Soft Molasses Cookies

Tips from the Betty Crocker Kitchens

• tip 1
  Adding one egg at a time, thoroughly beating each one in before adding the next one. This allows the creamed shortening/sugar to retain the trapped air beaten in when the fat and sugar are creamed together.
• tip 2
  Purchase shortening formed in oblong packages marked for easy cutting and measuring. It eliminates messy measuring in cups.
• tip 3
  There are reasons for using shortening versus butter when mixing up a cookie dough. Shortening has a higher melting point, so cookies will hold their shape longer in the oven before the fat melts in the dough (and shortening doesn’t release any steam like butter) so results in moist, chewy cookies. While butter melts more quickly and releases some steam so that cookies will spread more and be crisper, with a distinctly buttery flavor. Some recipes use a combination of the two fats.
• tip 4
  There is enough fat in these tender cookies that they won’t stick to the baking sheets. But for easier clean-up, line the baking sheets with baking parchment. The parchment can be used several times before composting or recycling it.
• tip 5
  What type of molasses should you keep in your pantry? Choices include light, cooking, unsulphured and blackstrap. Each style is a by-product of the sugar making process and offer mild to robust levels of flavor in baked goods. A good all-purpose molasses is an unsulphured one, made from sun-ripened sugar cane; it has a full, smooth flavor without being bitter.
• tip 6
  Measuring flour acccurately is key in baking. Stir flour a bit before spooning into measuring cup then level off top using a flat-edge utensil such as a knife.
• tip 7
  Spray the inside of the measuring cup with cooking spray so molasses will slide out of the cup easily.