Anne Burrell’s molasses cookies are soft, chewy spice cookies rolled in crunchy turbinado sugar and baked in under ten minutes. That makes them an easy Christmas cookie for a cookie exchange or a gift tin, since there is no chilling and no cutters needed. One batch makes 36 cookies.
There is no chilling step anywhere in this recipe. The butter goes in at room temperature and the dough goes straight to the oven. That is what gives the soft spread and crackle, so bake one test cookie first if your kitchen is warm.
The card claims 30 minutes from start to finish, with 20 of those in the oven. Thirty six cookies at 9 to 10 minutes a tray means three rounds, so the oven time alone is nearer 30. The real total is about an hour.
Anne Burrell Molasses Cookies
Course: DessertCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Easy4
servings30
minutes40
minutes300
kcalButter creamed with brown sugar, molasses and warm spice, scooped into balls and tossed in raw sugar before a short hot bake. Soft in the middle with a crunchy sugar crust.
Ingredients
- For the Cookies:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt, or a pinch if using salted butter
1 1/2 sticks butter, at room temperature
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
3/4 cup molasses
- For Rolling:
Turbinado sugar, for coating
Directions
- Mix the dry: Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and salt in a medium bowl and set it aside.
- Cream and combine: Cream the butter and brown sugar in a stand mixer with the paddle until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, then the molasses. Add the flour mixture in thirds, mixing gently and stopping as soon as it comes together.
- Scoop and coat: Scoop the dough into balls about 1 1/2 inches across onto a sheet tray spread with turbinado sugar. Toss them gently until they are covered all over. Move them to a second tray and press each one down slightly.
- Bake: Space the balls well apart, since this dough spreads with no chilling behind it. Bake 9 to 10 minutes a tray, working in about three rounds. Move the cookies to a rack to cool.
- Store: Keep them in an airtight container once they are completely cool. They stay soft for several days. A slice of bread in the tin keeps them that way longer.
Notes
- The recipe says 1 inch balls for 36 cookies, which does not work out, since the dough weighs about a kilo and a 1 inch ball is only 10 grams. Scoop closer to 1 1/2 inches. It also does not say whether the butter is salted.
FAQs
Salted or unsalted butter, and is a pinch of salt enough?
The recipe just says butter, which is unusual, and then asks for a pinch of salt against two and a half cups of flour. If you use unsalted, make that a scant half teaspoon or the cookies taste flat. If your butter is salted, the pinch is about right.
What is turbinado sugar and can I swap it?
Turbinado is raw cane sugar with big amber crystals that stay crunchy through the oven instead of melting into the dough. Demerara does the same job and sanding sugar is close. Granulated sugar works but dissolves, so you lose the crust.
How big should the scoop really be?
An inch is what the page says, but an inch ball weighs about 10 grams and this dough weighs a kilo. That would give you over 100 cookies rather than 36. Scoop closer to an inch and a half, which is a standard ice cream scoop.
Why did mine spread into each other?
Soft dough and a warm kitchen, which is the risk when a recipe skips chilling altogether. Space them wider than feels necessary and bake one test cookie before committing a tray. A dough that chills first, like these Trisha Yearwood gingerbread cookies, is more forgiving.
Can I freeze the dough?
Scoop and sugar the balls, freeze them solid on a tray, then bag them for up to three months. Bake from frozen and add a minute or two. Do the same with these smashed sugar cookies if you are building a freezer stash before Christmas.
