Healthy Molasses Cookies | Make Cookies for Breakfast!

Make molasses cookies for a healthy and delicious breakfast or snack. Deep molasses flavor, natural sweeteners, and warm spices combine for a soft and chewy breakfast treat.

My family has quit eating processed sugar, but there would be mutiny if I just cleared out the shelves and said we’re never having cookies again.

That’s why I make desserts like Cookie Dough Hummus and Maple Pecan Blondies. They’re full of protein (to make you crave less sugar) and use natural sweeteners like maple syrup or honey.

Thankfully, we can still enjoy cookies guilt-free because I’ve created an amazingly delicious molasses cookie recipe!

FLAVOR PROFILE OF MOLASSES COOKIES

Oddly enough, soft molasses cookies don’t really taste like molasses.

Mr. Crumbs said these breakfast cookies tasted like gingersnaps, although they don’t have any ginger, and I think they taste pretty different than Chewy Gingersnaps, which are equally tasty but more of a dessert.

He also said they weren’t very sweet… but that’s the point, right? Just sweet enough to taste good, but not so sweet that they’re disqualified from healthy molasses recipes. (And they were obviously sweet enough that he took a few more as he walked out of the kitchen.)

The Girl ate a cookie and asked for another. I admit that she’ll try anything if you call it a cookie, but she’s also the one who won’t eat it unless it actually tastes good.

As for me, well, I think they’re pretty darn tasty and very addicting. I ate WAY more than I should have – which I blame on thorough recipe testing instead of a lack of self-control!

However you want to describe the flavor, these chewy molasses cookies are definitely on my breakfast rotation.

MOLASSES COOKIE RECIPE INGREDIENTS

What exactly makes the cookie molasses recipes healthy? Let’s take a look at the main players:

Wet Ingredients:

• Molasses. Ta-da! The start of the molasses breakfast cookies is none other than MOLASSES! Part sweetener and whole flavor here, you cannot skip the molasses. Try to make it black strap molasses so you’re getting all those micronutrients too. If you don’t have it, go get it – STAT – because you can use it to make homemade brown sugar too. If the flavor of blackstrap molasses is too intense for you, try unsulphured molasses instead.
• Eggs. To hold everything together.
• Coconut Oil. Are you on the coconut oil train yet? Hop on friends because for all the reasons to eat more coconut oil, “because it makes molasses breakfast cookies taste amazing” should be at the top of the list. You can also substitute softened butter if that’s what you have.
• Honey. A natural sweetener to make these molasses cookies just lightly sweet.
• Vanilla Extract. Vanilla helps trick your brain into thinking something is sweeter than it is. Here’s how to make your own!

Dry Ingredients:

• Milled Flaxseed. Also called ground flaxseed, this amazing ingredient plays three BIG roles: a) part flour, b) part flavor, and c) MEGA nutrition. Milled flaxseed packs serious protein and fiber and using it as part of the flour is just one of the MANY amazing ways to use milled flaxseed in cooking and baking. (Psst! This brand offers the best bang for your buck and you can get it both locally AND on Amazon.)
• Oat Flour. Oats are super nutritious, but oat flour is the bomb. It instantly adds a bit of chew and texture to any recipe, and you can make your own oat flour with a blender.
• Whole Grain Flour. We’re using just the tiniest amount of flour here and it’s only because the gluten made the cookie less crumbly and a bit softer. I used whole wheat flour, but you can also use all purpose flour.
• Baking Powder. To give the cookies a lift, so they’re not flat, dense disks.
• Ground Cinnamon + Nutmeg. The perfect amount of warm spice.

HOW TO MAKE MOLASSESS COOKIES

Step 1. Preheat the oven to 350F.

Step 2. In a big bowl OR the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, mix the eggs, coconut oil, honey, molasses, and vanilla until well combined.

Step 3. Add the milled flaxseed, oat flour, whole grain flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and nutmeg and stir until combined well.

Step 4. Let the dough sit for about 5 minutes while you line a cookie sheet with a silpat mat or parchment paper, or lightly grease the cookie sheet.

Step 5. With a cookie scoop, measure the molassess cookies into even dough balls and place onto the prepared baking sheet, leaving enough room for expansion. Bake for 12 minutes, or until the edges are just slightly darker.

Let the molasses cookies cool on the cookie sheet for about 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Adapted greatly from Raising Generation Nourished.

MOLASSES COOKIES TIPS

The cookies will expand less and less the longer the dough sits. My first sheet of cookies, baked as soon as I was done mixing, doubled in size. My second sheet of cookies, baked about 20 minutes after the batter was done mixing, barely expanded in size. The amount of expansion will not affect the taste of the molasses cookies.

Store molasse cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week.

Want to prep this molasses cookies recipe ahead of time? Mix up the dough and store it in an oiled and tightly sealed bag in the freezer. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight before scooping and baking the cookies as directed.

For extra flavor, try adding chopped nuts or shredded coconut to the cookies before baking!

MOLASSESS COOKIES FOR BREAKFAST

It’s only fitting to serve cookies that don’t have granulated sugar at breakfast, don’t you think?

Sure, we can have Protein Pancakes or Peach Breakfast Crumble (since neither recipe uses sugar) but having cookies for breakfast just sounds like more fun.

I mean, how many kids did you know growing up that had COOKIES for BREAKFAST?

I didn’t know of any, and these molasses breakfast cookies are PACKED with nutrition from amazing ingredients and there’s not a drop of processed sugar in sight. I think these molassass cookies officially qualify as a healthy breakfast!

Make them any time of year or add them to your Christmas cookie line up so you can say YES when the kids ask for cookies for breakfast!

MOLASSE COOKIE FAQS

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