Molasses Crinkles
Precious memories sometimes start in the kitchen. Pull some fresh Molasses Crinkles from the oven and it’ll take you right back to your childhood. The aromas of cinnamon, ginger, and cloves mixed with the sweetness of molasses in this soft cookie have a special place in my heart.
Why “crinkles?” This is part of the baking process. The cookie gets dipped in some sugar, then it’s placed sugar-side up on the baking sheet. A few drops of water are placed on top of each cookie before they are baked. You’ll know the cookies are done once the cookies start to crack, thereby making crinkles in the surface.
Mixing up a batch of Molasses Crinkles
We’ll be using an electric mixer for this recipe. In a large bowl, mix together the shortening, brown sugar, egg, and molasses.
Make sure the brown sugar is nice and fresh. You’ll know it’s fresh by how soft it is. When brown sugar gets hard, however, it’s time to go to the store.
In another bowl, mix together all of the dry ingredients. This includes the flour, baking soda, salt, cloves, cinnamon, and ground ginger.
Using a fork or whisk, mix the dry ingredients together.
In batches, add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, then scrape the sides of the bowl so all that goodness gets into your cookies.
Once it’s all mixed together, chill the dough in the refrigerator for about a half hour.
Prepare the baking sheets
Use either parchment paper cut to size, or grease the surface of the baking sheets. Take a paper towel and dip it into shortening, then spread that over the surface of the cookie sheet. You don’t need to re-grease the pan for the next batch.
Also needed is a small bowl of sugar; not a lot, maybe 1-2 tablespoons.
Use either regular granulated sugar, or course raw sugar. Both taste great, but the course sugar gives it a more sparkly look.
Oh yeah, and set out another small bowl of water. Just regular room temperature tap water with a teaspoon in it. This will make sense soon, I promise.
Prepare the cookies for some crinkling
What does that even mean? lol
Well, with your baking sheets and small bowl of sugar ready, get the chilled cookie dough from the refrigerator. Take a spoonful of cookie dough and roll it into a ball with your hands. Each cookie ball should be about the size of a large walnut.
Dip the cookie into the sugar then place it sugar-side up on the cookie sheet. In other words, don’t roll it around in the sugar, just dip the one side.
The top of the cookie should be flat with sugar on it. Keep going until the cookie sheet is full. Place the cookies about 3-inches apart from each other so they have room to spread out as they bake.
Ok, as promised. Take that teaspoon sitting in the water and place maybe 2 drops of water on top of each cookie. This is the secret to crinkling. Don’t fill the teaspoon with water, it’ll go everywhere, and remember there’s probably a drop or two under the teaspoon. You can also dip a finger in the water and let the water drip onto the cookie.
How will I know they’re done baking?
Great question. After baking the cookies for about 8-10 minutes in a preheated 350° oven, look to see if they’re crinkled. If the cookies have no cracks in them whatsoever, they’re not ready to come out yet. Let them bake another minute or two, and re-check.
Let them cool a few minutes on the cookie sheet, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
I highly recommend, however, sampling one or three while they’re still warm from the oven.
Molasses Crinkle Scones
I was feeling some inspiration from my Molasses Crinkles, so I made some Molasses Crinkle Scones, too. Such a great breakfast treat or snack. Recipe to follow soon.
Using the same crinkle method, the scones proved to be crinkle worthy of the name. Sparkly sugar crystals and beautiful cracks in the surface just asking to be pulled apart and eaten.
Molasses Crinkles
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup shortening
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup molasses
- 2 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- 2 tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- 1 tsp. ground ginger
- 1/2 tsp. ground cloves
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 2 Tbsp. sugar (granulated or course for dipping)
- 1 Tbsp. water
Instructions
- Grease cookie sheets or cut parchment paper to size.
- In large bowl, mix together shortening, brown sugar, egg, and molasses.
- Meanwhile, in another bowl, mix together the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and salt.
- Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients in batches, scraping sides as you go until everything is mixed together. Chill dough in refrigerator at least 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350°. Put 2 Tbsp. sugar in small bowl for dipping. Also, have small bowl with tap water and teaspoon in it.
- Roll dough into balls the size of large walnuts. Dip tops in sugar and place sugar-side up on prepared cookie sheet 3" apart. Sprinkle each cookie with 2-3 drops water to produce a crackled surface.
- Bake approx. 8-10 minutes. Check for crinkles. Cookies are set when the cracks begin to appear on surface of cookie. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
For other Fall favorite recipes, check out my Apple Pear Cream Cheese Tart and my Pumpkin Streusel Muffins. Everyone loves home-baked goods during the holidays, and these will fill your kitchen with the heavenly aroma of cinnamon and love.
For other year-round recipe favorites, check out this No Bake Lemon Blueberry Dessert and this Sugar Cookie Lemonade Crumble.
I love hearing from my readers, so please follow me on Pinterest (top right corner). Post a picture of your creation and rate the recipe, or leave a comment below.
Before I go, here are a couple of great sized pins for your Pinterest board. Happy baking and have a blessed day, my friend.
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