Chocolate-Molasses Cookies
- Total Time
- About 40 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- ½cup/115 grams unsalted butter (1 stick)
- 1tablespoon freshly grated ginger (optional)
- 1½cups/190 grams all-purpose flour
- ½cup/45 grams cocoa powder
- 2teaspoons baking soda
- 1teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1teaspoon ground ginger
- 1teaspoon kosher salt
- ⅓cup/65 grams granulated sugar
- ½cup/120 milliliters molasses
- 1large egg
- Sanding, Demerara or granulated sugar, for decoration
Nutritional analysis per serving (40 servings)
62 calories; 3 grams fat; 2 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 1 gram monounsaturated fat; 0 grams polyunsaturated fat; 9 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 5 grams sugars; 1 gram protein; 67 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Step 2
Melt butter in a small pot over medium heat and add ginger, if using. Remove from heat and let sit a few minutes while you prepare everything else.
- Step 3
In a large bowl, whisk flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ground ginger and salt.
- Step 4
In a medium bowl, whisk together sugar, molasses, egg and ginger butter. Using a spatula, slowly mix into dry ingredients, mixing until no dry spots remain.
- Step 5
Using your hands, roll small balls of dough about the size of a quarter (dough will be soft — if it is too soft for you to handle, pop into the fridge for a few minutes to firm up). Roll the balls in the sanding sugar and place on the prepared baking sheets about 1-inch apart.
- Step 6
Bake until just puffed and baked through, 6 to 8 minutes. Let cool completely before eating.
- Cookies can be baked 2 days ahead, stored wrapped tightly at room temperature.
Private Notes
Comments
Why oh why do people have you melt butter in a pot on the stove? Just put the butter into the (microwave-safe) mixing bowl you're going to use for the rest of the wet ingredients and do 1 1/2 minutes on 50% power to melt your butter--then check, as you may need 15-30 seconds more. Let the butter cool a bit while you mix up the dry ingredients, then proceed with the recipe, just adding the wet ingredients to the butter. This technique saves you a dirty pot, and all of your butter gets used.
The two forms of ginger will complement each other. I'd even go a step further and add finely chopped candied ginger.
Alison Roman mentions fresh ginger in the description but the recipe calls for ground ginger. Any thoughts?
Given that many bakers here used blackstrap molasses with less than palatable results, I thought the following (from another NYT molasses cookies recipe) might be helpful: "Be sure to use true molasses and not blackstrap molasses; blackstrap molasses has less sugar, more salt and acidity, and can change the way the dough browns, spreads and interacts with the leavening."
These were very underwhelming and bland flavor-wise and texturally they were just very soft, not even really chewy or crispy anywhere. I’d skip this recipe for a different ginger cookie recipe with some more zing.
I followed the recipe as written. The cookies were okay, but they would have to be the nectar of the gods for me to make again. I put the dough in the fridge overnight, but they were still incredibly messy and difficult to roll into balls. Simply not worth the effort.