No Molasses? Try this Homemade Substitute

Molasses is a product resulting from refining sugarcane or sugar beets into sugar. Here’s how you can make a homemade substitute for Molasses that works well for this recipe.

Take 200 g Brown Sugar, 90 ml Water, 1/4 tsp Cream of tartar and 1 tsp lemon juice in a heavy bottomed saucepan on medium flame. Let the sugar dissolve, turn down the heat and let the syrup simmer steadily until it becomes a slightly thick syrup that drips off your spatula slowly. This will takes about 3 to 4 minutes. Don’t worry if it is a bit runny at this stage because it will get thicker as it cools.

Use this homemade substitute in any recipe in place of molasses. It will last 3-4 months in an airtight container at room temperature. If you notice it hardens after a while, heat it back up again to dissolve the granules.

How to make Gingerbread Cookies?

Chill the dough – This recipe required you to chill the dough for a minimum of 2 hours, that makes the dough manageable and also helps prevent the cookies from spreading too much. It is a MUST.
Roll out the dough – Once the dough is chilled, roll it out on a lightly floured surface. The dough may crack and be crumbly as you roll, picking it up and rotating while rolling helps. Additionally, you can use your fingers to help the cracking edges back together. The first few rolls are the hardest since the dough is stiff, but re-rolling the scraps is much easier.
Cut shapes – Cut out the cookies with the help of a 4 inch cookies cutter or any size of your choice.
Bake – If your cookie cutters are smaller than 4 inches, bake for about 8 minutes. If your cookie cutters are larger than 4 inches, bake for about 12 minutes.

Storing Gingerbread Cookies

These cookies stay fresh stored in an airtight container at room temperature for upto one week. You can also freeze the cookies dough for upto 3 months.

Like this recipe? Try some of my other christmas baking ideas –

Some other cookie recipes –

Gingerbread Cookies

Recipe by thecrumbstoriesCourse: Cookies

Servings

4 inch Cookies

Prep time

minutes

Cooking time

minutes

Resting time

Hours

Chewy, crisp, soft on the inside and perfectly spiced. These gingerbread cookies are the perfect holiday spiced goodness.

Ingredients

125 g Butter, softened
110 g Brown Sugar
180 g Molasses / Treacle
1 Egg
375 g All Purpose flour
1 tbsp Ground Ginger
1/2 tbsp Ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp Ground allspice
1/2 tsp Ground cloves
1 tsp Baking Soda
50 g White chocolate, to decorate (Optional)

Directions

In a bowl, beat the softened room temperature butter and light brown sugar till light and fluffy.
Add the mollases and continue to beat till its incorporated well. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. Next, beat in egg on high speed for 2 full minutes. The butter may separate but that’s alright.
In another bowl, sieve the flour, baking soda and spices. Slowly mix into the wet ingredients until combined.
The cookie dough will be thick and slightly sticky. Divide the dough in half and wrap each into a large pieces of plastic wrap. Pat down to create a disc shape.
Chill discs for at least 2 hours and up to 3 days. Chilling is a must for this cookie dough.
Preheat the oven to 160C / 140C (fan).
Remove one disc of chilled cookie dough from the refrigerator. Generously flour a surface and the rolling pin. Roll out the disc until 1/4-inch thick. Cut into shapes. Place the cut out cookie dough 1 inch apart on prepared baking sheets.
Re-roll dough scraps until all the dough is shaped. Repeat with remaining disc of dough.
Bake cookies in the preheated oven for about 10-12 minutes.
Allow cookies to cool for 5 minutes on the cookie sheet. Transfer to cooling rack to cool completely. Once completely cool, decorate as you want.

Notes

Tips for rolling the dough– The dough may crack and be crumbly as you roll, picking it up and rotating while rolling helps. Additionally, you can use your fingers to help the cracking edges back together. The first few rolls are the hardest since the dough is stiff, but re-rolling the scraps is much easier.
If your cookie cutters are smaller than 4 inches, bake for about 8 minutes. If your cookie cutters are larger than 4 inches, bake for about 12 minutes.

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