Molasses Cookies with Citron

These molasses cookies are the kind your great-grandmother would have made. The dough combines molasses, corn syrup, sugar, and a splash of vinegar with warm spices, chopped nuts, and candied citron for a cookie that’s crisp, spiced, and deeply old-fashioned.

Citron is the ingredient that dates this recipe. Before chocolate chips and vanilla extract dominated American baking, candied citron was a staple in holiday cookies and fruitcakes. It adds a bitter-sweet, floral chew that you can’t get from any other dried fruit. If you’ve never baked with it, this is a good place to start.

The vinegar in the dough isn’t there for flavor. It reacts with the baking soda to create lift in a cookie that has no butter and no baking powder. Without it, these would bake flat and dense.

Dredging the citron and nuts in flour before adding them to the dough prevents them from sinking to the bottom. The flour coating gives them something to grip onto in the soft dough.

Kitchen Tips

• Roll the dough thin for a crisp, snappy cookie. Thick-rolled molasses cookies turn chewy instead of crunchy.
• Flour your cutter between every cut. This dough is sticky from the molasses and will grab at the edges.
• Watch the bake time closely. At 400°F (200°C), these go from golden to burnt in under a minute.
• Store in an airtight tin. These cookies keep well for weeks and actually improve in flavor after a few days.

Variations

• Without citron: Replace with chopped candied orange peel or dried cranberries for a more modern flavor.
• Iced version: Drizzle cooled cookies with a thin lemon glaze (powdered sugar and lemon juice) for a sweet-tart finish.