Delicious Gingerbread Pancakes with Molasses from Scratch [Recipe] (2024)

FAQs

What does molasses do to gingerbread? ›

From light to blackstrap, sulfured to unsulfured, the large variety of molasses options can be confusing. And one type will make your treats "frankly inedible." Molasses is the essential ingredient in gingerbread cookies, providing the chewy texture and almost burnt sugar flavor that characterizes the treat.

Separate your yolk from the egg white then beat to create a fluffy pancake. This is a small step, but it makes a big difference. When working with your egg whites, beat them until they form stiff peaks, then set aside. Add your yolks to the wet ingredients of the batter and when you're ready, fold in the whites.

Maple Syrup Cookies are very similar to gingerbread cookies, except I replace the molasses with maple syrup and honey. The result is a soft texture with a lighter ginger maple flavor. Honestly, I prefer a softer gingerbread to a crispier one. Eat them plain or decorate with white cookie icing and sprinkle with sugar.

“I would likely think that gingerbread cookies would work well with blackstrap molasses, but there are comments that it is too bitter for many,” She said. “Picking the best molasses for the cookies will depend on the taste you are looking for and how dark you want the cookies.”

The recipe is simple and straight forward, beginning with the usual steps of creaming butter and sugar. Fancy molasses is the lightest of the molasses varieties and adds the perfect amount of robust sweetness when paired with dark brown sugar.

Molasses – Essential for that deep, rich, caramel-like gingerbread flavour! It also helps hold the dough's shape. Golden syrup makes a great sub, or treacle. Honey will also work, but the cookies will spread out a touch more and not have the same deep flavour (but still very, very good!).

The egg will add richness to the recipe and make the end result taste like homemade pancakes. If your pancake mix already calls for an egg, try adding an extra one.

Tips for the Perfect Pancakes

Baking soda should be no more than six months old. Stir the batter only until the wet and dry ingredients are incorporated; overbeating will make pancakes tough and chewy instead of fluffy. No Buttermilk, No Problem!

Milk helps make pancakes fluffier than water. Since milk is thicker than water, it creates a thicker batter. Further, if you use whole milk or low fat milk, the fat content helps yield tender, fluffy results.

Maple syrup has a higher sugar content and a lower mineral content than blackstrap molasses, but its sweet taste is more universal. Two teaspoons of maple syrup provide 22 percent of your daily requirement of manganese, a mineral essential to survival.

What does molasses do in baking? ›

Molasses serve several purposes in baked goods such as: Sweetening: contributing to sweetness, although with lower intensity than sucrose. Its sweetness decreases as color darkens. Flavor: providing a broad and complex range of flavors, from caramel to bitter notes.

Texturally, gingerbread cookies are usually a bit thinner and less soft (depending on the recipe). One of the more obvious differences here is that gingerbread cookies are typically rolled out and cut into shapes and iced while molasses cookies are rolled in sparkling sugar.

Unsulphured molasses can be light, dark or blackstrap, as long as it hasn't been treated with sulphur dioxide. Most commercially produced molasses is unsulphured.

Blackstrap molasses contains higher vitamin and mineral content as compared to all the types of molasses since it has been concentrated the most by the three boilings. Dhampur Green Blackstrap Molasses is the highest quality, unsulphured, sun-ripened sugarcane molasses.

Grandma's Molasses is a nutritious alternative to refined sugar that is also Kosher and gluten free. It's essential in baked goods (gingerbreads, cookies, pies, cakes) and glazes. Grandma's Molasses is also perfect in slow-cooked dishes like baked beans and barbecue sauce.

Molasses serve several purposes in baked goods such as: Sweetening: contributing to sweetness, although with lower intensity than sucrose. Its sweetness decreases as color darkens. Flavor: providing a broad and complex range of flavors, from caramel to bitter notes.

Doubling up on molasses softened the cookies significantly.

Molasses is also extremely dark in color, so this batch of cookies turned out to be a deep brown.

Gingerbread is made harder by molasses and honey, but it becomes softer when water is absorbed by the sugar.

Molasses can be used as a sugar replacement, using 1/3 to 1 cup molasses in place for every cup of sugar. Molasses is a liquid and therefore makes baked goods more moist with a chewier texture. Always consider this when you want baked products that need to be dry or crunchy.