Molasses Crinkles

The chewy rim and soft moist center of this cookie that I remember from childhood is really easy to get when using the originally call for crisco. Nowadays I try to avoid crisco in favor of butter when I can and I won't lie - getting that texture was really difficult to replicate when I switched it to an all butter recipe.

I ended up reading a lot of science about the physics of cooking with butter versus crisco because I was really frustrated when I couldn't get the texture right in these cookies.  It boils down to relative melting temperatures and differing moisture contents and I was *this* close to throwing my hands up in the air and using lard in the recipe when I finally figured out how to manage the butter.

There are 2 tricks.

• Pay attention to the temperature of your dough when you go to bake it. Chilling the batter and/or using a stand mixer to cream cold butter with the sugar is recommended not something I say just because I'm trying to delay your cookie experience.  It actually will result in cookies that don't over spread and end up as dry little biscuits. 
• DO NOT OVER  BAKE. This is so much harder then it sounds. Dark cookies on a dark pan cooked with all butter have a very short window. I overcooked THREE batches of these cookies before deciding that indeed the original 10-12 min (lower end for dough that has been chilled, higher end when cooking from frozen) was perfect and JUST TAKE THE DAMN THINGS OUT OF THE OVEN - even if it looks like they can't possibly be done. They really are and are dang near perfect once they cool a bit (which I let them do on a rack, not on the hot cookie sheet). 

If you don't have an objection to crisco and want to make it that way the butter does not significantly flavor these cookies thanks to the strong flavor of molasses and spices and switching results in a softer moister center and chewer edges without needing perfect timing.

Nope nope nope. I absolutely did not allow my 18 month daughter to lick the cookie dough off the beater. Ummm....yeah that's my story and I'm sticking to it. 

Makes ~2 dozen

What you need

3/4 c. butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup molasses
2 1/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
scant 2 teaspoon baking soda (don't ask me what the hell this exactly means I just go with it)
1/2 tsp cloves
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
Sugar (for tops)

How to get 'er done

Bake them in an Oven 375 degrees

Cream the fats and sugar. Chilled butter and a stand mixer is highly recommended. Add the egg and molasses and mix well.

Mix the dry ingredients (except for the sugar) together and then add to the wet mixture.

Roll into walnut sized ball cookies, dip tops into sugar. Chill the cookies "for a while" (10 min?) in the freezer before cooking. I know a lot of recipes have you chill the dough before shaping them I don't like how dry hard to shape the dough is after chilling, so I prefer to chill it after it's in ball form.

Cook for 8-10 minutes.

Freezing: Freeze formed balls in freezer before dipping tops if wanted. A friend told me to thaw the cookies on the cookie sheet for the amount of time it takes the oven to preheat, and she was right - they cook up perfectly. I usually flatten the cookies slightly with the bottom of a flat dish if cooking from frozen-ish because otherwise they don't spread enough and get the chewy cooked rim that I love.

If cooking from frozen, cook for 12 minutes in a preheated oven.

- According to my mother, original recipe came from a very old paperback Gold Medal flour cookbook. Early 60's or late '50's. It was the first cookbook she ever baked anything from.