We had a blast giving away dozens of our molasses spice cookies to the town of Hot Springs during the 2024 Cookie Cruise! As promised, here’s the recipe in case you want to make it yourself.
These cookies are soft and chewy, with a little bit of spice and not too much sweetness (good or bad – it’s hard to eat just one). It’s important to use a spatula to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl after each addition – this batter is easy to not mix thoroughly. The recipe is adapted from Cook’s Illustrated.
Harvey’s Homestead Supply Molasses Spice Cookies
1 cup granulated sugar, divided (7 ounces)
2 ¼ cups unbleached all-purpose flour (11.25 ounces)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 ½ teaspoons ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon ground allspice
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
½ teaspoon table salt
12 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), softened
3 teaspoons grated orange zest
1/3 cup dark brown sugar (2.5 ounces)
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup dark molasses
Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper and place 2/3 cup granulated sugar in a small bowl. (You’ll use this to roll the balls of dough.)
Whisk flour, baking soda, spices, and salt in medium bowl until thoroughly combined; set aside.
In standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat butter and orange zest or orange extract with brown sugar and 1/3 cup granulated sugar at medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
Reduce speed to medium and add yolk and vanilla; increase speed to medium and beat until incorporated, about 20 seconds. Reduce speed to medium-low and add molasses; beat until fully incorporated.
Add flour mixture and beat on low until just incorporated. Use a spatula to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl to make sure it’s fully combined.
Using your hands or a cookie scoop, roll dough into balls of about 1-inch, then coat with remaining sugar. (If dough is too soft to roll, refrigerate until firmer.) At this point, you can either bake the cookies or freeze the dough balls until ready to bake.
Bake at 350 for 8-ish minutes (or 10 minutes for frozen dough balls) or until cookies have started to crack on top but are still soft in the middle.
* The cookies are really best with the fresh orange zest but I admit that when making many batches such as for the Cookie Cruise, I often substitute a teaspoon of orange extract even though the flavor doesn’t come through nearly as well as the zest. Fresh orange zest is definitely worth it if you have time!