Molasses Glaze for Holiday Ham

Submitted by HeatherFeather

"From my Aunt Alta's recipe collection. My first memory of my Aunt Alta is visiting at her house in Illinois when I was a young girl, when she served us a huge holiday ham dinner(even though we were visiting her in the summer). I had never had a ham before, since my mother never served pork dishes in our house. I loved it and now I make a holiday ham for Christmas each year. She decorated the ham with pineapple rings and maraschino cherries place into the center of each ring,using whole cloves to pin them into place. I am guessing on the size of the ham here - her instructions were only for a half ham or a whole ham. Since the ham is to be a precooked one, the cook time is really just to fully heat the ham and cook the glaze, so use the appropriate heating time that your ham wrapper indicates for the size ham you have purchased. If your wrapper suggests a different temperature as well, then use that temperature, adjusting it to fit the recipe temp only after adding the glaze. I recently inherited my Aunt's recipes, and this was buried in her recipe files, splattered and crinkled and torn at the edges. She originally got the recipe from the back of a molasses bottle. I serve this with a hot fruit sauce on the side as a "gravy.""

 

• Ready In: 3hrs 15mins
• Ingredients: 6
• Serves: 24-32

ingredients

• 1 (8 -12 lb) precooked ham, bone-in (whole or half)
• 20 whole cloves, as needed
• 1 teaspoon mustard powder
• 1⁄2 cup molasses (Brer Rabbit)
• pineapple ring, as needed (optional)
• maraschino cherry (optional)

directions

1. Preheat oven to 325°F.
2. Remove rind from ham and score the fat with a sharp kife, creating diamond shapes all over the surface.
3. Stud ham with cloves (and pineapple & cherries, if desired- attach with either toothpicks or cloves).
4. Place ham in roasting pan so that the wide flat cut side is down.
5. Bake 2 1/2-3 hours for a whole ham, 1 3/4-2 hours for a half ham (or use the heating instructions provided on your ham wrapper, changing the cook temp if necessary as well).
6. Mix dry mustard powder with the molasses and brush all over ham 30 minutes before the ham is done, returning ham to oven to contiune cooking at 325°F.
7. TIP: Do not baste ham with pan drippings as this will make the glaze look dull.
8. Once ham is cooked, let rest 10 minutes before carving.
9. Do not eat the cloves- they provide flavoring as they bake, but should be discarded after cooking.

Reviews

[Ackman]

I was going through the "recipe reviews" the other day, when this caught my eye.....& I'm sure glad it did!!! I was roasting smoked duck on the grill & I thought this would be a perfect base for a glaze. I mixed the molasses with 2 T. brown sugar & 2 T. lemon juice....PERFECT!!! Can't wait to use this entire glaze idea on a ham. Normally, I use a ginger ale & brown sugar glaze along with the the pineapple & cherries. THANKS for sharing!!!

 

[LonghornMama]

Yum! Was looking for an easy recipe for a Sunday ham and this was both easy and delicious. Omitted the pineapple and cherries because I was being lazy, but the molasses gave the ham a beautiful color and presentation was still very nice. Thanks for sharing the recipe!

 

[chasshumway]

Wonderful, had lost my Mother's Hoosier recipe, but this is it. Thank you Buckeye!

 

[Roo in the Kitchen]

I have always loved molasses and found I found this recipe when I was in a mad rush to dress my holiday ham (which was a Smithfield ham with the bone in - not spiral cut) with a glaze, I was curious. What a gem! Even if you don't like molasses, this recipe is still worth trying because the taste of molasses is extremely mild (I used blackstrap molasses, BTW) but it lends such a wonderful sweetness to the ham. It gave the ham a lovely colour and gloss, and although it doesn't penetrate through the scored fat, it did on the inside of the leg. Next time I'll trim down the fat layer a little bit to give the glaze a chance to seep through. It was nothing short of fantastic!