Molasses Spice Cookies

Oh dear.

Sometimes a new cookie comes into your life when you’re just not expecting it. And it changes everything. It changes the whole cookie rotation (you know what I mean- the unconscious order you have when baking your tried & true recipes that you make no matter what new & fancy cookie recipe pops up- like how I know it’s time to make my chocolate chip & pecan cookies soon, just because.)

So why have these cookies have inserted themselves into my cookie repertoire, just like that? Excellent question.
* They smell obscenely good in the oven- and that’s a biggie for me. Cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves are a virtually unbeatable combination of flavors- and they all appear in this guy.
* They are soft and chewy on the inside, like any self-respecting cookie should be. If you have a hankering for crispy, well, bake ’em longer. Now you’re happy, too.
* They are fairly easy to make. Melted shortening is used instead of butter, so no pesky “room temperature” butter to deal with.
* They are dairy-free, which is good for the moo-free people I like to bake for.
* They are plentiful- 3 dozen are born from this recipe (although I have been known to make massively big cookies for The Husband, which means I might get 20 instead of 36, but he’s not complaining.)

Enough blathering- just trust me. (You do trust me by now, don’t you?) Make these and your family will love you even more unconditionally than you thought they could.

Dairy-free… adapted from Serious Eats’ recipe…

3/4 cup melted shortening

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar (plus extra 1/2 cup to roll dough balls in)

1/4 cup molasses

1 egg

1 cup raisins (optional)
1. In a small bowl, melt shortening in microwave in 20-second increments (or over stove in a saucepan) and set aside to cool.
2. In a medium bowl, sift flour, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg and salt together and whisk to combine. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, beat cooled shortening, brown & white sugars, molasses and egg together (1 – 2 minutes).
4. Add flour mixture to wet ingredients and beat until incorporated, scraping sides of bowl throughout. Stir in raisins. Cover dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least an hour, or overnight.
5. Preheat oven to 375° and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
6. Scoop rounded tablespoons of dough and roll with your hands into a 1-inch ball. In a small bowl, roll the dough balls in the extra 1/2 cup sugar until evenly coated; place on baking sheets 12 at a time.
7. Bake until golden, about 10 minutes. Transfer to cooling racks and enjoy.
Tips:
- Nutmeg is so incredible when grated fresh! And it’s so easy… buy the actual nut, and grate it over the dangerously prickly side of your cheese grater. You can buy the nutmeg in bulk (like just a few at a time), so it’s uber-cheap, and again, it tastes better fresh (instead of sitting in your cupboard for a year or so). [My mom used to put nutmeg on her veggies, too- especially green beans- so when you do use a nut for baking, save the rest of it and try grating it over your dinner that night.]
- Sugar choices are all yours- you can use all brown sugar (you molasses lover, you), or all white, or Sucanat (the unprocessed good stuff).
- Shortening… is really needed in this recipe, instead of butter (although my true love is butter). If you DO use butter (because you’re stranded on an island with all of these ingredients except shortening and really need to make these cookies), make sure you refrigerate the balls before baking for an hour- and be prepared for some serious “spread”. Bake for a bit less time, too…
- Rolling the dough balls in sugar is smarter if they are still a bit warm from your hand- so roll 5 at a time, then coat in sugar, then roll 5 more, etc…
- Raisins are optional! Raisins don’t make everyone happy, that’s for sure. So use them if you’d like, but omit if you know it’ll offend someone. (Unless you want to offend them, and if that’s the case, add an extra 1/4 cup.)
- Baking time is up to you- for chewy innards, go with 9-10 minutes, and for a crispy crunch, up to 11-12. Remember that cookies still bake a bit as they settle out of the oven (like scrambled eggs- I’ve learned that lesson), so for your first batch, err on the side of under-baking and see what you think as they cool. (Yes, I have put cookies back in the oven after they have cooled a bit because I wanted them crispier. You’re the boss!)
- Freeze-friendly… yes- throw them in a well-sealed container and pull them out when you want them. These are the kind of cookies that taste amazing slightly warm, so defrost them for a little bit in the microwave and you’ll think you just baked them. Yum. (And these cookies seem to develop in flavor if they have been stored in an airtight container for a day or so, so try to restrain yourself so you can have even yummier leftovers.)
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May 9th, 2012 | More Sweets Please | 2 Comments | Tags: Cookies, Dairy-Free, Ginger

2 Responses and Counting...

Nick 05.09.2012

These turned out quite tasty, but I wonder if the flour needs to be adjusted for high altitude? I’m in Denver, and my dough was awfully sticky, and the edges of my cookies spread quite a bit while cooking, even though I used shortening. Just a thought, but the flavor was still delicious! I’m planning on making your shortbread cookie recipe next!
More Sweets Please

Hi Nick- good question about altitude and how it impacts your dough. From what I understand, you can reduce the baking soda by about half (so 1 teaspoon instead of 2) and increase the oven temperature to about 375 instead of 350. One trick to prevent dough from spreading in the oven is to refrigerate the dough balls and bake while they are still hard… hopefully that helps. (When you make the shortbread, try freezing the batter and then popping into the oven from frozen.) Cheers to cookies in Denver!