I’m biased, but I swear my family has the best Christmas cookies. My Mom’s Orange Sugar Molasses Cookies are the keystone family cookies that taste like Christmas-distilled. My mom developed this ultimate holiday cookie recipe by combining several cookie inspirations. Not only is this a dark, complex molasses cookie with a solid amount of ginger, cinnamon, and cloves, she also adds white pepper & dry mustard to intensify heat, complementing the spiciness of the ginger. If that wasn’t enough, she rolls the cookies in orange sugar for a floral contrast. Orange sugar is simply sugar that has been blitzed in the food process with a mountain of fresh orange zest. Friends have been asking for this recipe for years, and I am finally writing it down for you. I hope you have time to make a batch before Christmas next week.
If you like the orange sugar, you can use the concept of citrus sugar for rolling other types of cookies. I’ve made fabulous buttery sugar cookies rolled in lime sugar with the same technique. Get creative.
Ingredients
- 4 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons cloves
- 4 teaspoons ground ginger
- 2 teaspoons white pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
- 3 sticks butter, softened but still cool
- 2/3 cup packed brown sugar
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 cup molasses
For the Orange Sugar
- 1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
- 4 teaspoons grated orange zest
