Molasses Cookies

I love molasses cookies. They are one of my very favorite holiday cookies, so much so that there was once a day when the only thing I ate was eight of these molasses cookies.... Because they are so delicious. It's not a day I plan to repeat often, but sometimes, an eight cookie day just happens.

I've been putting off baking from Soframiz. I fell for its gorgeous photos and delicious sounding recipes, but some negative reviews criticizing the lack of recipe testing dissuaded me from risking precious ingredients to test out Soframiz myself. Then, I was hunting for a molasses cookie recipe, stumbled across the one here, and so I tried them.....  they are outstanding. Slightly crispy on the outside and chewy inside, they are everything you want in a molasses cookie.

Strangely enough, it turns out the recipe for these molasses cookies in Soframiz is almost identical to Caleb's grandma's recipe for molasses cookies - the recipe resulting in my Eight Cookie Day. The only difference between the two recipes is the Soframiz recipe uses nutmeg while Grandma Gene's recipe uses an equivalent amount of ginger. Feel free to use either spice according to your preferences ... the final molasses cookies will be delicious either way.

These little cookies are absurdly easy to make. You don't even need to cream butter or let things come to room temperature. This is a three-step recipe. Weigh out the dry ingredients. Beat together all the wet ingredients and the sugar (make sure you measure out the oil first and then the molasses so that the molasses releases from the cup easily). Add in the dry ingredients and stir till everything is combined. Set aside for 2-24 hours (but not much longer). Roll balls of dough in granulated sugar. Bake for approximately 8-11 minutes. [I baked mine for 11.]

Feast.

If you're trying to cut back on fat consumption, Caleb's mom reports that she's successfully cut the amount of oil in these cookies from ¾ cup down to ½ cup. The dough won't be quite so moist, and you'll want to watch the bake time, but she says they liked the lower-oil cookies as much as the normal ones.

Next up from Soframiz? obviously the tahini brioche dough and the kohlrabi pancakes with bacon and halloumi.

Slight adapted and updated recipe to include weights and reduced baking time. Original source: Grandma Gene // Soframiz

Molasses Cookies

The only recipe for molasses cookies you'll ever need.

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Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 11 minutes minutes

Total Time: 2 hours hours 26 minutes minutes

Servings: 24 cookies

Ingredients

For the cookie dough

• 2 cups (280 grams) all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg or ground ginger
• ½ teaspoon ground cloves
• ¾ cup grapeseed oil canola or vegetable oil will also work
• ¼ cup molasses
• 1 cup (200 grams) granulated sugar
• 1 large egg

For baking

• ¼ cup (50 grams) granulated sugar

Instructions

Cookie dough

• In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, kosher salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.
  
• In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or in another large bowl fitted with your arm power + a whisk/handheld mixer), combine the vegetable oil, molasses, 1 cup of sugar, and the egg.
  
• Beat on medium speed until the mixture is smooth, about 30 seconds. Add the dry ingredients all at once, pulse on low speed a few times to avoid spraying flour everywhere, then continue beating at the lowest speed until the dry ingredients are combined and the dough appears smooth.
  
• Cover the mixing bowl itself or transfer the dough to a clean bowl and cover, refrigerating the dough until it is firm, about 2 hours or maximally overnight.*
  

Baking

• Place your oven racks so they divide the oven into thirds. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats. Put the remaining ¼ cup of granulated sugar into a shallow bowl.
• Using a 1½-tablespoon cookie scoop (#40), form small balls of dough. Roll each ball in the granulated sugar and roll to coat completely. Place each ball on the lined cookie sheets with ½ inch separating each dough ball.
• Bake until the cookies puff up and crackle across the top, they should appear set along the edges but slightly underbaked in the centers, about 8-11 minutes.
   

Notes

*If you refrigerate it past 24 hours, the oil in the dough will start to separate.