America’s Test Kitchen Molasses Black Treacle Spice Cookies For 2 Recipe!

Hey there everyone!

Today I’ve got some cookies for you that taste like Christmas!
They are morish and delicious at any time though, don’t worry, I’m not getting into the Christmas season, especially not this early!

The recipe for these, formulated by America’s Test Kitchen, are for just 2 people, 12 cookies in all.
If you’re on a diet or hate the fact you need to stuff yourself with 10 cookies a day just to eat the mammoth batches you have unleashed on yourself before they go bad, look no further.
This is a great one to whip out for a small tea party or you could even try punching them out into bear shapes as a different take on ginger bread men, the dark colour would lend itself very well to it.

The main feature of these cookies is molasses but don’t worry if you’re not in the states like I’m not, it’s simply black treacle with another name so no need to pay a fortune on a speciality, imported item.
It can be picked up in a wonderfully old fashioned red can from Lyles.

Most of the spices needed for this are likely already in your cupboard if you bake but I have never seen ground cloves and can’t think of many things you would use ground ones specifically for so I ground whole ones myself using a pestle and mortar, running them through a sieve to get rid of any large and unruly bits.
This way you are sure to get a more freshly ground flavour as well as not having to buy something you may only use for this.
I repeated the same on some more coarsely ground black pepper, rather than buying another more finely ground version.
These steps take a little more time but can add to the flavour and lessen the price!

Last but not least, these are absolutely fabulous with a cold glass of milk. If you’re kids love cookies but hate anything healthy this is a great trojan horse to get them full of calcium!
As for us adults, it just shows you’re never too old for cookies and milk.

America’s Test Kitchen Molasses Spice Cookies For 2
Makes 1 dozen

Ingredients
5 2/3 ounces plain flour
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon finely ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 ounces plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
3 tablespoons brown sugar
90g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/4 cup molasses (black treacle)
1 large egg yolk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method

With the oven rack on the middle shelf, preheat to 180oc (fan).
Line two baking trays with greaseproof paper and set aside.

Place the flour into a medium sized bowl, add the cinnamon , ginger, baking soda, cloves, pepper and salt, whisk until combined then set aside.

In a small shallow dish, measure in the 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar and set aside.

In another, large bowl, whisk the brown sugar and remaining granulated sugar in with the butter until combined.

Whisk in the molasses (black treacle), the egg yolk and the vanilla extract until the mix is smooth.

Gently stir in the flour until a even coloured dough forms.

Working with 1 and a half tablespoons of dough for each, roll into balls then roll the balls into the shallow dish of sugar until covered.

Arrange each ball on to the baking trays with 2 inches of space in between.

Take a flat bottomed glass tumbler, cover the bottom with cling film or grease and press the bottom of it on to each ball of cookie, making it flat.

Sprinkle the remaining granulated sugar over the cookie tops and place them in the oven for 10 to 12 minutes, turning the trays halfway.

When coloured slightly on the edges, taken them out and leave them on the trays to cool slightly for about 15 minutes.

Eat them slightly warm or cool.
Best eaten the same day as they get harder over time.
Serve with a glass of milk or on top of quality vanilla ice cream.