I don't really have a sweet tooth. I don't love baking sweets and you will rarely see a recipe for a sweet treat on here. That said,
Matt's sister is having a cookie exchange today and Matt committed to making eight dozen cookies. Yesterday our place smelled dreamy, these cookies are really good, like really really good - they are like a combination of spicy and sweet, crispy and chewy with a slight peppery undertone.
The recipe is from America's Test Kitchen cookbook and Matt didn't change a thing. I packaged them up and wrote up labels with packaging from my favourite little neighbourhood store, Urban Source.
Molasses Spice Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar, plus 1/2 cup for dipping
- 2 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1/2 tsp ground cloves
- 1/4 tsp ground allspice
- 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 sticks butter, softened but still cool
- 1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
- large egg yolk
-
1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup molasses
Directions
1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat
oven to 375 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Place
1/2 cup sugar for dipping in 8- or 9-inch cake pan.
2. Whisk flour, baking soda, spices, and salt in medium bowl until thoroughly combined; set aside.
3. In standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat butter
with brown and granulated sugars at medium-high speed until light and
fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to medium-low and add yolk and
vanilla; increase speed to medium and beat until incorporated, about 20
seconds. Reduce speed to medium-low and add molasses; beat until fully
incorporated, about 20 seconds, scraping bottom and sides of bowl once
with rubber spatula. Reduce speed to lowest setting; add flour mixture
and beat until just incorporated, about 30 seconds, scraping bowl down
once. Give dough final stir with rubber spatula to ensure that no
pockets of flour remain at bottom. Dough will be soft.
4. Using tablespoon measure, scoop heaping tablespoon of dough
and roll between palms into 1 1/2-inch ball; drop ball into cake pan
with sugar and repeat to form about 4 balls. Toss balls in sugar to coat
and set on prepared baking sheet, spacing them about 2 inches apart.
Repeat with remaining dough. Bake 1 sheet at a time until cookies are
browned, still puffy, and edges have begun to set but centers are still
soft (cookies will look raw between cracks and seem underdone), about 11
minutes, rotating baking sheet halfway through baking and lightly squashing the dough with the bottom of a cup. Do not over
bake.
5. Cool cookies on baking sheet 5 minutes, then use wide metal
spatula to transfer cookies to wire rack; cool cookies to room
temperature and serve. (Can be stored at room temperature in airtight
container or zipper-lock plastic bag up to 5 days.)
Matt did the following variation
Molasses Spice with Orange Essence
Add 1 tsp grated orange zest to the dough with the molasses. Process 2/3 cup sugar with 2 tsp grated orange zest in a food processor until fragrant, about ten seconds, then use got rolling in place of the plain granulated sugar in step 4.