To celebrate 20 years of the most-watched cooking show on public television, America's Test Kitchen fans around the country voted for their all-time favorite recipes from the series. The results are presented in the America's Test Kitchen 20th Anniversary Special, as cast members including Bridget Lancaster, Julia Collin Davison, Jack Bishop and Adam Ried count down the series' 20 most popular recipes and look back on moments from the show's two decades on air.
America's Test Kitchen 20th Anniversary Special airs Saturday, November 23, 2019 at 1:00 pm, Sunday, November 24, 2019 at 6:00 pm and Thursday, November 28, 2019 at 8:00 pm.
Enjoy this recipe from America's Test Kitchen 20th Anniversary Special.
Soft and Chewy Molasses Spice Cookies
MAKES ABOUT 22 COOKIES
Our ideal molasses cookie recipe would produce a charmingly crackled and crinkled cookie with an uncommonly moist, chewy interior and a spicy flavor with undertones of dark, bittersweet molasses. To make this molasses cookie recipe a reality, we started with all-purpose flour and used butter rather than shortening for full, rich flavor. The precise right amounts of molasses, brown sugar, vanilla, and spices gave us the flavor we wanted. Taking the cookies out of the oven when they looked underdone gave our molasses cookies the chewiness we required.
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar (about 2½ ounces), plus ½ cup for dipping
- 2¼ cups unbleached all-purpose flour (11¼ ounces)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1½ teaspoons ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon ground allspice
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon table salt
- 12 tablespoons unsalted butter (1½ sticks), softened but still cool
- ⅓ cup packed dark brown sugar (about 2½ounces)
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup molasses (about 6 ounces), light or dark
- Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Place½cup sugar for dipping in 8-or 9-inch cake pan.
- Whisk flour, baking soda, spices, and salt in medium bowl until thoroughly combined; set aside.
- In standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat butter with brown and granulated sugars at medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to medium-low and add yolk and vanilla; increase speed to medium and beat until incorporated, about 20 seconds. Reduce speed to medium-low and add molasses; beat until fully incorporated, about 20 seconds, scraping bottom and sides of bowl once with rubber spatula. Reduce speed to lowest setting; add flour mixture and beat until just incorporated, about 30 seconds, scraping bowl down once. Give dough final stir with rubber spatula to ensure that no pockets of flour remain at bottom. Dough will be soft.
- Using tablespoon measure, scoop heaping tablespoon of dough and roll between palms into 1½-inch ball; drop ball into cake pan with sugar and repeat to form about 4balls. Toss balls in sugar to coat and set on prepared baking sheet, spacing them about 2inches apart. Repeat with remaining dough. Bake 1 sheet at a time until cookies are browned, still puffy, and edges have begun to set but centers are still soft (cookies will look raw between cracks and seem underdone), about 11 minutes, rotating baking sheet halfway through baking. Do not over bake.
- Cool cookies on baking sheet 5 minutes, then use wide metal spatula to transfer cookies to wire rack; cool cookies to room temperature and serve. (Can be stored at room temperature in airtight container or zipper-lock plastic bag up to 5 days.)
Photo Credit: Carl Tremblay