When I think of the Christmas holidays, I can smell the spices and feel the warmth of the season shining through the brisk and sometimes frigid temps of the season. These cookies make me think of farmhouse cookie jars where the contents are served alongside a cold glass of “creamline” milk from a glass bottle! The chewiness of this cookie is courtesy of the brown sugar and molasses in the batter. Don’t overcook this brown skinned beauties–they’re still good crispy, but hey we have gingersnaps for that! Let the molasses crinkle be great and have it’s shining, chewy moment on our lips!

MOLASSES CRINKLES

YIELD: about 24 cookies

PREP TIME: 15 minutes

COOK TIME: 10 minutes

INGREDIENTS:

¾ cup butter, softened (NOT melted)
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 large egg, room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
¼ cup molasses
2 ¼ cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger

TINY pinch of ground cayenne pepper (trust me on this!)

Granulated cane sugar for rolling cookies

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a large bowl with an electric mixer, beat butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy; about 3 minutes. Add in egg, vanilla and molasses and mix until fully combined.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cloves, cinnamon, pepper, and ginger. Slowly add dry ingredients to the butter mixture and mix until just combined. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

3. When you’re ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 375 °F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

4. Using a medium cookie scoop to scoop dough into balls and then roll into the granulated sugar to coat (don’t skimp on the sugar y’all. Holiday calories don’t count). Place dough balls 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets. Bake cookies in preheated oven for 10-12 minutes. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheets for about 3 minutes before removing the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely. Or, you can throw caution to the wind and grab a couple to taste while they’re cooling. Your choice.