{TWD} Molasses Spice Cookies

The TV show Sesame Street turns 40 years old today. It was the first consciously "educational" children's show and made quite the splash when it first aired. I used to babysit for a family as a full time summer job in high school, and I watched a lot of episodes of the early seasons with my preschool charges. The mom appreciated the educational aspect of the show and asked me to turn it on for them. (And when they napped, I watched the Watergate hearings!)

While I thought the show was creative and clever, it definitely annoyed me that none of the early Sesame Street Muppets were female (Bert, Ernie, Big Bird, Oscar, Grover, and on and on, all male. And when they finally introduced some female Muppets they were pretty insipid - Prairie Dawn, really?) But that didn't stop me from having my favorite my favorite Muppets: Grover self-described as "lovable and furry," and Cookie Monster, totally obsessed with eating cookies, as shown in the classic song "C" is for Cookie:

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A couple of seasons ago, Sesame Street's "curriculum" theme was healthy eating, and on air Cookie Monster was busy scarfing up fruits and veggies. But I know that in his heart, he would much rather get his hands on these Molasses Spice Cookies that Pamela of Cookies With Boys chose for her Tuesdays With Dorie pick.

n.o.e.'s notes:

- I used a mixture of all purpose and white whole wheat flour.

- We love spiced cookies, so I used heaping measures of the recipe's spices and a generous pinch of the black pepper. I also added some freshly ground cloves and nutmeg.

- The dough was quite sticky, so I rolled it into two logs and popped them into the freezer for 45 minutes or so. Then I just sliced off discs of dough, placed them on the cookie sheet, sprinkled some coarse sparkly sugar over them, and baked them. It was much easier than rolling balls of dough and flattening them.

- My cookies came out much deeper and darker in appearance than the ones in the book. I think this was from the new brand of organic molasses that I used and also the Trader Joe's brown sugar, which is darker than most "light brown sugar" is.

the verdict:

There was nothing sweet and subtle about these cookies - they were bold and brash with a pronounced dusky spiciness. I brought a plateful of cookies to a chili party on Halloween. The tasters were convinced that there was chocolate in the cookies, they were that dark and complex. I'm pretty sure that with milder sweeteners they would be smoother and more restrained. But for a 40th anniversary - or a chili party on Halloween for that matter - one might as well have wild cookies. Cookie Monster would definitely approve!

If you want to bake these cookies for your very own cookie monster, Pamela will have the recipe on her blog on November 17, or you can find it on pages 76 and 77 of Dorie Greenspan's book, Baking: From My Home to Yours.

March m.o.m. - Boston Brown Bread muffins

Earlier in the month I baked some molasses yeast bread (which, in the crazy logic of my blog, should be posted within the next week or so) and the flavor hinted at Boston Brown Bread to me. That set me to wondering if I could find a muffin recipe which would capture the BBB flavor. A quick Google search turned up many sites, most featuring the exact same recipe [see below]. It looked promising, so I baked it up for my mother's Muffin of the Month (m.o.m.) for March.


n.o.e.'s notes:

- I made a double batch of these muffins, which yielded 19 muffins in my silicone muffin pans and individual muffin molds.

- Because of food allergies of my muffin recipients, I omitted the raisins and used some soured Lactaid milk instead of buttermilk (or yogurt). I put lemon juice in the bottom of a measuring cup and filled it with the milk. Stir, and wait a few minutes - you'll have "clabbered" milk.

- All of my ingredient substitutions are noted in the recipe below.

- For the first time, I used a disher to portion the batter into the cups. It really does make filling muffin cups a whole lot easier - neater and more even in batter quantity.

the verdict:

The muffins were just sweet enough, with a little crunch in the texture from the cornmeal. They tasted the best when served warm with butter (but what doesn't, really?) I think that raisins or other dried fruit would be really good in these muffins. It was great to get the Boston brown bread flavor without having to steam a batch of bread.

I'm submitting these muffins to Bread Baking Day - this month (#18) the theme is "quick breads," and the host is Fun and Food Blog. Head over there next week to check out the roundup!

the recipe:

I found the identical recipe on several sites, none of which credited the original source.

Boston Brown Bread Muffins

1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour [I used white whole wheat]
1/2 cup rye flour
1/2 cup stone-ground yellow cornmeal [I used blue cornmeal]
1/4 cup sugar [I used light brown sugar]
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup low fat buttermilk [I soured some nonfat Lactaid milk with lemon juice]
1/3 cup vegetable oil [I used mild olive oil]
1/3 cup molasses
1 lightly beaten egg
1 cup raisins [I omitted]

1. Preheat oven to 400-degrees. Place 10 paper bake cups in a muffin pan.

2. In a bowl combine the flours, cornmeal, sugar, baking soda and salt.

3. In another bowl stir together the buttermilk, oil, molasses and egg until blended.

4. Add the dry mix to the wet mix; stir until just combined. Stir in the raisins.

5. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin pans. Bake for approximately 15 minutes or until done.

Yields: 10 muffins.

Perfect Gingerbread: two ways

I discovered this wonderful recipe about fifteen years ago, and it makes just about the best gingerbread around. I always get raves from people when I serve it, and folks are always asking for the recipe. This can be made as a cake/bread or, with a few slight changes, as muffins [Recipes for both versions are at the end of this post].

I nearly always make this in an 8" square pan, but this year I bought these cute star-shaped bake-and-give pans that hold an equivalent amount of batter. My biggest problem is that with this pan there wasn't a high enough percentage of soft insides and a too high percentage of edge.

If you use one of these pans, I'd recommend that you be a bit careful with it; keeping the pan on another, rigid, pan, and cut the pan away to remove it. My cake broke into pieces because I handled it a bit too cavalierly, so I just served the cake straight out of the pan.

Our usual accompaniment is lemon curd, but this year I whipped up some cream. Yummy!

Gingerbread
from the Dairy Hollow House Cookbook

1 ½ cup flour
1 cup sugar
2tsp ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
½ cup butter
1 egg, well beaten
3 Tablespoons molasses
1 tsp baking soda
1 scant tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk

1. Combine flour, sugar, ginger, and cinnamon. Cut in butter.

2. Reserve ¼ cup crumbled mixture for topping.

3. Add egg to remaining mixture. Stir in molasses.

4. Dissolve baking soda and salt in buttermilk, and add to flour/spice/egg/molasses mixture.

5. Pour into greased 9 inches square pan; sprinkle with topping.

6. Bake 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

Serve with lemon curd, or whipped cream, or both!

The muffin variation has the same fantastic flavor:

Gingerbread Muffins
from the Dairy Hollow House Cookbook

1 ½ cup flour
3/4 cup sugar
2 tsp ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
½ cup butter (4 oz)
3/4 cup chopped walnuts (or rolled oats)
1 egg, well beaten
3 Tablespoons molasses
1 tsp baking soda
1 scant tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk
handful raisins (optional)

1. Combine flour, sugar, ginger, and cinnamon.

2. Cut in butter with pastry cutter or two knives.

3. Reserve ¼ of the crumbled mixture in a small bowl for topping. Stir in chopped walnuts or rolled oats to reserved crumbled mixture and set aside. (I left the nuts and oats out of the topping this time, because I was baking them for my mom who has lots of food sensitivities).

4. Add egg to remaining mixture. Stir in molasses.

5. Dissolve baking soda and salt in buttermilk. Add to the flour/egg/molasses mixture.

6. Fill muffin cups half full; sprinkle with topping.

Bake 20 minutes at 350 degrees.

Gingerbread Wishes!

This little reindeer sends his Christmas greetings!

Nothing says "Christmas" around here louder than gingerbread. Our holiday simply would not be complete without some lovely - plain - gingerbread cookies, made from my trusty 1975 Joy of Cooking. The recipe produces a cookie that's perfectly spicy and dark, from a sturdy, workable dough that puffs just a bit when it cooks. I've made these cookies every year for at least 25 years, and this is one recipe I have not the slightest urge to replace. (recipe at end of this post)

One thing I love is that this dough doesn't need refrigeration. Just mix, roll, bake. But if you have to wait before you bake your cookies, or if you want to be ahead of the game, you can refrigerate or freeze the dough and bake the cookies at a later time.

This year I needed to think ahead to ensure that we would have our favorite cookies. I was in Germany until just 3 days before Christmas, so I made my dough early. To make things even easier, I tried something new, and this is the best trick:

I divided the dough in half, and put each into a gallon-sized zippered plastic bag. Then I rolled the dough inside the bag until it filled the bag to the edges and into the corners. It turned out beautifully even and ended up the perfect thickness. Then I popped it in the freezer.

When I got back from my trip, I pulled the bags from the freezer, cut them open, and voila! The dough was ready for the cookie cutters. The best part? There was no floury mess when I made the dough or when I cut the cookies!


Here are some of the cookies I made using cookie cutters I bought at the German Christmas markets:

Gingerbread cookies
from The Joy of Cooking

¼ c butter
½ c white or brown sugar
½ c dark molasses
3 ½ c all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
¼ tsp cloves
½ tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
½ tsp salt

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Blend butter and sugar until creamy. Beat in molasses.
3. Sift together flour, baking soda, spices and salt.
4. Add the sifted ingredients to the butter mixture in about three parts, alternately with the water. You may have to work in the last of the flour mixture with your hands if you are not using an electric mixer.
5. Roll the dough to any thickness and cut with a floured cookie cutter or by making a pattern of your own.
6. Decorate before baking with small raisins, bits of candied fruits, red-hots, marshmallows and citron, indicating features or buttons. (we're cookie purists. Those decorations detract from the straight gingerbread goodness, in our opinions.)
7. Bake the cookies 8 minutes or longer, according to their thickness. Test for doneness by pressing the dough with your finger. If it springs back after pressing, they are ready to be cooled on a rack.
8. Stir in a small bowl, to make a paste: ¼ cup confectioners’ sugar and a few drops water. Apply the icing with a wooden pick or a small knife for additional garnishes – caps, hair, mustaches, belts or shoes. (yep, we skip this too.)

{T-giving} Molasses Spice Pumpkin Pie

If you, like me, prefer your pumpkin pie to be dense, dark, and spicy, this is the recipe for you. I first made it several years ago, after finding it in The Spice Cookbook, a vintage cookbook from 1964. It is the single most important recipe of my Thanksgiving dinner.

The cookbook's title page

The book is packed with information, charts, tips, and delicious recipes made with spices from all over the world.

The cookbook's endpapers

Molasses-Pumpkin Pie

from The Spice Cookbook

¾ cup sugar
1 T. flour
½ tsp. salt
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground cloves
¼ tsp ground black pepper
¼ cup unsulphured molasses
2 cups mashed cooked pumpkin
3 large eggs
1 cup undiluted evaporated milk
9 inch unbaked 1 crust pie shell (I used the Cook's Illustrated pie crust)

1. Mix together the first 6 ingredients.

2. Add the next 3 ingredients. Mix well.

3. Stir in milk.

4. Pour into unbaked pie shell

5. Bake in preheated 400°F oven for 40 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

Enjoy the pie with or without whipped cream. It's great either way. We always make to sure to have lots of this pumpkin pie, and in the days after Thanksgiving I enjoy it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

This pie is a specialty of my daughter A.L.E., who said this year: "I don't know why everyone doesn't use molasses in pumpkin pie." Honestly, as good as the pie tastes, I agree with her.

Prudy's Perfect Ginger Cookies

This recipe comes from Prudy, of the blog Prudence Pennywise ("Scandalously good food on a budget"), who recently posted a week-long series called "Cookie Bookie Week." Each day she highlighted a classic book and a complementary cookie recipe. The last day's post featured the book To Kill a Mockingbird and some molasses cookies. Prudy calls them "Spicy and Soft Ginger Cookies" but I call them "Perfect!"

cook's notes:

- You can find the recipe on Prudy's post, linked above.

- This is a one-bowl recipe! Yay!!

- I used Greek yogurt instead of the sour cream.

- I used 3/4 tsp freshly ground pepper

- After I added the baking soda, I realized it was from the "expired baking soda" container that I keep around for scrubbing, etc. (which was quite old and definitely shot). I fished out as much as I could then estimated how much to add of the good baking soda. Luckily, the cookies turned out perfectly. I'm not sure I could duplicate that, however!

- I used 2/3 white whole wheat flour, at 4.7 oz/cup

- The dough was pretty sticky, but I went ahead with the first sheet. By the time I rolled the cookies for the second sheet, the dough had firmed up nicely, and was not very sticky at all.

- I made the cinnamon sugar with demerara sugar + granulated sugar + cinnamon.

- I got 33 cookies out of the dough (Prudy says the yield is 40). The first ones I baked off were too big (but great looking!) so I made the rest a bit smaller. I preferred the bigger ones but I was needing quantity for a church event, so I adjusted smaller.

- At the correct size, the cookies needed 7 minutes to be crunchy on the outside (mmm, cinnamon sugar) and delightfully soft inside. At the bigger size, it was more like 8-9 minutes. They did soften up when they were covered overnight, so I might cook them a bit longer next time, or not wrap them quite so air-tight.

the verdict:

These are perfect ginger/molasses cookies! Here's why:

1. The taste is fantastic. The black pepper + ginger combination is a winner.

2. They are dead easy to make; no chopping, softening, zesting, chilling, or waiting. Just stir the ingredients and you're ready.

3. There's only 1 bowl to clean (and a few measuring spoons and cups)

4. For cookies, these are fairly healthy. I think that next time I'll try the extra light tasting olive oil and boost the monounsaturated fat.

5. The crackly, sugary surface makes for an appealing cookie. I'll bet these disappear quickly from a cookie tray.


Thank you Prudy!! This recipe is a winner.