This molasses shortbread recipe was a delicious surprise! I started out testing for brown sugar shortbread cookies. Light brown sugar gave a mild flavor, dark brown sugar had a bit more punch, but I wanted to see how far I could take it. A splash of molasses later, and I had a cookie so rich and flavorful, it instantly stole the spotlight.
Like any good shortbread recipes, you do have to chill this dough. This allows the flour to hydrate and all the flavor to meld together. It takes almost no time to make but about an hour or more to chill. You can even make it the night before and let it chill overnight for an easy morning bake. This recipe makes 2 dozen yummy molasses shortbread cookies.
Trang’s Recipe Highlights
- FLAVOR: These molasses shortbread are buttery and rich, with a warm and deep caramelized note.
- TEXTURE: Crispy at the edges with a slight crunch from the raw sugar coating, and softer crumb in the center.
- EASE: Just like my classic shortbread, this recipe is super easy! You can use a stand mixer, an electric hand mixer, or even mix by hand if your butter is really soft.
Key ingredients
You’ll need just 8 ingredients to make these molasses shortbread cookies. As always, for the full list of ingredients with quantities and step-by-step instructions, skip straight to the recipe card.
- Molasses is the star here. I use Grandma’s original unsulphured molasses. This is a typical brand you can pick up at the grocery store anywhere.
- Cornstarch gives shortbread cookies a subtle melt-in-your-mouth texture. You can skip it if you don’t have any without needing to make adjustments to the other ingredients. Or double the amount for a more melty feel.
Ideal butter temperature
Room temperature butter is ideal. How to tell: the butter should give a bit when you press on it, as in it should have an indentation where you press it. You should be able to achieve this by leaving butter out on the counter for 30 minutes to an hour.
However, I almost always don’t follow my own advice and let my butter warm up too much, because I leave it out and then start working on something else in the meantime. That’s totally okay, you will end up with a very soft dough that will be a little bit of a pain to handle and to roll into a log, but still manageable. And it will require a longer chill time.
Butter too cold? There is no reason to try making this dough with cold butter… it will be harder to beat and really just wait an hour.
Hungry for more?
Molasses Shortbread Cookies Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
For the cookie dough
- 8 oz (227 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- ⅔ cup (135 g) granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoon (40 g) molasses
- 1 teaspoon (5 g) pure vanilla extract
- 2 ¼ cup (300 g) all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoon (18 g) cornstarch
- ¼ teaspoon (2 g) kosher salt
For topping
- ¼ cup raw sugar
Instructions
- Cream wet ingredients together – Add softened butter, vanilla, molasses and sugar to a stand mixer bowl fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium speed until the mixture is thoroughly incorporated and creamy.8 oz unsalted butter, ⅔ cup granulated sugar, 2 tablespoon molasses, 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- Add dry ingredients – Sift flour and cornstarch directly into the stand mixer bowl with the creamed butter. Sprinkle in the salt and stir to combine. Increase the mixer speed and beat until no trace of flour remains and the dough is formed.2 ¼ cup all-purpose flour, 2 tablespoon cornstarch, ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- Form the logs – Place a long piece of plastic wrap flat on the countertop. Divide cookie dough into 2 equal portions. Roll each portion on top of the plastic wrap into a log about 6” in length. You don’t need additional flour for rolling but you can use some flour if necessary.
- Add sanding sugar to the outside – Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of raw sugar along the length of the plastic wrap and roll the cookie dough log over it so the sugar sticks all around the outside of the dough log. Wrap it up with the plastic and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before baking. I usually refrigerate shortbread dough overnight to prep ahead.¼ cup raw sugar
- Slice the cookies – Use a sharp knife to slice each cookie dough log into 12 cookies about ½” thick. Rewrap in the same plastic and place them into the freezer while the oven preheats, about 15 minutes.
- Preheat the oven – Set the oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350°F.
- Bake – Place 12 cookies on a large lined baking sheet, about 2 inches apart. Sprinkle more raw sugar on top and bake 1 batch at a time for 20 minutes, until the cookies are a deep golden.¼ cup raw sugar
- Cool – Remove the baking sheet from the oven, but allow the cookies to sit on the baking sheet to finish baking from the residual heat for 5-10 minutes before removing them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
- Storing baked cookies: store your molasses shortbread cookies in an airtight container at room temp for up to a week.
- Storing cookie dough: cookie dough can be kept refrigerated for 3-4 days before baking to prep ahead. Or slice and freeze for 3-6 months.
- Baking frozen dough: no need to thaw frozen cookie dough, you can bake directly from the freezer.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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