Name: Thick Cookies
Ingredients: 1 cup molasses; ½ cup shortening; 5 large teaspoons water; 2 teaspoons baking soda; salt to taste; spices to taste

Thick Cookies

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Make the dough

In a bowl, mix molasses and shortening until well combined.
Add water, baking soda, salt, and spices; stir until smooth.

Bake

Drop spoonfuls of dough onto a baking sheet.
Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) until golden brown.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Molasses: Provides sweetness, moisture and the dark color and rich flavor of the cookie.
Shortening: Adds fat for tenderness and a soft, rich texture.
Baking soda: Reacts with the molasses' acidity to leaven the dough and promote browning.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.