Easy Gingerbread Cookies without molasses are soft, fluffy, delicious cookies filled with warm and spicy flavors and frosted with irresistible browned butter frosting. Perfect sweet cookies for the Christmas season or after school snacking.
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If you like soft cookies and the sweet-spicy flavor of gingerbread, you're going to love these chewy gingerbread cookies without molasses. They’re pillowy soft in the center, filled with all the warm spices, and iced with the most amazing browned butter frosting.
I love to make these soft gingerbread cookies around Christmas time -- one batch to bake and one batch to freeze, frosting too -- for drop-in guests, emergency cookie cravings, or last-minute holiday gifts.
The warm gingerbread spices are cozy and festive and taste incredible with a steaming cup of cocoa, tea, or a yummy Gingerbread Latte.
And they're right at home on Christmas cookie trays with Mexican Wedding Cookies, Cranberry Pecan Christmas Fudge, and Santa Cookies.
Why You’re Going to Love This Recipe
- The flavor combination of gingerbread spice cookies with nutty browned butter icing is the best thing ever.
- No molasses? No problem. These soft ginger cookies without molasses have So. Much. Flavor.
- Great recipe for delicious gingerbread cookies during the holiday season or anytime!
Ingredients
See the recipe card for the full list of ingredients.
Soft Ginger Cookies without Molasses
Brown sugar. Brown sugar has a little molasses in it. I love dark brown sugar for the richest molasses flavor. Light brown sugar also works.
Softened unsalted butter. Soften the butter to room temperature so it will whip up to a light and fluffy consistency.
Honey. Unlike a traditional gingerbread cookie recipe, this uses honey instead of molasses. I use wildflower honey, which has a rich, fruity flavor. For flavor closest to molasses, try buckwheat honey. It might be hard to find in grocery stores, but you can order it at Amazon. Otherwise, use any kind of honey you enjoy. Generally, the darker the color, the stronger the flavor
Room temperature egg. If you forget to take your egg out of the fridge ahead of time, place it in a cup of warm water for about 10 minutes.
Ginger. One full tablespoon of ground ginger brings the ginger flavor home and adds a zippy bite to this soft gingerbread cookie recipe without molasses. For best results and flavor, make sure your ginger is fresh.
Black pepper. A little bit of black pepper adds mild spiciness to the cookies.
Cayenne pepper. Just ⅛ teaspoon adds a little bit of heat without being over the top. You can leave it out if you're not so sure about this.
Turbinado sugar. I like to roll these cookies in turbinado sugar, which is a coarse grain sugar. Just because it’s crunchy and sparkly. You can also use white granulated sugar.
Browned Butter Frosting
Butter. I always use unsalted butter, but you can use either salted or unsalted butter.
Powdered sugar. The browned butter frosting whisks together easily with sweet and fluffy powdered sugar.
Milk. A little milk thins out the browned butter cookie frosting to just the right consistency for spreading.
How to Make Gingerbread Cookies without Molasses: Step by Step
Step 1: In a large bowl, cream the butter with a mixer at medium to medium-high speed. Add brown sugar and beat until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl as you go. Beat in the honey, egg, and vanilla.
Step 2: In a separate mixing bowl, sift or whisk all purpose flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, black pepper, cayenne pepper, and salt.
Step 3: Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix on low speed until just combined. Be careful not to overmix. Cover dough with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.
Step 4: Roll the dough into 1-inch balls and roll in sugar. Place the balls 2 inches apart on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
Step 5: Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes or until the edges just start to turn light golden brown and the centers are puffy and soft. Cool 2 minutes on the cookie sheet, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Step 6: Make the browned butter frosting. Melt butter in a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat. Cook and stir for 5-7 minutes while it foams and bubbles. When you see little brown flecks at the bottom of the pan, remove from stove and pour butter into heat-proof bowl to stop the cooking process. Let the butter cool for a few minutes.
Step 7: In a medium bowl, whisk the powdered sugar, butter, vanilla, and milk together. Add the milk a little at a time until it reaches your desired consistency.
Step 8: Frost the cookies with 1 to 1 ½ teaspoons of frosting and set them aside to let the frosting set.
Expert Tips
- Use room temperature butter and eggs. This allows all of the cookie batter ingredients to mix together cohesively.
- Sift to whisk the flour mixture to avoid any clumps of spices in the gingerbread cookie dough
- Cover and chill the cookie dough for at least 2 hours and up to 4 days. I chill mine overnight. Press plastic wrap directly on top of the dough to keep it from drying out.
- Be careful not to overmix the dough, which can result in tough cookies.
Recipe FAQs
Honey is an excellent substitute for molasses in gingerbread cookies and can be used as a 1:1 replacement. The most commonly found types of honey like wildflower or clover do not have the same intense flavor as molasses. To more closely mimic the flavor of ginger molasses cookies, try a bold-flavored honey like buckwheat honey.
You can also add more gingerbread flavor by increasing the gingerbread spices and using brown sugar, which contains molasses, in addition to or instead of white sugar.
It can be tricky to tell when darker colored cookies are done. Look for edges that feel dry and middles that are soft and puffy.
Store unfrosted ginger cookies without molasses in an airtight container at room temperature for up to one week.
Store frosted cookies in a single layer in an airtight container at room temperature for 2 days or in the refrigerator for up to a week.
Yes. Freeze unfrosted gingerbread cookies without molasses in a freezer bag for up to three months.
Freeze ginger cookie dough or rolled-out cookie dough balls in a freezer bag for up to two months. Thaw unrolled-out dough in the refrigerator. Bake cookie dough balls from frozen as directed and add 1-2 minutes to the baking time.
Yes. Freeze leftover browned butter frosting in an airtight container or ziptop freezer bag for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator.
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📖 Recipe
Gingerbread Cookie without Molasses
Ingredients
Gingerbread Cookies No Molasses
- ¾ cup butter, room temperature
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- ⅓ cup honey
- 1 egg, room temperature
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 tablespoon ground ginger
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon cloves
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- ⅓ cup turbinado or white granulated sugar for rolling
Browned Butter Glaze
- 1 stick butter
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3-4 tablespoons milk
Instructions
Gingerbread Cookies
- In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter with an electric mixer on medium to medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Add the brown sugar and continue mixing until the two are combined. Mix in the honey, egg, and vanilla until combined.
- Sift or whisk the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, pepper, salt, and cayenne pepper together in a medium bowl.
- Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Mix until just combined. Be careful not to overmix.
- Cover the dough with foil or plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours. I chill mine overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 350. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Roll the dough into 1-inch balls and roll in granulated sugar or turbinado sugar. Place the balls 2 inches apart on the baking sheet.Bake for 8-10 minutes or until the edges are light golden brown and the center is soft and puffy. Cool for 2 minutes on the cookie sheet, then transfer the baked cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.
Browned Butter Frosting
- Melt the butter in a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat. Cook and stir for about 5-7 minutes while it gets foamy, bubbles, and turns golden brown. There will be brown speckles in the bottom of the pan. Remove the butter from the stovetop and pour it into a heat-proof bowl to stop the cooking process and keep it from burning. Let the butter cool for a few minutes.
- Place the powdered sugar into a medium mixing bowl. Add the butter, vanilla extract, and 3-4 tablespoons of milk. Start with a little milk and add more until it reaches your desired consistency.
- Whisk everything together until it is smooth and creamy and there are no lumps of powdered sugar.
- Frost each cookie with 1 to 1 ½ teaspoons of frosting and set the cookies aside to let the frosting set.
Storage & Freezing
- Store unfrosted cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to one week. Store frosted cookies in a single layer in an airtight container at room temperature for 2 days or in the refrigerator for up to a week.Freeze unfrosted cookies for up to three months. Freeze cookie dough or rolled out cookie dough balls for up to two months. Freeze any leftover browned butter frosting in an airtight container or ziptop freezer bag for up to 3 months.
Notes
- Use room temperature butter and eggs. This allows all of the cookie batter ingredients to mix together cohesively.
- Chill the cookie dough at least 2 hours or overnight and up to 4 days.
- Be careful not to overmix the dough, which can result in tough cookies.
- You can make the browned butter frosting thicker or thinner by using more or less milk. If it gets too thin, add a little more powdered sugar.
- If you have browned butter frosting left over, place it in a ziptop freezer bag and freeze it.
Delicious
Thank you, I'm so glad you enjoyed them 🙂