Name: Pumpkin-Shaped Molasses Spice Cookies
Prep time: 40 min
Total time: 220 min
Ingredients: !/3 cup hot water

Pumpkin-Shaped Molasses Spice Cookies

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These crisp, comforting cookies taste like fall.

Martha Stewart Test Kitchen

Published on October 3, 2023

Pumpkin-shaped Molasses Cookies — Photo:
Marcus Nilsson

Prep Time:

40 mins

Total Time:

3 hrs 40 mins

Yield:

4 dozen

Jump to Nutrition Facts

Spice cookie lovers rejoice—our comforting treat is packed with the robustness of molasses, rum, and warming spices in every bite. It's pumpkin shaped, not pumpkin flavored. We used a quirky pumpkin cutter for this crisp rolled-and-cut cookie, but feel free to use a different cutter if pumpkin isn't your thing.

The cookie is an update on the Joe Frogger, a treat dating all the way back to a New England fishing village in the late 1700s. The original cookies kept well and could be taken on long sea voyages, and so became popular with fishermen and sailors. Our version doesn't need to be taken out to sea and doesn't last long—cookies this tasty don't hang around in our kitchen!

Use 3-inch pumpkin-shaped cookie cutter for these treats, then you can freehand-slice a sliver along one side or "carve" a jack-o'-lantern face.

Ingredients

1/3 cup hot water
1/4 cup rum
4 cups all purpose flour
2 1/4 teaspoons coarse salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/4 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 stick unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup molasses

Directions

Combine water and rum; whisk dry ingredients:

In a bowl, combine hot water and rum. In another bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking soda, and spices.
Beat butter and sugar; add rum mixture:

In a third bowl, beat butter with sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to medium and slowly add rum mixture. Beat well, scraping down sides of bowl. (Batter will look broken.)
Add flour mixture:

On low speed, add flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with 2 additions of molasses. Scrape down sides of bowl and beat until smooth.
Divide dough and freeze:

Divide dough into quarters; wrap each piece in plastic wrap. Freeze 1 hour.
Roll dough, then freeze again:

On a very generously floured piece of parchment, generously flour top of 1 piece of dough. Roll out a scant 1/4 inch thick, reflouring as needed. Slide dough on parchment onto a baking sheet. Freeze until firm.
Cut out cookies; freeze:

Cut with a 3-inch pumpkin-shaped cookie cutter; transfer shapes to a clean parchment-lined baking sheet. Freeze until hard. Reroll and cut scraps once. Repeat with remaining dough.
Preheat oven; cut arc in each cookie and bake:

Preheat oven to 375°F. With a small paring knife, cut a wide arc out of one side of each pumpkin. Bake until edges are golden, about 13 minutes. Let cookies cool completely on wire racks.

Marcus Nilsson