Chewy Molasses Crinkles

Chewy Molasses Crinkles - made June 13, 2020 from Martha Stewart's Cookies

I haven't had a cookie failure in awhile. So the Baking Gods decided it was time to give me the finger. I'm a little up in my feelings about it too because this recipe is from Martha Stewart and I didn't expect failure to come from one of her recipes. Possibly user error? But I've been doing this for awhile and I don't think I made any mistakes with the recipe.

Then again, I don't like molasses cookies well enough to make them very often so I don't have the same level of expertise with molasses cookies that I do with chocolate chip cookies or snickerdoodles. I tried out this recipe just to have a different kind of cookie to include in care packages. That'll teach me.

First of all, the dough was too soft. After mixing it, I had to chill it just to firm it up enough to form it into dough balls. Always a bad sign. Even after I had chilled it for several hours, it wasn't that firm. I portioned into dough balls and froze them overnight.

Then I baked them. And you can see for yourself how much they spread. First World problem #2. I didn't make the dough balls that big either but the cookies spread like they were bent on thwarting me to turn themselves into a bar cookie mass.

The real insult to injury though - problem #3 - is the texture was way too chewy. I've made molasses cookies before that were actually the texture of - you know - cookies. These were more chewy than that. The tragedy is, in my baking hubris, I had vacuum sealed all but the taste test cookie AND packaged them up for mailing (seriously, they were already taped up in the boxes with shipping labels and everything) before I tasted the taste test cookie. Oops. Too late to undo everything. Sorry, soldiers, this wasn't my best work. Eat the other stuff in the boxes instead.

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar plus 1/4 for rolling
2 large eggs
1/2 cup unsulfured molasses
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Put butter, brown sugar and 1/2 cup granulated sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Cream on medium speed until smooth and combined, 2-3 minutes. Mix in eggs, one at a time, followed by the molasses and oil.
2. Reduce speed to low and gradually add the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, allspice and salt. Cover dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour to overnight.
3. Portion dough into 1-2 tablespoon(s)-size dough balls, cover and freeze for several hours or overnight.
4. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 325 degrees (I baked at 350) F. Line several baking sheets with parchment paper. Place 1/4 cup granulated sugar in a shallow bowl. Roll dough balls in sugar, coating completely, and evenly space on prepared baking sheets. Bake for 15-17 minutes, until cookies are flat and set. Cool completely.