My mother often was baking something when we kids arrived home off the school bus. Most often it was cookies. With four kids and a a farmer husband, Mom baked a lot. So when my cousin and I were talking the other day, reminiscing in part about growing up on the farm, he asked me “do you have your mother’s molasses cookie recipe? Of all the cookies she made, I liked those the best.” to which I replied, “as a matter of fact I do, though I haven’t made them in a long time.”
And then, inspiration struck: I should make these again!
A I remember them, these molasses cookies are rolled out, not dropped, and are big, soft and cake like.
It’s turns out that is exactly what they are. Thick, soft, with enough spice to be really flavorful. And not too sweet. And all common ingredients I already have on hand in the pantry.
A couple notes:
- To make clean up easier, spray your measuring cup with baking spray before you pour out the molasses. And for the same reason, roll out dough on a silicon pastry mat.
- The dry ingredients need to be sifted twice, so I use two big bowls and a metal sieve as a sifter.
- The dough is really stiff. Mom may have mixed by hand, though, I can’t recall, but my Kitchen-aid came in really handy for stirring the ingredients together.
- Allow time to refrigerate the dough. It prevents it from being too sticky, and it rolls out more easily.
- Heat up the water on the stove, and then stir in the molasses and sugar to blend together, then add the melt shortening.
The dough does not spread much as it bakes, so place 12 3 inch cookies on one baking sheet, almost touching. Sprinkle with sugar before baking.
The dough rolls out best when chilled. Mom’s instructions say 30 minutes, which would be just about right. I mixed up the dough early in the day and left it in the fridge several hours, which made it way too hard. I had to scoop it out in sections and let it warm up a little; otherwise the dough cracked and was too hard to roll out. I used my silicon mat, and almost no extra flour was required to roll out the dough.
I used a 3″ round cookie cutter, but you could just as easily use a 2″ cutter or cut them into shapes (and decorate if you are so inclined). You may need to adjust the baking time for smaller cookies.
Mrs Drakes Molasses Cookies
A large cake like molasses cookie, rolled and cut after 30 minutes in the refrigerator
Ingredients
Sift together twice teh dry ingredients
- 7 c flour
- 3 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp ginger
Dissolve sugar into liquid ingredients
- 1 cup sugar can substitute up to half with baking Stevia or monk fruit
- 1.5 c molasses
- 1 c hot water
Add to the liquids and mix
- 1 cup melted shortening
Instructions
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Mix liquid ingredients well and stir in flour mix. Using a mixer, add flour mix 1 cup at a time to incorporate into the liquid ingredients.
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Roll out ¼-1/3” thick and cut into 3” circles
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Place on greased cookie sheets (or on parchment paper) and sprinkle with sugar.
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Bake 375 12 minutes
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Remove off the sheet to a cooking rack.
Recipe Notes
Eat plain as it.
Cut into animal shapes and decorate with sugar icing.
Use 2 cookies to make ice cream sandwiches.
Dry out and makes crumbs to use in place of graham crackers for a pie crust.
