Molasses Snickerdoodles: Walking for Cookies
More rain, more gray…will it ever end? Of course, it will but when? Last week, the high winds took out our power at home so we escaped to San Francisco for the day. Luckily, we had a brief, much-welcomed break in the weather and made the most of it. It was too gorgeous not to take a walk and hit some of the scenic spots in The City.
Polk Gulch-Polk Street
There are a couple of streets that come to mind for me that define life in the city, and Polk Street is one of them. If you haven’t visited this area of the city, put it on your list. Polk Street stretches from the Civic Center area near City Hall, the gritty Tenderloin, all the way to the tony Russian Hill area, Aquatic Park, and Fisherman’s Wharf. To walk from Aquatic Park, the northern end of Polk to Civic Center, the southern tip, encapsulates San Francisco.
How can one street be home to Michelin-Starred Restaurants, trendy coffee kiosks, and French Bakeries, but also drug addicts and homeless sleeping in doorways or living in tents? City life is uncensored and chaotic, where you see Everything, Everywhere, All at Once
We made a beeline for Polk Street which is only 2.5 blocks away…uphill. The perfect way to start a walk since we’ll inevitably end up at one of the many bakeries on or near Polk.
We stopped at Batter Bakery for a cup of coffee and some cookies. Known for their cookies, I had a tough time choosing what to try. As much as I love shortbread, which they have so many permutations, we decided on their Sand Angel and a Sesame Cookie that looked scrumptious. The Sand Angel had me at first bite. A molasses cookie with a crispy edge and soft, slightly cakey center, best described as a cross between a Snickerdoodle and Molasses Cookie. Yummy on the cookie meter, 🍪🍪🍪🍪
Grabbing our coffee and cookies we continued on our walk. I pointed out spots of interest to the hubster. Places that were part of my childhood-my elementary school, Victor’s Pizza (still there!), and the corner my favorite dessert cafe, Blum’s occupied (sadly not there). We passed Bob’s Donuts and Swan’s Oyster Depot, SF icons that have been around for as long as I can remember.
On our walk back we stopped to take a peek at a new neighborhood park, Francisco Park. Built on top of an old reservoir, it’s a nice respite with gorgeous views. With a community garden, playground, picnic tables and a doggy-run on street level, the park is worth a visit. Just a note those two highrises, the Fontanas, led to the restrictions on building heights in the city. 😉
So, after a fun day in the city, I returned home with one thing on my mind, Molasses Snickerdoodles. Adapted from Grandma’s Molasses, it isn’t quite the same as the Batter Bakery cookie, but it’s pretty darn good!
Key points: Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. This will give this cookie a cakier texture in the middle. If you prefer a less cakey texture and a chewier center, two things, beat only until smooth and creamy, and during baking when the cookie puffs, pull the pan out and bang the sheet on the oven rack. Do this a couple of times. More on this later.
If the dough seems too soft to work with, chill it for 10 minutes. A #40 scoop (2 tablespoons) will yield a 2.5-3 inch cookie. Perfect dunking size. The dough balls are rolled in a mixture of cinnamon and granulated sugar. Substitute turbinado or raw sugar for a crunchier finish.
Variations on a Cookie
One dough, two different bakes. The cookies on the left received Sarah Kieffer’s pan-banging baking treatment. This means about two-thirds of the way through baking, when the cookies are puffy, rap the pan on the oven rack to deflate the cookies. Repeat this a couple of times. The result is flatter, chewier cookies with crisp edges. The cookies on the right were allowed to bake undisturbed, they puffed and fell naturally creating cracks. This results in cookies that are a little thicker and cakier than the pan-banging cookies.
Enjoy!
Molasses Snickerdoodles
Ingredients
Dry Stuff
- 1 3/4 C. all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp Cream of Tartar
- 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
- 1/8 tsp salt
Creamed Ingredients:
- 1/2 C. unsalted butter room temperature
- 3/4 C. granulated sugar
- 1/4 C. Light or mild Molasses
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
Dredge
- 3 Tbsp. granulated, raw or turbinado sugar
- 1 tsp Cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375° F.
- In a bowl, whisk together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt until well blended. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes.
- Add molasses and beat until combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Add egg and vanilla and mix until smooth.
- Add dry ingredients and mix on low speed until incorporated and no dry flour remains.
- In a small dish, mix raw sugar together with cocoa powder and cinnamon until well blended.
- Drop dough by the tablespoonful into sugar mixture, rolling until completely coated. (Dough will be sticky, but the sugar mixture should keep it from sticking to your hands.).
- Arrange on non-stick or parchment-lined baking sheets, leaving 2 inches of space between cookies. Repeat with remaining dough.
- Bake for 9 to 10 minutes or until cookies are just set on top and bottoms are lightly golden brown.
- Let cool for 5 minutes on baking sheets and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
