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Soft Cookies

My Grandmother used to make the most wonderful really SOFT molasses cookies, but whenever I try to make them, they always turn out hard, only good for dunking in milk or coffee. Can you find a true recipe for soft ones? Thank you. --Bernice
Hi Bernice! I’m sorry to tell you that I don’t happen to have a molasses cookie recipe on the site at this time. But I can give you a few tips to apply to any cookie recipe you’ve used in the past: The first tip is to be sure to NOT overbake the cookies. Take them out of the oven when the centers still look a little underbaked and then let them sit on the baking sheet for a couple of minutes before transferring to racks to cool. And make sure that your oven is calibrated correctly; it’s not at all unusual for a home oven to have a temperature that is 15, 20 or 25 degrees hotter (or cooler) than the indicator says. If you don’t have one, consider purchasing a good oven thermometer to check. If you’re willing to experiment a little with your recipe, you could try a couple of things (but not at the same time—that gets too confusing!). If the recipe has only granulated sugar, substitute up to half of it with brown sugar. Or try substituting up to half of the butter with shortening. And maybe use a little less flour than the recipe calls for. And finally, remember to eat the cookies right as they come out of the oven—they should be soft then!  But if you do have some leftovers, store them in an airtight container with a slice of bread—the bread will share some of its moisture with the cookies over time. Hope these tips help—let me know how it turns out if try any of them.

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03/3/11
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