Recipe: "Kelewele Molasses Cookies"
Dec. 21st, 2022 11:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithTonight I made a batch of these. The dough is a nuisance to work with, but the cookies turned out sooo good! I think these are the best molasses spice cookies I've ever had. :D If you love molasses and/or spice types of cookies, definitely give this a try. Also the African and diaspora flavors make it perfect for Kwanzaa.
"Kelewele Molasses Cookies"
Ingredients:
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon Kelewele Dry Spice Mix
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon Vena's Fizz House Aromatic Itty Bitters
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, combine 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, 1/8 teaspoon sea salt, and 1 teaspoon Kelewele Dry Spice Mix. Whisk together until well mixed.
In a different bowl, combine 1/4 cup dark brown sugar and 1/4 cup white sugar.
Cut 6 tablespoons of unsalted butter into chunks. Put them in a glass measuring cup and microwave until melted. Pour the melted butter into the bowl with the sugars and whisk until smooth.
In the same bowl with the sugar mixture, add 1/4 cup molasses, 1 egg, and 1/2 teaspoon Vena's Fizz House Aromatic Itty Bitters. Whisk until smooth.
Remove the whisk. Use a wooden spoon for the next step. Slowly add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture, stirring to combine. You should wind up with a thick brown batter.
Put the batter in the refrigerator for 10 minutes to chill. It needs to get stiff enough to handle easily without melting, more like a dough.
Use a spoon to scoop up blobs of dough and quickly roll them into balls between your hands. Place the balls on the parchment paper covering the baking sheet. Leave plenty of space because they'll spread in the oven. If the balls are holding firm, you can bake immediately. If they're slumping, refrigerate for 5 minutes.
Bake the cookies for 5 minutes. Rotate the pan. Bake for another 4 minutes. They will still seem soft and almost raw. As long as they're brown and the edges have set, they're ready to come out.
Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet until they solidify and pop off the parchment easily. Once cooled, transfer them to a tub or zip bag.
Notes:
These are basic molasses cookies, but with a sweet-hot spice mix instead of the usual pie spice blend. They are crispy around the outer edge but softer in the middle. The dough is a nuisance to handle because it wants to stick to everything, and even chilled it keeps trying to melt. But the cookies taste so good, they're worth the trouble. These would work great in an ice cream sundae or with yogurt, and they are ideal for cold weather.
Sea salt has more trace minerals and a more complex flavor. If you don't have any, light mineral salt such as Himalayan pink is good, but table salt is fine.
Kelewele Dry Spice Mix is used to flavor plantains. It is much like a pie spice blend with cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and clove but adds cayenne for more kick. I got my recipe for it from Zoe's Ghana Kitchen and found it visible online, which I posted about when I first made it. If you don't have this mix, or its ingredients, you can substitute apple pie spice, pumpkin pie spice, or garam masala. Add a pinch or two of cayenne if you want to make it hotter.
With the mix I used, at one teaspoon the cookies taste spicy-hot but not too much. I have a relatively low heat tolerance for hot peppers but quite a bit more for ginger and cinnamon. Mixing them makes it possible to get a good level of heat without getting overwhelming. The heat level is adjustable. If you want less, then start with 1/4 teaspoon of spice and taste to see what you think. You can always add more a bit at a time until you get what you want. To make it hotter, either add more spice or switch to a pepper hotter than cayenne. Minced candied ginger is another option but would change the character more.
Dark brown sugar has a deep, rich flavor. If you don't have any, light brown sugar works just fine.
Molasses is a thick, dark sweetener made from sugarcane. It has a strong flavor and contains plenty of vitamins and minerals.
Vena's Fizz House makes a bunch of different bitters, of which the Itty Bitters are the sample size. The Aromatic flavor contains Alcohol, Sarsaparilla, Cardamom, Orange Peel, Cloves, Wormwood, Fennel, Sassafras, Cinnamon, Allspice, Anise Seed, Gentian Root. They also have a Garam Masala flavor that should work in this recipe. Otherwise, any "aromatic" type bitters is worth a try, or you could just use vanilla extract.
"Kelewele Molasses Cookies"
Ingredients:
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon Kelewele Dry Spice Mix
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon Vena's Fizz House Aromatic Itty Bitters
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, combine 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, 1/8 teaspoon sea salt, and 1 teaspoon Kelewele Dry Spice Mix. Whisk together until well mixed.
In a different bowl, combine 1/4 cup dark brown sugar and 1/4 cup white sugar.
Cut 6 tablespoons of unsalted butter into chunks. Put them in a glass measuring cup and microwave until melted. Pour the melted butter into the bowl with the sugars and whisk until smooth.
In the same bowl with the sugar mixture, add 1/4 cup molasses, 1 egg, and 1/2 teaspoon Vena's Fizz House Aromatic Itty Bitters. Whisk until smooth.
Remove the whisk. Use a wooden spoon for the next step. Slowly add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture, stirring to combine. You should wind up with a thick brown batter.
Put the batter in the refrigerator for 10 minutes to chill. It needs to get stiff enough to handle easily without melting, more like a dough.
Use a spoon to scoop up blobs of dough and quickly roll them into balls between your hands. Place the balls on the parchment paper covering the baking sheet. Leave plenty of space because they'll spread in the oven. If the balls are holding firm, you can bake immediately. If they're slumping, refrigerate for 5 minutes.
Bake the cookies for 5 minutes. Rotate the pan. Bake for another 4 minutes. They will still seem soft and almost raw. As long as they're brown and the edges have set, they're ready to come out.
Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet until they solidify and pop off the parchment easily. Once cooled, transfer them to a tub or zip bag.
Notes:
These are basic molasses cookies, but with a sweet-hot spice mix instead of the usual pie spice blend. They are crispy around the outer edge but softer in the middle. The dough is a nuisance to handle because it wants to stick to everything, and even chilled it keeps trying to melt. But the cookies taste so good, they're worth the trouble. These would work great in an ice cream sundae or with yogurt, and they are ideal for cold weather.
Sea salt has more trace minerals and a more complex flavor. If you don't have any, light mineral salt such as Himalayan pink is good, but table salt is fine.
Kelewele Dry Spice Mix is used to flavor plantains. It is much like a pie spice blend with cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and clove but adds cayenne for more kick. I got my recipe for it from Zoe's Ghana Kitchen and found it visible online, which I posted about when I first made it. If you don't have this mix, or its ingredients, you can substitute apple pie spice, pumpkin pie spice, or garam masala. Add a pinch or two of cayenne if you want to make it hotter.
With the mix I used, at one teaspoon the cookies taste spicy-hot but not too much. I have a relatively low heat tolerance for hot peppers but quite a bit more for ginger and cinnamon. Mixing them makes it possible to get a good level of heat without getting overwhelming. The heat level is adjustable. If you want less, then start with 1/4 teaspoon of spice and taste to see what you think. You can always add more a bit at a time until you get what you want. To make it hotter, either add more spice or switch to a pepper hotter than cayenne. Minced candied ginger is another option but would change the character more.
Dark brown sugar has a deep, rich flavor. If you don't have any, light brown sugar works just fine.
Molasses is a thick, dark sweetener made from sugarcane. It has a strong flavor and contains plenty of vitamins and minerals.
Vena's Fizz House makes a bunch of different bitters, of which the Itty Bitters are the sample size. The Aromatic flavor contains Alcohol, Sarsaparilla, Cardamom, Orange Peel, Cloves, Wormwood, Fennel, Sassafras, Cinnamon, Allspice, Anise Seed, Gentian Root. They also have a Garam Masala flavor that should work in this recipe. Otherwise, any "aromatic" type bitters is worth a try, or you could just use vanilla extract.
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Date: 2022-12-22 12:45 pm (UTC)