Soft and Chewy Molasses Spice Cookies

Name: Soft and Chewy Molasses Spice Cookies
Yield: Makes about 22 cookies
Ingredients: 1/3 cup, granulated sugar (about 2 1/2 ounces), plus 1/2 cup for dipping; 2 1/4 cups, unbleached all-purpose flour (11 1/4 ounces); 1 teaspoon, baking soda; 1 1/2 teaspoons, ground cinnamon; 1 1/2 teaspoons, ground ginger; 1/2 teaspoon, ground cloves; 1/4 teaspoon, ground allspice; 1/4 teaspoon, ground black pepper; 1/4 teaspoon, table salt; 12 tablespoons, unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), softened but still cool; 1/3 cup, packed dark brown sugar (about 2 1/2 ounces); 1 , large egg yolk; 1 teaspoon, vanilla extract; 1/2 cup, molasses (about 6 ounces), light or dark

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Appears in Cook's Illustrated January/February 2002, America's Test Kitchen TV

Desserts or Baked Goods

Make Ahead

Dry, tasteless molasses cookies belong on a Christmas tree, not in a cookie jar. We made more than 50 batches to find the best recipe for an uncommonly soft, chewy cookie with warm, tingling spices.

SERVESMakes about 22 cookies

TIME1¼ hours, plus 20 minutes cooling

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WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS

Our ideal molasses cookie recipe would produce a charmingly crackled and crinkled cookie with an uncommonly moist, chewy interior and a spicy flavor with undertones of dark, bittersweet molasses. To make this molasses cookie recipe a realit...

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