Molasses Spice Cookies

It’s not really the time of year for these as their flavor screams “Christmas,” but like so many of us, I did not see family during the holidays in 2020, so I made these out of season for an upcoming, outdoors, family visit.

This recipe is heavy on the spice. My family likes them that way. If you like a good, strong hit of spice in your cookies, I also highly recommend the gingersnaps in the Milk and Cookies cookbook. Those use a full 3 tablespoons of ground ginger and are so good that I was once “fired” because of them. I brought some to work one day – back when we used to go to offices, do you remember those days? – and one of my bosses declared them the best cookies he had ever had. He told me he was firing me because I needed to open a bakery and start selling them. Of course, the Milk & Cookies Bakery already had that covered.

The dough for these molasses spice cookies is very soft. Rather than truly rolling them into balls in granulated sugar, I use a small cookie scoop and drop the scoops directly into the sugar, then toss them around a bit to coat them before gently forming them into rough ball shapes.

The “secrets” to these cookies are not particularly secret. Use good quality, not-too-old spices for best flavor, and do not overbake so that they will stay nice and soft. I am personally a big fan of Penzeys spices.

Molasses Spice Cookies

Course: Dessert

Ingredients

• 2 cups all purpose flour

• 1 tsp baking soda

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 1 Tablespoon ground ginger

• 1/2 tsp ground allspice

• 1/4 tsp ground cloves

• 1 tsp cinnamon

• 1-1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar, plus 1/4 cup for rolling dough

• 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar

• 1/4 cup molasses

• 1 large egg, room temperature

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
• Whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, and spices.
• In an electric mixer with paddle attachment, beat butter until creamy. Add the 1/2 cup granulated sugar and the brown sugar, and beat until fluffy. Add molasses, mix until blended. Add egg, mix until blended.
• Turn mixer to low, and mix in the flour mixture until just incorporated.
• Put the remaining 1/4 cup sugar in shallow bowl (a pasta bowl works well). Drop scoops of dough into the sugar and roll around until coated. Gently mold into rough ball shapes, and place on prepared cookie sheets.
• Bake for 10-12 minutes. Remove from oven while they still look at bit wet. Let cool on the cookie sheet for 2-3 minutes, then transfer to wire racks and fully cool before storing.