Maine Multi-Spice Cookies(Maine Chewies)
photo by HeatherFeather
- Ready In:
- 42mins
- Ingredients:
- 13
- Yields:
-
4 1/2 dozen
- Serves:
- 54
ingredients
- 1 cup sweet unsalted butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
- 2 1⁄2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 teaspoon ginger
- 1⁄2 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1⁄2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 large egg, lightly beaten
- 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon baking soda (really that much)
- 1⁄4 cup lukewarm water
- 1⁄4 cup molasses
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
directions
- Combine butter, sugar, all 5 spices, and salt in a large mixing bowl, mixing well with a wooden spoon.
- Dissolve baking soda in the warm water and then stir into the butter mixture.
- Stir in the molasses and the lightly beaten egg, mixing well.
- Add flour,1 cup at a time, stirring to mix- the dough will be quite stiff (be sure to scrape all the way down to the bottom of the bowl to mix evenly).
- Scoop the dough into walnut sized lumps (about 1 Tbsp or so) and drop onto greased or parchment-lined baking sheets, about 2" apart.
- Bake in a preheated 350°F oven for 8-12 minutes, or until crackled and browned. They will look very, very soft in the middles but as long as you can lift them with a spatula they are ready.
- Let cool 1 minute on pans before carefully lifting with a spatula to cooling racks.
- Finished cookies should be somewhat chewy.
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Reviews
-
These cookies are excellent with a cup of coffee!! I did not follow the directions, I put them together as most any other cookie that I cook, mix all dry ingredients including baking powder well, as a retired Merchant Mariner I think that the cook on the schooner “Mary Day” may have been dissolving some old lumpy baking powder. I also added 1 ½ teaspoons of Cream of Tartar to work with the Baking Powder. I followed the ingredients very closely, but I substituted Allspice for Cardamom as I had none on hand and it is hard to come by here in Costa Roca. I added 1 teaspoon of local Cocoa Powder, and used milk instead of water to balance liquids (Next batch I will try coffee!!). Creamed Butter, Sugar, Milk and Egg in stand mixer added blended dry ingredients about 2 cups at a time (tough dough??), and refrigerated the dough a few hours before rolling into balls, baked as usual.I baked ½ as is, and ½ rolled in Azucar Crudo (sort of like a larger crystal sugar in the raw). Personally I prefer the plain ones, I think the extra sugar detracts from the flavors of the spices. However I know a few young cookie monsters that may prefer the sugared ones. Fuzzy
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These are delicious. I, however, did modify them to experiment. I used agave nectar in place of the white sugar (eliminate the water and decrease cooking temp 25 degrees if you try this). I personally thought they weren't sweet enough with that switch so I will do white sugar next time. To make the agave ones sweeter for my palate, I made a powdered sugar glaze with cardamom and cinnamon and lightly spooned it on the cookies. That was perfect for us! I will definitely make this again!
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Mmmm...these are delicious! So delicately spiced. No one single spice overwhelms the cookie, even the cloves. They all work together beautifully to create a really yummy cookie. I love that they were chewy, yet crisp on the edges. I also dipped mine in Turbinado sugar for a little extra crunch and decoration, although they certainly don't need it.
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Tweaks
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These cookies are excellent with a cup of coffee!! I did not follow the directions, I put them together as most any other cookie that I cook, mix all dry ingredients including baking powder well, as a retired Merchant Mariner I think that the cook on the schooner Mary Day may have been dissolving some old lumpy baking powder. I also added 1 ½ teaspoons of Cream of Tartar to work with the Baking Powder. I followed the ingredients very closely, but I substituted Allspice for Cardamom as I had none on hand and it is hard to come by here in Costa Roca. I added 1 teaspoon of local Cocoa Powder, and used milk instead of water to balance liquids (Next batch I will try coffee!!). Creamed Butter, Sugar, Milk and Egg in stand mixer added blended dry ingredients about 2 cups at a time (tough dough??), and refrigerated the dough a few hours before rolling into balls, baked as usual.I baked ½ as is, and ½ rolled in Azucar Crudo (sort of like a larger crystal sugar in the raw). Personally I prefer the plain ones, I think the extra sugar detracts from the flavors of the spices. However I know a few young cookie monsters that may prefer the sugared ones. Fuzzy
-
These are delicious. I, however, did modify them to experiment. I used agave nectar in place of the white sugar (eliminate the water and decrease cooking temp 25 degrees if you try this). I personally thought they weren't sweet enough with that switch so I will do white sugar next time. To make the agave ones sweeter for my palate, I made a powdered sugar glaze with cardamom and cinnamon and lightly spooned it on the cookies. That was perfect for us! I will definitely make this again!