We’re not monsters. We just want to keep your kiddo from becoming one. Memories of cookies suffuse our childhoods. To this day, no aroma conjures nostalgia quite like a warm kitchen after baking holiday cookies. Now that we’re older, our metabolisms and our blood sugar levels can’t handle gobs of cookie dough and sprinkles. As we make our own holiday cookie memories with our children, it’s important to teach them that delicious can mean healthy. We encourage you to make this recipe with your little one. Those little fingers will love helping you mix, roll, and shape. Kick up that holiday spirit with some festive sprinkles or a light touch of confectioners’ sugar glaze.
Spiced Molasses Cookies
We encourage you to make this recipe with your little one. Those little fingers will love helping you mix, roll, and shape. Kick up that holiday spirit with some festive sprinkles or alight touch of confectioners’ sugar glaze.
Ingredients
- 1-1/4 cup (175 grams) whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon Kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
- 1 tablespoon natural sweetener, such as Stevia
- 1 (60 grams) egg, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup (60 ml) molasses
- Confectioners' sugar, for dusting
Instructions
- Sift together the whole wheat flour, baking powder, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves, and kosher salt. Set aside.
- In a kitchen mixer with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sweetener together at high speed for 2 to 3 minutes.
- At medium speed, beat the egg and vanilla extract into the mixture until just combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Alternate adding half of the dry ingredients with half of the molasses until it all completely incorporates.
- Form the dough into a ball, wrap it in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 1 hour.
- Preheat the oven to 375°F.
- Remove the dough ball from the fridge, remove the plastic wrap, and place the dough between two sheets of parchment paper.
- Roll out the dough to a ¼-inch thickness.
- Carefully remove the top piece of parchment paper and, using a cookie cutter, cut the dough into your desired shapes.
- Place the cookie shapes on an ungreased baking sheet and top with a light sprinkle of sugar.
- Bake for 7 to 8 minutes, until the bottom of the cookie develops a crust.
- Allow to cool and dust with more sugar to taste.
Notes
Excerpted from First Bites: A Science-Based Guide to Nutrition for Baby’s First 1,000 Days by Evelyn Rusli and Arianna Schioldager. © 2023 Evelyn Rusli and Arianna Schioldager. Published by Countryman Press | W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. Credit: Caer, Inc.