Molasses Cookies Recipe

As their name implies, molasses is the key ingredient in Molasses Cookies. Molasses is a thick dark sticky syrup with a robust flavor. It is what turns these cookies a lovely dark ginger brown color, adds to their sweet flavor, and gives them a texture that is moist and soft. There are two types of molasses used in baking; light and dark. The light molasses is what we are using here and comes from pure unprocessed sugar cane juice that has been clarified and reduced with no sugar extracted. My favorite brand is Grandma's Original Molasses (Gold Standard) which is found in most grocery stores. Light molasses is usually labeled as "sulphured" or "unsulphured" depending on whether sulphur was used in the processing. I prefer the unsulphured molasses which is lighter in color and tends to have a nicer flavor. To prevent the molasses from sticking to your cup, always lightly grease before measuring.

Besides molasses, these Molasses Cookies are fragrant with ground cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. All these spices have aromas that are warm and fragrant, yet each has its own distinctive flavor. Ground cinnamon is described accurately in Jill Norman excellent book "Herbs & Spices", "a warm, agreeably sweet, woody aroma that is delicate yet intense; the taste is fragrant and warm with hints of clove and citrus". Ground ginger could be described as peppery with a subtle lemon flavor and ground cloves are wonderfully rich and spicy. Since ground spices have a fairly short shelf life it is best to buy in small quantities from a bulk food store that has a high turnover. The added advantage of buying them this way is that they are a lot cheaper than buying those small glass bottles from your local grocery store. Always store your spices in a cool dry place, away from heat (it is not a good idea to store them by the stove).