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Molasses Cookies (Eggs cup hot molasses cup)
2 eggs 1/3 cup hot molasses 1 cup pastry flour 1/2 teaspoon salt 2/3 cup fine shredded cocoanut Break the eggs into mixing bowl. Set the bowl in hot water, and beat the eggs with an egg beater till stiff. Fold into the beaten eggs the hot molasses. Fold in the flour and shredded cocoanut. Put on an oiled and floured pan with a spoon or pastry bag, and bake.
A small drop cookie leavened entirely by beaten whole eggs — there is no soda, no baking powder and no fat in the batter, so the technique carries the whole recipe. Makes roughly two dozen cookies.
- The hinge: hot molasses into hot eggsWarming the bowl over hot water lets whole eggs beat to a thick, pale foam that holds far more air than cold eggs will. The molasses must be hot so it disperses instantly rather than sinking in ribbons and deflating the foam; fold it in with a spatula in three additions.
- Oven, which the original omitsNo temperature or time is stated anywhere in the recipe. A modern working guess for a thin, eggy drop cookie is a moderate oven, around 350F, for roughly 10-12 minutes, until set and dry on top and just coloured at the edges; watch them rather than trusting the clock.
- Pastry flourPastry flour is a soft, low-protein flour, roughly 8-9 percent. If you have only all-purpose, use 1 cup less 2 tablespoons and replace the difference with cornstarch, and fold with a light hand.
- CocoanutPeriod packaged shredded coconut was generally unsweetened, unlike the sweetened flakes that dominate supermarkets today. Use unsweetened fine-shredded coconut, or the cookies will be cloying.
- Oiled and floured panBaking parchment does the same job with less trouble. These are sticky and low in fat, so they will weld themselves to a bare sheet.
- Spoon or pastry bagThe batter is a soft, foamy drop batter, not a stiff dough. Pipe or drop teaspoon-sized mounds and leave an inch between them; they spread modestly and firm as they cool.
- MolassesUse unsulphured light or dark molasses, not blackstrap, which is bitter and would dominate the coconut.