Molasses Cookies with Browned Butter Icing
When her grandmother’s molasses cookie recipe became so tattered she no longer could read key ingredients, Milk Street fan Jane Yunginger, of Rochester, Minnesota, asked for our help filling in the blanks.
We soon realized this particular cookie likely dates to the late 19th century. We experimented with similar-sounding vintage recipes and ultimately produced a chewy, cakey, buttermilk-rich cookie that matched Yunginger’s description. From there, we tweaked the flavors for the modern palate, adding sweet complexity with a browned butter icing. Mystery solved and improved.
Shaula Clark
Shaula Clark is a Boston-based writer and editor. Her six-year stint as managing editor of Milk Street’s magazine absolutely leveled up her cooking game—though her trusty canine sous chef, Roxie the Schipperke, remains unimpressed unless cheese is involved. In the kitchen, she likes to get weird, with experiments yielding both great success (absinthe sorbet) and dismal failure (liquid smoke-infused rice paper “bacon”). Thanks to a terrifyingly productive tomato garden, Milk Street’s salmorejo—a luscious Andalusian tomato soup—has become a particular favorite recipe. She is, for the record, also staunchly pro-ketchup. Disagreements over her stance on condiments may be sent to [email protected].
