Last updated on May 30th, 2025
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Old-Fashioned Molasses Cookies blend warm spices and spicy molasses and yield a soft tender, cake-like texture from the buttermilk. My vintage inspiration for this recipe is passed down from my great-grandmother. The recipe reads ” flour to roll not too stiff” which is fun for us to guess on the amount of flour to use.
My modern updates included adding m ore flour, adding buttermilk, adding more fat, used butter instead of shortening, and doubled the spices.
Ingredients to make Molasses Cookies
INGREDIENTS
butter:
Many vintage recipes call for shortening, however, I only use real butter as I prefer an all-natural taste. Shortening has a waxy texture and lack of flavor. Butter is made up of 80% fat and 20% water, and shortening is 100% fat, so I added an extra 1/4 c. of butter since the original recipe called for 1/2 c. shortening. You could also use a premium brand like Land-O-Lakes or Challenge which are European styles and contains 82-83% fat vs. other conventional brands.
buttermilk:
If you don’t have store-bought buttermilk on hand, you can make your own by placing 1 tsp. of white vinegar and then filling up the liquid measuring cup to the 1/3 c. Another option is to keep dry buttermilk in your pantry and just whip up as needed.
molasses:
This recipe calls for 1 cup of molasses, which is double the amount of most soft molasses cookie recipes. There are 3 types of conventional molasses: regular, robust, and blackstrap. The sugar content varies from the way in which it was processed. So the lighter the molasses, the sweeter it tastes. When measuring out molasses, lightly spray the liquid measuring cup with canola spray. This will ensure your molasses will pour out easier and you will get every drop measured out. Be sure to use good quality natural molasses like Grandma’s brand original.
BAKER’S TIPS
chill the dough:
Chilling the dough will help meld the spices together and also prevent your cookies from spreading out. If these cookies spread too much they loose the soft, cake-like, texture. Let the batter sit about 15 minutes after chilling to make it easy to scoop.
baking sheet:
Always use light-colored, aluminum cookie sheet. I use Nordic Ware aluminum 18×13 half-sheet pans lined with parchment paper. Aluminum is best for distributing and reflecting even heat during the baking process. Dark cookie sheets conduct more heat off the surface, which may lead to your baked goods to burn or darken on the edges before they are fully cooked.
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Ingredients
Method
- Whisk together dry ingredients in a bowl.
- Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- Cream butter and sugar until fluffy and light in color. Add eggs, molasses, and vanilla and mix together.
- Add in dry ingredients and mix together until batter just comes together. Chill 30 minutes to overnight to let flavors meld together.
- Scoop batter into balls using a medium cookie scoop. Roll balls into a bowl of white sanding sugar. Place cookies on baking sheet 1# apart.
- Bake cookies at 350° for 12 minutes.
- Let cookies cool and store in sealed container on counter 2-3 days or in freezer up to 6 months.
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Would this dough be okay with rolling and using a cookie cutter?