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.
4 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!
wow these sound really good! i've actually never made anything with molasses but now i'll have to try these!
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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