Mrs. Mullins’ Soft Molasses Cookies
Mrs. Mullins’ soft molasses cookies are a real grandma-recipe. They are filled with ginger, cinnamon, cloves, sour cream and — of course — molasses. A few years before she passed away my grandmother wrote me this note: “Mrs. Mullins was our landlady when we first moved from Newark N.J. to Verona in 1919. We lived upstairs and she was down. She was a very good cook. I loved her cookies.”
Deciphering Mrs. Mullins’ molasses cookie recipe
After my grandmother’s note was a list of ingredient with mixing instructions but no further information as to how to make the cookies: “Mix shortening, sugar, molasses, spices and salt until creamy. Beat eggs in separate bowl and add to molasses and sugar. Dissolve soda in hot milk and add to mixture. Add flour little at a time until right consistency to roll not too thin.”
After this Great British Bake-Off style set of instructions my grandmother wrote: “Here the recipe ends and you are on your own. I would try cutting the cookies with the rim of a glass and baking at 350 degrees for 12 -15 minutes. Watch closely so they don’t burn. This is making me nostalgic, good luck!“
I do love that 100 years ago no actual instruction was needed to make a batch of soft molasses cookies!
Updating a grandma-style molasses cookies recipe
I have made some updates to Mrs. Mullins’ recipe. She used shortening, I use butter. And I melt the butter instead of creaming it. She used sour milk (🤢 I can’t even), I use sour cream. Mrs. Mullins rolled and cut her cookies, I scoop and flatten. My own grandmother’s guess at a baking time was a bit long for my taste. The cookies start to dry out and lose flavor, so I’ve taken her baking time down. But the spirit of Mrs. Mullins — my grandmother’s childhood landlord — still shines through.
What you’ll need to make this recipe for molasses cookies
Not much, truth be told! This is a simple cookie recipe and you probably have most the items you’ll need in your pantry already! Here’s the list:
- flour
- baking soda
- ginger
- cinnamon
- cloves
- salt
- sour cream
- brown sugar
- molasses
- an egg
Not too bad right? And here’s a little tip: if you don’t have sour cream you can 100% substitute Greek yoghurt in these cookies. That’s right, you can put high-protein Greek yoghurt into this recipe for molasses cookies!
Allow me to go down memory lane just for a minute 😃
I miss my grandmother very much. But I love that she passed along a few recipes. There’s something that’s just magical about food that’s passed down from generation to generation. It tastes better. Mrs. Mullins’ Molasses Cookie Recipe is celebrating its 101st year this year. And they are everything you want your grandma-cookie to be.
Looking for other sweets?
If you’re looking for some sweet inspiration you might enjoy one of these other recipes I’ve posted!
Tag me Instagram @jamandbreadofficial (I love seeing when other people make one of my recipes!) and please consider leaving me a review below if you make these soft and chewy molasses cookies. As a young food blogger, these simple things can really help me out!
I sincerely hope you love my recipes, and that you are ON BOARD with making Mrs. Mullin’s Soft Molasses Cookies a staple of your cookie making routine.
For even more recipe ideas you can follow me on Pinterest!
Enjoy! 🍪😀👍🏻
Mrs. Mullins’ Soft Molasses Cookies
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 24 cookies 1x
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American
Description
Mrs. Mullins’ Soft Molasses Cookie Recipe is celebrating its 101st year this year. And they are everything you want your grandma-cookie to be. 🍪😀👍🏻
Ingredients
- 3 cups flour (420 grams)
- 1 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ginger
- 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 8 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled (114 grams)
- 1/4 cup sour cream (60 grams)
- 1/2 cup of brown sugar (100 grams)
- 1/2 cup of molasses (170 grams)
- 1 large egg
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
- Melt the butter in a medium saucepan and set it aside to cool a bit.
- Combine all your dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and salt) in the bowl of a stand mixer. Turn the mixer on low to combine.
- Add the brown sugar to the melted butter and stir to help it dissolve (this will also cool down your butter). Add the sour cream, molasses, and finally the egg to the saucepan with the butter and mix to combine. Slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix to until cookie dough forms. Give the dough a final stir by hand and let it rest for a minute while you prepare the cookie sheets.
- Line two cookies sheets with parchment paper (or grease them), and place a small amount of sugar in a bowl. Grab a glass with a flat bottom from your cupboard.
- Scoop the dough in 1 tablespoon chunks, roll into a ball, roll each ball in the sugar, and place on the baking sheet. Stamp each dough ball to flatten with the glass (you may need to push the glass bottom into the sugar to prevent sticking). The cookies will not spread much, so you can group them close together.
- Bake for about 10 minutes. Let rest on the cookie sheets for 2 minutes, then remove to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Keywords: Cookies, molasses, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, brown sugar, soft and chewy
