Molasses Spice Cookies

This was another offering for the MLFB gathering. This is one of my Old Standbys. I make these cookies all the time. This recipe is from Cook's Illustrated New Best Recipe.

Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 cups (11 1/4 ounces) all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp ground allspice
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 sticks (12 tbsp) unsalted butter, softened but still cool
• 1/3 cup ( 2 1/3 ounces) packed dark brown sugar
• 1/3 cup (2 1/3 ounces) granulated sugar
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup light or dark molasses

Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or spray it with nonstick cooking spray (I used my Silpat silicone baking mats, which EVERYONE SHOULD HAVE BECAUSE THEY RULE).

Whisk the flour, baking soda, spices, and salt in a medium bowl until thoroughly combined; set aside.

Either by hand or with an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugars at medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce the speed to medium-low and add the egg yolk and vanilla; increase speed to medium and beat until combined, about 20 seconds. Reduce the speed to medium-low and add the molasses; beat until fully incorporated, scraping the bowl with a spatula once. Reduce the speed to the lowest setting; add the flour mixture and beat until just combined, about 30 seconds, scraping the bowl once. Give the dough a final stir by hand to ensure there are no pockets of flour at the bottom. The dough will be soft and gooey.

Place some more granulated sugar in a small bowl for rolling. Pinch off wads of dough (approximately 1 heaping tablespoon) and roll into balls about 1 1/2 inches across. Roll the dough in the sugar to coat and place each ball on the prepared baking sheet, spacing them about 2 inches apart.

Bake until the cookies are browned and still puffy, the edges have begun to set, and the centers are still soft (the cookies will look raw between the cracks and seem undone), about 11 minutes, rotating the sheet from front to back halfway through the baking time. Do not overbake.

Cool the cookies on the baking sheer for 5 minutes before transferring to a rack. Makes about 20-24 cookies depending on the generosity of your dough balls.

Sugar and spice and everything nice...wait, no sugar in this picture, just spice!

I did not have enough molasses (probably barely 1/4 cup) so my dough was not as dark and gooey as it should have been.