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Thick Molasses Spice Cookies

Source of Recipe

From "Smitten Kitchen Keepers" by Deb Perelman


Recipe Introduction

"These cookies are my winter obsession. I had been on the hunt for a thick, soft-but-not-too-cakey, deeply spiced, and a little kicky dark-molasses cookie for as long as I could remember. I tried dozens over the years, but none were exactly right. Over the pandemic winter that left us devoid of parties and all the usual holiday cheer, I decided that I would at least get this one perfect. (I also ran my local store out of molasses and ground ginger, and begged my friends to swing by so I could fling samples off the balcony down to them�don't worry, we're not high up�because we were, at one point, blockaded by cookies.) Do you know what it's like for your apartment to smell like a gingerbread house blew up in it every day for the whole month of December? It was, despite the larger circumstances, a very good time, and at the end, I had these: my forever molasses cookies, and soon, perhaps, yours, too."

List of Ingredients

◦ 2 ⅓ cups all-purpose flour
◦ 2 teaspoons ground ginger
◦ � teaspoon ground cinnamon
◦ � teaspoon ground cloves
◦ � teaspoon ground allspice
◦ � teaspoon baking soda
◦ 1 teaspoon kosher salt
◦ � teaspoon ground black pepper
◦ � cup (12 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted, cooled slightly
◦ � cup molasses
◦ ⅔ cup packed dark brown sugar
◦ 1 large egg yolk
◦ 3 tablespoons finely chopped crystallized ginger
◦ 6 tablespoons granulated or turbinado sugar, for rolling


Recipe

Heat the oven to 350� F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

Whisk the flour, spices, baking soda, salt, and pepper in a large bowl until fully mixed. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Pour in the melted butter, molasses, brown sugar, yolk, and candied ginger. Whisk these together in the center a couple times (until the egg yolk is dispersed); then switch to a spoon or rubber spatula to continue mixing. The dough will be very thick!

Scoop the dough into balls�I either use a medium cookie scoop (1 � tablespoons) or take just shy of 2 tablespoons of dough for each. Roll each in your hands briefly to shape it into a ball, then into the granulated sugar or turbinado sugar for coating.

Space the cookies evenly on the parchment-lined baking sheet (they barely spread), and bake for 10 to 12 minutes. You want what looks like a *quite* underbaked cookie. It will feel totally soft on top; you will be sure it's raw. But if you lift a cookie, you'll see that it's one shade darker underneath. They're done. Remove the pan from the oven, and let the cookies cool for 5 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack. The cookies set as they cool. If you cut into one in the first 15 minutes, you'll yell, "Deb! These are *raw* in the middle! How could you?" But after that, you will have a more cookielike, perfect texture�crisp outside and tender inside.

Makes 22 to 24 cookies






❧ Do Ahead:
You can chill the dough in the fridge for an hour or even several days before baking it, but let it warm up a bit at room temperature before scooping (trust me, I broke two cookie scoops learning this the hard way). Store the cookies in an airtight container to retain their softness. They keep for up to 2 weeks at room temperature, but their texture is best in the first week.