In the last few weeks, the weather here has shifted from autumn to winter. The leaves are gone from the trees, and snow has been falling every couple of days. Brrrr. Though I love everything related to the holidays and winter sports (when appropriately dressed in 158908 layers), I adore warmth and sunlight even more. Cloudy, snowy winter days give me the urge to hibernate, or at least to hole up on the couch in front of a fire with a hot drink and a book. My two active little boys heartily disagree with my opinion of winter. As a result, I usually grit my teeth and spend the majority of my day outside, lumbering around in slow motion, as the blood in my veins turns to slush.
Today is one of those days where it feels impossible to get warm. Though it's not terribly cold, hazy clouds are low to the ground, and a flurry seems imminent. I have free range of the house, so the heat is turned up five degrees higher, a fire is burning in the fireplace, and I'm huddled under a blanket. Must be warm before I can practice the violin.
I can't imagine a better way to enjoy a cold winter day than sitting just as I am, with a mug of hot cider and some of these soft, chewy, and deliciously spicy molasses cookies within reach. Want to come over yet?
I deserve to be sitting here on the couch enjoying the spoils of my labor. In all honesty, the cookies pictured above were my fourth batch. Though the taste of the first three batches was great, I had a terrible time getting the texture just right. The first batch was chewy, but rather unattractive- they flattened out too much in the oven, and after cooling, took on a gummy texture. The second batch wasn't chewy at all, and was way too dry. The third batch was almost right, but the flour combination I used was a little bit too grainy. After some brainstorming about my starches, the fourth time was the charm.
At any given time, my pantry is filled with at least ten different types of grain flours, nut meals, and commercial flour blends. Though I often use commercial blends when I'm in a hurry, I find that they often don't work as well when I'm looking for my recipes to take on specific characteristics, for example, chewiness. I prefer to make my own mixes, adapting the amount of starches, flours, and binders to my needs.
My final flour blend included brown rice flour, tapioca starch, sorghum flour, and xanthan gum. I don't typically use a lot of tapioca, because it makes dough sticky and has a peculiar flavor. In this case, though, the tapioca was what gave these cookies their chewy texture. Because I wanted the cookies to both retain their moisture during the baking process, and to be solid enough to roll into balls (and dip into sugar-that's what makes a molasses cookie a molasses cookie!), chilling the dough was actually the most important step in the whole process. Right after mixing all the ingredients, the dough was wet and sticky, not workable at all. I let mine chill overnight in the fridge. By the following morning, the flours had soaked up most of the moisture, and the dough was perfect for rolling and sugar-dipping.
A quick 7-minute bake in the oven left me with just what I was looking for. When they were still slightly warm, the cookies had a crisp, sugary outer shell, and the insides were soft. After cooling for a few hours, the cookies became slightly softer on the outside, and a lot more chewy in the inside...just right
The boys liked the cookies just as much as I did, so two dozen didn't last for long. As I sit here enjoying the last one, I'm glad I made it to batch number four.
Recipe:
3/4 cup brown rice flour
3/4 cup tapioca starch
1/2 cup sorghum flour
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 heaping tsp ginger
1/4 tsp allspice
pinch black pepper (optional)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup molasses
1 egg, beaten
2 tablespoons milk
sugar for rolling dough
Directions: In a large bowl, combine flours, xanthan gum, baking soda, salt, and spices. Whisk to combine. In a separate bowl, combine remaining ingredients, and stir until smooth. Slowly add dry ingredients into wet ones, stirring until mixed. Dough will be very sticky. Cover and chill for at least two hours, preferably overnight. Once chilled, roll the dough into tablespoon-sized balls, dip in sugar, and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet (a greased baking sheet may cause these cookies to spread). Flatten balls with your fingers or a fork to form disks, and bake for 6-8 minutes at 375 degrees. Makes about 24 cookies.
Modification for sea level: double baking soda and omit 2 tablespoons milk. Bake at 350 for approximately 6 minutes.
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