I give blood roughly every 56 days (the minimum time between donations). I started donating when I was a Junior in high school at the first blood drive after I was eligible to donate. I wanted to donate because growing up my dad donated on a regular basis and I wanted to be just like him. I continue donating in downtown Minneapolis and the best part about donating is the cookies. They get their cookies from the Cookie Cart, which is a nonprofit that helps teens gain work, life and leadership skills through the bakery. And the molasses cookies are my absolute favorite. I’m so glad that somebody agrees these flavors aren’t only for the holidays.
Maybe not only for the holidays, but the flavors of ginger and molasses, cinnamon and cloves, are so common this season that I did choose this time of year to post the cookies for a reason. The recipe came from Cook’s Illustrated from America’s Test Kitchen, one of my favorite cooking shows/magazines/websites. It’s a wonderful chewy, cookie full of molasses and warm, fall spices.
Here’s what you need:
Start by creaming together softened butter, brown sugar and white sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Cream together on medium-high until light and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. Beat in butter and an egg yolk. Then add the molasses and beat until combined.
Mix together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, allspice, black pepper, and some salt. Stir into the creamed mixture, just until combined.
Now, using a cookie scoop (#EarnsCommission) or spoon, scoop out about 2 teaspoons to a tablespoon of dough. Form into a ball and then roll in sugar.
Place on a parchment lined cookie sheet and bake at 375 degrees about 9-11 minutes.
The cookies will be puffed and look slightly underbaked when they come out.
Cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- ⅓ c sugar
- ⅓ c dark brown sugar
- 1 ½ sticks unsalted butter, softened
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 t vanilla
- ½ c molasses, dark
- 2 ¼ c flour
- 1 t baking soda
- 1 ½ t cinnamon
- 1 ½ t ground ginger
- ½ t cloves
- ¼ t allspice
- ¼ t ground black pepper
- ¼ t salt
- ½ c sugar for rolling cookies on a small plate.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a stand mixer, cream together the sugars and butter on medium-high speed for 3-5 minutes until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, vanilla and molasses.
- Whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, allspice, pepper and salt. Stir into the creamed mixture just until combined.
- Scoop out dough using a 2 t- 1 T cookie scoop. Roll in to a ball using your hands. Drop dough into sugar reserved for rolling cookies and toss until completely coated. Place on prepared baking sheet.
- Bake cookies for 9-11 minutes until cookies are puffed and edges have begun to set but centers are still soft.
- Cool for 5 minutes on baking sheet. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
[…] and molasses must be one of my favorite flavors – I posted a Molasses Spice cookie almost a year ago in December. And when it came time to make cookies for hunting season this […]