granulated sugar: Adds sweetness and contributes to the texture of the cookies.
- Molasses: Gives the cookies a moist and chewy texture, as well as a rich, deep flavor.
- Egg: Helps bind the ingredients together and adds structure to the cookies.
- All-purpose flour: Provides structure to the cookies and gives them a tender crumb.
- Baking soda: Helps the cookies rise and gives them a slightly crisp texture.
- Salt: Enhances the flavors and balances the sweetness of the cookies.
- Chai spice mix (cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, black pepper, and ginger): Infuses the cookies with warm and aromatic flavors reminiscent of chai tea.
- Coarse sugar (for rolling): Adds a touch of sweetness and provides a beautiful crystallized texture on the cookies.
How to make Chai Molasses Cookies
The recipe is easy and straightforward. Just follow the directions and you’ll be happy with the results. 🙂
Roll the dough into small walnut sized balls and roll in coarse sugar. Place on a parchment-lined sheet pan ( or use a silicone baking mat). Bake for 8-10 minutes, until edges are crisp and cookies begin to crack. As they cool and deflate, they will crackle more.
Soft and chewy with deliciously crispy edges!
And- the cookies stay soft and chewy for several days after being baked, although they may not last that long!
Expert Tips
- Let the butter soften naturally to room temperature. Don’t melt it.
- Weigh the flour if you have a scale. Otherwise, fluff the flour with a fork before measuring, and spoon and level into the measuring cup.
- Check the cookies after 8-9 minutes in the oven- if they haven’t started to spread or crack, wack the tray on the oven rack firmly 1-2 times to initiate that spread. Continue baking 3-4 minutes.
- Making the dough ahead of time and refrigerating will allow you to roll into perfect-sized balls.
These Spicy Chai Molasses Cookies are like a cozy, warm hug from a friend.
Storage
The cookie dough keeps for up to 5 days in the fridge if you want to make it ahead or bake it in smaller batches.
Baked cookies keep for one week at room temperature, or can be frozen for later.
They make a sweet gift to someone who can use a little love. Here are more DIY gift ideas!
Serving Suggestions
Serve with a warm mug of Masala Chai for instant an mood-lifting effect. ✨
More Favorite cookie recipes!
- Coconut Macaroons
- Double Chocolate Chip Cookies (Diablo Cookies!)
- Chewy Triple Ginger Cookies
- Snowball Cookies
- Chocolate Sesame Cookies
- Perfect Shortbread Cookies
- Thumbprint Cookies with Walnuts and Apricot Jam
- Vegan Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies with Hazelnuts
- Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies
- The BEST Vegan Breakfast Cookies
Enjoy the cookies and please remember to rate them for us!
xoxo
Spicy Chai Molasses Cookies video
Spicy Chai Molasses Cookies
- Prep Time: 20
- Cook Time: 15
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 36 1x
- Category: desserts, cookies, sweets, baked goods
- Method: baked
- Cuisine: Indian
Description
Spicy Chai Molasses Cookies are soft and chewy on the inside, crispy on the outside! Seasoned with chai spices, these take old-fashioned Molasses Cookies to another level. These require 1 hour of refrigeration time.
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature (don’t melt, let it come to room temp naturally)
- 2/3 cups granulated (white) sugar
- 2/3 cups packed brown sugar
- 1 extra large egg
- 1/3 cup molasses
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 3 cups (370 grams) of all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- 3 teaspoons baking soda
- 3 teaspoons ground ginger, plus 1 for more spicy
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon cardamom
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
Coarse sugar for rolling
Instructions
- 350 F Oven
- Cream butter and sugars together in a stand mixer or large bowl. Whip until light and fluffy. Add egg, molasses and vanilla, and whip until combined.
- Whisk flour, baking soda, and ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, nutmeg, pepper and salt together in a medium bowl, whisk until well combined. If you can weigh the flour, do so, otherwise, spoon the flour into the measuring cup, then level.
- Gradually add flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix well.
- Refrigerate for 1-2 hours or overnight, so they are easier to roll. Roll into walnut-sized balls, then coat all sides with the turbinato sugar.
- Place on a parchment-lined sheet pan, 3 inches apart. ( Or use a silpat!)
- Bake, *check at 8-9 minutes. If they haven’t started spreading and cracking, wack the tray firmly on the oven rack to start the spread. Continue baking 3-4 more minutes until the edges are crispy and visible crackling appears. Let stand 5 minutes, then cool on a wire rack. They will crack more as they cool. Soft and chewy with crispy edges, to me, the perfect cookie!
Notes
Use naturally softened butter- don’t melt. Weigh the flour if you can. Dough will freeze for future baking.
Gluten Free: Sub Bob’s Red Mill GF Four Blend, one for one.
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 122
- Sugar: 9.1 g
- Sodium: 123.7 mg
- Fat: 5.4 g
- Saturated Fat: 3.3 g
- Carbohydrates: 17.2 g
- Fiber: 0.4 g
- Protein: 1.3 g
- Cholesterol: 18.7 mg
Any ideas about gluten free flour for this recipe? Wondering if the amount should change.
Great question and I’m not sure! I think GF flour would work, but not sure if you’ll get the crackle? But try it! Let me know how it goes!
The flavor of this cookie is PHENOMENAL. The spices come through so beautifully. I didn’t get any cracking though. Any clue why? Wonderful crispy edges, soft inside. WOW! We are amazed.
It has to do with the flour measurement. Did you weigh or measure?
Weighed! I actually figured out that it was the sugar. First batch I didn’t roll in sugar. No cracking. Second batch I did, and there was cracking, not quite as much as yours, but they did crack!
Ok great to hear!
Am very excited about making these cookies, but where I live our supplies are extremely limited. Can I translate
– molasses to silan (date syrup)?
– pearl sugar for plain regular sugar?
– large to regular eggs?
Thank you!
I think the date syrup and eggs are fine. But not sure about the pearl sugar. Could you grind it finer?
Looking at the nutrition notes – is a serving one or two cookies?
One cookie
😉 😁
Hi, in the recipe which type of brown sugar is used? Granulated (like demerara) or soft lightbrown sugar/dark brown sugar? Thanks!
I’ve used both here with good results. I prefer dark brown though.
These deserve 5 stars! Excellent spice mix, they are wonderful. I think the 1 inch cookie scoop is off, I used my #40 scoop which is about 2 tbs and that worked much better. I’m wondering how your cookies came out so dark..I used fancy molasses and demerara sugar, and my cookies came out a medium brown. Any ideas why yours would be so much darker than mine? Thanks for such a tasty, complex tasting cookie recipe!
I’m not sure Barbie? Maybe it is just the photo??
These cookies were amazing! The flavor combination was out of this world and the texture was perfect. I followed the recipe exactly. My family is definitely looking forward to me making these again!
Awesome, great to hear- thanks Tory! 🙌
Made these today to go along with the emerald dal. Turned out well, as expected!
I am a huge chi fan and absolutely loved the taste of these cookies. But I could not achieve the crackle even with weighing the flour (380 grams) and baking for 11 minutes. I am glad I froze some of the dough so I will try again and check oven temp carefully first. Also, I substituted some minced crystalized ginger for an extra zing. Yum.
Did the cookies flatten? Or were they mounded?
Hi I’m making these today and wanted to know if I can freeze the dough to bake as needed since I’m not sure how many 1x the recipe makes? It says 36 at the bottom but didn’t change when I up the recipe. Also will it be fine with 1 large egg instead of extra large?
Thanks!!
Yes, totally fine with a large egg- and feel free to freeze the dough!
I agree with a reviewer who wrote that these soft, chewy cookies taste like a mug of warm chai. I usually have great self-control with treats but all bets are off with these cookies.
haha- love it!
I finally know what all the fuss is about! Just delivered some to my Mom as a quarantine Easter treat and she just texted “these are the best cookies you’ve ever made!” I can’t take the credit through 🙂 Turned out perfectly, I weighed the flour, thanks for that tip! I like mine a tiny bit crispier so baked 12 minutes. Thank you for this new family favorite comfort cookie!!!
Thanks so much, Angie. Glad you liked it and that it was worthy enough for the tin. 🙂 xo
These are ridiculously delicious!!! I’ll make these forever. I gave them to 5 friends and they all freaked out too. Just the best.
You are so sweet- thanks Marianne, love that you gave some away!
My daughter made the chai cookies at christmas and all of us LOVED them. I finally got the recipe myself and made them for my neighborhood book group, where they were a much bigger hit than the actual book. These are otherworldly wonderful cookies that stop conversations. Easy as can be to prepare, and baking them will make your house will smell lovely. thank you so much for this recipe!
Im so glad you like them! xoxo
Loved these cookies! I made them for a gathering but made them vegan by using vegan butter and replacing the egg with coconut oil. They were a huge hit! Thank you for your wonderful recipes!
Thanks kathy- so happy you enjoyed them!
I made these last weekend and they were FANTASTIC. I love cookies that are soft and chewy and these tasted just like a warm mug of chai tea, my favorite!
Oh Awesome!!! thanks so much Rebecca- appreciate you sharing!
Well WOW these are exquisite! everyone went crazy about these cookies, especially the college nieces who were dazzled by the hint of India in the aroma that filled my house as they were baking. They are sooo good and not overly sweet–the grated ginger and cardamom makes them so cozy, wholesome, and blissful, that this recipe should be subtitled “Life is very good”. My whole visiting family loved them and it was such a perfect send off, enjoying a final special treat together before they hit the road for home. thank you! i am making another batch today!
Haha- thanks Maryellen! I like the subtitle!
I made these cookies with my son to donate to a shelter yesterday. I liked the idea of the chai spice because it’s warming. The flavor was DELICIOUS (I consider myself a serious connoisseur of molasses cookies and these may have been the best I’ve ever had, both for flavor and texture) but they were also fun and easy to make with an 8 year old. Will definitely be making these again for US (read: me). Thanks Sylvia, for another win.
I love it and my coworkers couldn’t stop asking for more
Love these! Such a depth of spice, compared to regular molasses crinkle cookies! Great with a cup of tea. Family loved these!
Great to hear Linda!
Hey, these look great, would they be okay to freeze?
Yes, I think so? I haven’t tried, but don’t see why not?
Hi I wanted to make these for Thanksgiving. I want to get a head start and premix the cookie Dow and back them in Thursday. How many days will they keep if I store the raw dow in a air tight container?
Im so sorry for the late reply! I think they will keep for 3-4 days!
Sylvia; No need to post this if you don’t want to. Edit as you see fit if you do:
I have made these cookies and the taste is Smashing!! I am unable to get the lovely look with crackling on top. First batch, exactly as written…weighed flour and all. Flat, featureless cookie. Second batch, again precisely following your recipe, except I substituted half the butter with butter flavored Crisco in attempt to reduce spreading: after initial chilling (4 hours) rolled and straight to oven; then rolled, chilled 15 minutes on sheet and to oven.. Tried a drier table sugar instead of turbinado. Then tried a larger portion. In all instances they came out a slightly rounded cookie with no cracks. BUT, delicious. Any ideas what I am doing wrong?
David I appreciate your comment and I am perplexed! I will have to do some digging and get back. My first guess is baking soda or powder may be old? or oven is not hot enough? Do you have a thermometer you can use to check?
Thanks Sylvia; been making cookies for years so I am very flummoxed. Baking soda is less than 6 months old and stored in airtight container. Just before baking, validated oven temp. Making again today to try to figure this out. Going back to all butter. Will vary chilling ploys.
Ok I will remake over the weekend… and get back. 🙂 I know they need to puff up to crackle. Do yours puff?
Ok I think a friend of mine figured out the issue. The flour grams were off! low. If measuring by the cup, they crackle- but by weight, they don’t. I adjusted the grams ( from 350 to 380) and it should work now. I’m so sorry about that.
Splendid! And I appreciate your hard work & your friend’s input. I am making them again today, exactly as written with the increased flour. In the interim I had made a work around by using shortening and I added 2 T of egg white powder. Looked great but dried out too quickly and were brittle.
Let me know they turn out- thanks!
Made these last night, they are delicious! Serious yum. I used fresh ginger instead of ground. This will be one of the cookies in my Christmas baskets this year! Thank you fir the recipe!
They are really good! Next time I would add just a bit more ginger and black pepper.
Thanks Susan!