Soft Molasses Cutout Cookies -- The Cookies Bubbe Made for Chef Sophie

Halloween approaches and I have put the pumpkin on the porch and the candy bowl by the door and Sophie, who is five, has requested that Bubbe make her a costume this year, which is not a request I expected but which I have accepted because a grandmother who is asked to make a Halloween costume is a grandmother who has been elevated to the highest tier of grandchild trust. Sophie wants to be a chef. She wants a white coat and a chef's hat and a wooden spoon. I made the coat from a white pillowcase (the Feldman costume tradition continues) and fashioned a hat from white construction paper and gave her Sylvia's wooden spoon — not the real one, which does not leave this kitchen, but a replica, a stand-in, because the real spoon is sacred and five-year-olds are agents of destruction.

The irony of Sophie wanting to be a chef is not lost on me. She is five years old and she already understands that cooking is a vocation, a calling, a thing worth dressing up as. She has been watching me cook since she was a baby. She has been in this kitchen since she could sit up. The kitchen has imprinted on her the way it imprinted on me, watching Sylvia, watching my grandmother. The chain doesn't just carry recipes. It carries identity. Sophie wants to be a chef. Sophie wants to be me. I have never been more proud of anything in my life, including the three published authors and the Pulitzer finalist.

I made caramel apples for the trick-or-treaters and pumpkin cookies for the grandchildren and a spider web cake that was more ambition than execution — the web piped in white icing on chocolate frosting, slightly asymmetrical, slightly wobbly, but recognizably a web, and Sophie said, "Bubbe, it's beautiful," and I said, "Thank you, Chef Sophie," and she beamed, and the beaming was the whole holiday, was the whole year, was the whole reason I stand in this kitchen and cook.

Sophie beamed when I called her Chef Sophie, and I thought: if this little girl is going to grow up loving this kitchen the way I do, she deserves cookies made with the kind of deep, old-fashioned warmth that molasses brings. These soft molasses cutout cookies are what I reach for when the occasion calls for something that feels like a hug — the kind of recipe Sylvia would have recognized, the kind that smells like October and tastes like being exactly where you belong. I cut them into pumpkins and chef’s hats this year, and Chef Sophie approved every single one.

Soft Molasses Cutout Cookies

Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cook Time: 10 minutes | Total Time: 30 minutes (plus 1 hour chilling) | Servings: 36 cookies

Ingredients

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/3 cup unsulfured molasses
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

Instructions

1. Whisk dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and salt. Set aside.
2. Cream butter and sugar. In a large bowl, beat the softened butter and granulated sugar together with a hand mixer or stand mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
3. Add wet ingredients. Beat in the egg, molasses, and apple cider vinegar until fully combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
4. Combine and chill. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix on low speed until a smooth dough forms. Divide the dough in half, flatten into discs, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or overnight.
5. Preheat and prep. When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
6. Roll and cut. On a lightly floured surface, roll one disc of dough to about 1/4-inch thickness. Cut into shapes with your favorite cookie cutters — pumpkins, leaves, stars, or chef’s hats if you have them. Transfer to the prepared baking sheets, spacing about 1 inch apart.
7. Bake. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until the edges are just set and the centers look barely done. Do not overbake — the cookies firm up as they cool and should stay soft.
8. Cool and decorate. Let cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack. Once completely cool, decorate with royal icing or a simple powdered sugar glaze if desired.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 105 | Protein: 1g | Fat: 4g | Carbs: 16g | Fiber: 0g | Sodium: 75mg