Remember those big, round, gingery cookies that you get at the roadside tea-stalls in India? The ones that you dunk in tea and hold until they almost break? The ones that you get for a rupee each? These masala molasses cookies that my dear friend Kate made for me are exactly like that. Do try the recipe and let us know how it goes. 🙂
Masala Molasses Cookies
-by Kate Ozment
These cookies are a family recipe (of sorts). They were a favorite on my mother’s side growing up, but no one could remember the recipe or who had it. When my father inherited a china cabinet from his mom, inside we found a hand-written recipe for the same cookies. Even though they were from the wrong side of the family, we tried them, and they’re delicious. I’ve made them so often in double and triple batches (they freeze excellently) that I don’t remember the single recipe without checking. They use a lovely mixture of spices that just perfumes the dough when you’re baking, and they’re a great break from the chocolate chip that everyone brings to bake sales. I roll mine in standard sugar, but if you really love that dark, molasses flavor, you can try rolling them in brown and white sugars.
The important thing about this recipe is that you MUST chill the dough. The recipe says for an hour, but I recommend at least two, or overnight if you can (cover it so it doesn’t dry out). The colder it is, the better. I didn’t believe it at first.. but trust me, if you try and work with room-temperature dough with molasses in it, it will stick to your hand. Don’t be surprised if the cookies flatten out a little bit after you pull them out of the oven. If you don’t over-bake them, they’ll still be chewy and delicious!
Masala molasses cookies recipe
Ingredients:
1 cup butter (8 tbsp) at room temperature
1 cup sugar + 1/2 cup or so before baking
1 egg
1/4 cup molasses
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp ginger
Instructions:
Cream together the butter and sugar. Add egg and molasses and beat until smooth. Sift together flour, soda, and spices. Add little by little to the batter until well incorporated.
Leave dough to chill in the fridge, covered, for 1-2 hours. Roll dough into 1 in. balls and coat in sugar (putting it in a bowl is best). Bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes.
It is ESSENTIAL you chill the dough and bake it chilled. If it’s warm, it’s way too sticky to roll properly, and the molasses gets gooey and makes the cookies bake weird. I suggest chilling overnight.
–Kate
Dhrubaa Mukherjee--An academic by profession, a contributor to Huffington Post, a dancer by passion, a compulsive foodie, a former flight attendant, and a constant traveler, I am, what they call, a transnational gourmand (gourmet?). I am not only fascinated by the tastes, colors, textures and aromas of food, I am equally intrigued by the histories, traditions and cultural inter-junctions that drive/influence recipes.
I tried these at home and turned out very crunchy and tasty. However, next time I would add a little less sugar. My microwave oven has a maximum temperature of 250degees in convection. So I baked for 12 minutes and let the cookies cool in the oven before taking them out. I cannot stress enough on the fact that the dough HAS to be cold. Otherwise the dough gets sticky and the molasses start melting.
Thank you, Tulika. I am happy that these worked out in a microwave too. I am sure your alterations will be useful to other readers who use microwave.
These are really good gribengread cookies. If you don’t want to roll out the dough and use cookie cutters, form the dough into 2 logs and wrap in waxed paper. After it’s chilled, slice the cookies about 1/4″ thick and bake that way. Same great flavor without the work of cutting them out!Aunt Georgia’s Ginger Bread Cookies1 cup sugar1 cup shortening (Crisco)1 cup dark molasses2 eggs5 cups flour2 t baking sodabd t salt1 t ground gingerbc t cinnamonchill until firmcream sugar and shortening, add liquid ingredients and eggs,mix dry ingredients in separate bowl and add slowly to mixer,roll out to bc inch thickness & cut out cookies(works as refrigerator log cookie too)bake in 350b0F oven for 8 minutes