This month's Sugar High Friday event is hosted by Derrick of An Obsession with Food. The theme: Black and Sticky. Molasses? What the heck is that? Sure, I've heard it, but what is it HERE, in Sweden? I had no idea. We have light syrup (golden?), and dark syrup. (Treacle? Molasses??) That's it. I do have pomegranate molasses in my cupboard (sadly unused yet) but I couldn't think of something reasonable to make with it.
I chose to interpret the term molasses fairly generously, and went for this cookie recipe that's flavored with syrup. Mmm. They're real good. The original recipe came from "Konditorns Bästa" - "The Pastry-Chef's Best", by Signe Maria Bengtsson. I adapted it quite a bit - adding a bit more syrup to get the right flavor, using a mixture of both light and dark, and substituting dried cranberries for raisins. I also opted to make these round rather than the stick-shape she suggested. Cookies are best round, in my opinion.
Syrup-cranberry cookies
Makes 48 small cookies
200 g butter, room temperature-ish at least
2 dl sugar (that's about 3/4 cup)
5 dl flour/300 g/2 cups
1 tbsp golden syrup
2 tbsp dark syrup/molasses
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp vanilla extract
1,25 dl (1/2 cup) dried cranberries, chopped up
Preheat the oven to 225 degrees C (450 F). Cream the butter with the sugar, vanilla and syrup. (I used my lovely Kitchen-Aid to bake these - it took five minutes.) Add the baking soda, flour and cranberries. The dough should just about come together - if it's too sandy, add a smidge more syrup. (Or water - but syrup is more fun.)
Make balls, place on baking sheet (fairly closely, they won't spread much), and press down on them with a fork. Bake for 6 minutes. The original recipe said 10 - mine were definitely done by 6. Watch your oven!
Perfect with a tall glass of cool milk! In fact - these are some of the best cookies I've ever had. They're crunchy, but chewy, and yet melt in your mouth. (All that butter, I bet.) They have a very pronounced syrup (treacle? molasses?) flavor, and the cranberry complements it perfectly. I am normally a lover of both nuts and chocolate in my cookies, but.. I must say I miss neither with these. I was planning to bring the batch to my mother-in-law-to-be but.. frankly, no, these are going straight into my freezer. Except for the ones that are going straight into my tummy. And that's probably the lion share.
3 comments:
If they taste even half as good as they look, Anne, I'm not surprised that they're great! I've never heard of a stick shaped cookie. Like a biscotti? Sounds like it would be good for dipping.
Those look so very tasty! Crunchy and chewy eh? Sounds satisfyingly delicious!
I converted the butter to 7/8 Cup and the cookies spread out all over and the centers did not cook.They taste great but did not stay in the shape. What did I do wrong??????
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