Molasses cookie with maple sugar

Try different sugars! Here, I used maple sugar from a sugar shack in Montreal.

I love molasses spice cookies. That chewy texture and deep molasses taste is so good, especially with a cup of coffee. Several years ago, I undertook a quest to find the right recipe that matched the molasses spice cookies that Starbucks had. I’m not sure I found the recipe, but after several taste-tests from my fellow SB addicts, we found one we liked and then of course, I tweaked it to my tastes. This one has a more pronounced molasses taste, as that’s what I love. I also dumped in some nutmeg and adjusted the quantities of the salt and other spices.

Molasses Spice Cookie

This recipe is pretty easy. Just need to make sure the butter and eggs are brought up to room-temperature before you begin. The molasses should be in ml, but I like making this all in one bowl – less to wash!

Ingredients

  • 170g salted butter, softened
  • 220g dark brown sugar
  • 1 egg, large
  • 160g molasses (1/2 c)
  • 3g salt (1/2 tsp)
  • 6g baking soda (1 tsp)
  • 1.5g cloves (1/4 tsp)
  • 3g cinnamon (1/2 tsp)
  • 3g ginger (1/2 tsp)
  • 1.5g nutmeg (1/4 tsp)
  • 350g all purpose flour

Directions

  1. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar.
  2. Add molasses and egg. Beat until well-mixed.
  3. Add salt, baking soda, and spices.
  4. Fold in flour.
  5. Chill dough 1-2 hours until firm.
  6. Scoop dough into balls and roll in sugar.

Step 6 can be done before step 5 and dough can be frozen to bake later.

Bake at 325°F for about 12 minutes from frozen. This is for a #70 scoop (3″ cookies), which equates to about 45-50 cookies. Highly recommend doing a test-bake with your oven. I found that it varies a lot. Make sure you leave it on the tray for a minute or two to set.

What you’re looking for is that sweet-spot when you start to get those attractive craggy splits in the cookie – but only just. Store in an air-tight container for up to a week. Best eaten in the first few days unless you really under-bake them.

More photos

[flickr-gallery mode=”photoset” photoset=”72157625647734217″]