Originally from The All New Blue Ribbon Cookbook, Molasses Cookies with Baked on Frosting are pretty interesting cookies. They are made with shortening, and while you can use Crisco, I used them to test a new trans fat free shortening called Spectrum.
The baked on frosting is pretty interesting. The original recipe calls for margarine, flour and water, but butter stands in well for the margarine.
So my version of the cookies uses Spectrum shortening in the dough, and butter instead of margarine in the icing. Here's what they look like. The frosting bakes into the dough, yet still looks a bit raised. The cookies are soft and not too sweet.
Molasses Cookies with Baked-On Frosting
2 ¾ cups flour (12.5 oz)
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
⅓ cup packed light brown sugar
½ cup shortening (butter flavor or Spectrum)
⅔ cup mild molasses
1 large egg
Baked on Frosting:
⅓ cup all purpose flour
⅓ cup softened butter
1 ½ teaspoons hot water
Preheat oven to 375 F. Line cookie sheets with parchment.
Combine flour, cinnamon, ginger, salt and soda; set aside.
Cream shortening and brown sugar; beat in molasses. Beat in egg. When egg is mixed in, add flour and stir by hand until it is blended.
Chill dough for a few minutes while you make the frosting. Beat together flour and butter. Add water and stir well. Spoon into a heavy-duty freezer bag and push it down to the corner. Frosting should be about the consistency of canned frosting. Snip a very tiny hole in corner of bag – you can always make it bigger if you need to.
Roll dough to a ¼ thickness and cut into shapes. Use a floured cutter if possible because the dough is kind of sticky. I used a wet cutter and that sort of helped. Space about 2 inches apart on lined sheet.
Using bag of frosting, draw something on the cookies. I drew borders.
Bake 8-10 minutes or until edges are firm. Transfer to a rack.
Makes about 3 dozen cookies
Anna
Well, I'm glad you tried them. These were interesting. When I saw the recipe I just had to see what baked on frosting was like. Can't say they're the best molasses cookies ever, but they were good.
Susan
Oh - and you were definitely right about the stickiness - I had some issues rolling the dough out.
Susan
Thought I'd drop back in to say I finally made these. Very nice flavor. I didn't get to be as elaborate with the frosting as I wanted to - I made the hole in the bag too big for delicate work.
I really could see even ignoring the frosting part and just making the cookie. They are soft and spicy, even the next day. Very good.
One small thing - I ran out of flour, so the cookie dough was 2 cups AP, 3/4 cup WW.
janet
Duh, just read the below blog about the Spectrum shortening.....disregard my previous comment;-)
Charlie Hills
I'm with Sugar Duchess: never heard of baked-in frosting. And man I'm a sucker for cookies with molasses... It's lucky I don't have a lot of time to bake. Things could be much worse than they are already.
bakingblonde
I love that idea, what a great way to make your cookies stand out from the norm?? Brilliant!
KAnn
Anna, I have been using Spectrum for years now-it replaces Crisco in a few of my grandmother's recipes. I haven't tried it for anything other than cookies, though. I have always been pleased and agree with another comment in yesterday's post about it becoming very soft in the summer months etc. I wish it came in a smaller container as I don't use it all that often.
I am not a huge fan of Sunflower and wasn't long before I went to work for WF. The first one in the Denver area opend about 5 years ago just blocks from my home. I would only buy name brand canned/boxed products. The produce is very unreliable and I am not confident about how they label and display their organic produce. The meat/dairy is no different from what you would buy at a conventional store and they sell bulk and other products that contain trans fats and artificial preservatives and flavors.
janet
I am very excited about trying these cookies..they look delicious...thanks! Ok, what's Spectrum?
Susan
This looks awesome! I bake cookies for my coworkers every Monday, and this might be on board for the next round.
Sugar Duchess
Wow! I've never heard of baked-on frosting. That's kind of cool. I love molasses cookies--I just made some last week! Yours look so soft and delicious.
Pearl
so many cookies 🙂
Katrina
Cute, yum, and that's really interesting about the "frosting".
Louise
They look cute. My Hermit recipe uses shortening. I tried it once with butter and the texture isn't as good. I think butter is roughly 80% fat versus 100% fat for shortening so you have to adjust accordingly. Try your small batch hermit recipe, or I can send you my recipe if you like. It's an old recipe from the Boston Globe.