MOLASSES CHOCOLATE CHIP BARS: National Molasses Bar Day!

Another day, another holiday. Today is National Molasses Bar Day! Molasses is one of those products that not everyone uses any more, but I think you will when you taste these Molasses Chocolate Chip Bars. There are many different wonderful brands of molasses. Be sure to use unsulphured. Try a few different ones for flavor.

MOLASSES CHOCOLATE CHIP BARS

Ingredients

Cooking Spray 

1/2  cup unsalted butter, melted

1/3 cup unsulphered light or medium molasses 

3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar 

1 large egg, lightly beaten 

1 1/4 cups All Purpose Flour 

1/2 teaspoon salt 

1/4 teaspoon baking soda 

1/2 cup chopped walnuts  (optional)

3/4 cup chocolate chips

Directions

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat 9 x 9-inch pan lightly with no-stick cooking spray.

Heat shortening and molasses to boiling in large saucepan, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Stir in brown sugar. Add egg. Beat until fluffy. Combine flour, salt and baking soda in small bowl. Stir into molasses mixture. Blend in nuts and 1/2 cup chocolate chips. Spread in prepared baking pan. Top with a handful of chocolate chips (about 1/4 cup)

Bake 22 to 25 minutes. Cool. Cut into bars.

 

CHOCOLATE-COVERED MOLASSES PADDLE POPS: National Taffy Day

Tomorrow is National Taffy Day, and I just want to mention my favorite taffy: Fralinger's Molasses Paddle Pops! 

I grew up in Philadelphia, and every summer we went down the Shore to Atlantic City, Margate, or Ventnor. These are names you'll recognize if you've ever played Monopoly. One of the big attractions for me as a kid was salt water taffy. I loved it, and I remember thinking at the time that my friend Margie had the best and most glamorous job in the world: She sold salt water taffy at Fralinger's on the Boardwalk. In retrospect, it probably was not an easy job, but all I could think of was access to all that salt water taffy and candy!

My favorite candy at Fralinger's was the Molasses Chocolate Covered Paddle Pop. Essentially it is Fralinger's fabulous molasses salt water taffy covered in delicious dark chocolate and shaped into a Paddle Pop! These Paddle Pops now come in other flavors, but Molasses was the original. I hadn't thought of this 'retro' treat in a long time, but I saw these Fralinger's Molasses Paddle Pops at the Fancy Food Show a few years ago. Not going down the Shore this summer? These candy treats are available online. Yum!

One caveat: Hold on to your teeth.. this is like a hard taffy pull... the chocolate is easy, the taffy is challenging, but it's worth the effort. Of course you can lick it. It is a pop, after all, but then you wouldn't enjoy the chocolate with the molasses. Eating technique is up to you!

I couldn't find a recipe that replicated Molasses Paddle Pops. Let me know if you have one. Maybe sometimes, you just can't make it at home.

A little history from the Fralinger's website:

While the origins of Salt Water Taffy remain a mystery, one thing is for certain. No one did more to promote this popular confection than Joseph Fralinger.

A former glassblower and fish merchant, Joseph returned from Philadelphia to his Atlantic City roots in the mid 1880s. After taking a job with a bricklayer, he earned enough money to open a small concession on the Atlantic City Boardwalk from which he sold fruit, soda, and the latest summer sensation, "lemonade."

By 1884, Joseph was approached to take over a taffy stand on Applegate Pier. He agreed and began to perfect his own recipe for Salt Water Taffy, introducing his first batch of molasses taffy in 1885. Throughout the years he developed a number of new flavors, eventually offering Atlantic City's largest selection with 25.

As Fralinger's grew to six locations, he decided that Salt Water Taffy should return home with resort visitors. Using experiences from his fish merchant days, he packed one pound oyster boxes with Salt Water Taffy, making it the first "Atlantic City Souvenir." The one-pound box still remains the most popular souvenir 125+ years later. By 1899 Salt Water Taffy had become a household word across America!

MOLASSES SPICE COOKIES: Guest post by Laura-Kate Rurka

Laura-Kate Rurka is an amazing and avid baker and an aspiring mystery writer. I first met her at Left Coast Crime in Los Angeles where I was surprised and happy to learn that she lived in the Bay Area. Since that meeting, she has attended several of my Literary Salons where she has always brought the most amazing baked goods! Laura-Kate loves to see the expression on people’s faces when they bite into something delicious, and is always on the hunt for new recipes to make her friends and family happy. She lives in the Bay Area with her husband, three children and a big, red lab. 

Laura-Kate recently brought these amazing cookies to a Literary Salon at my home, and I can attest they are some of the best cookies I have ever had. I know they're not chocolate, but you have to make them! Be sure to pay special attention to and don't deviate from the instructions and ingredients.

LAURA-KATE RURKA:

Every year during the holidays, (and in the off season, for Janet’s Literary Salon) I make hundreds of these chewy, molasses spice cookies, and every year I hear the same things:

“I hid them.”
“I didn’t share.”
“I told the kids they couldn’t have any.”
“Those are the best cookies I’ve ever had.”

And then:

“Can I have the recipe?”
“Don’t bother,” says one friend to the other, overhearing the request.
“They won’t taste like hers.”

It’s not true. They will taste like mine. All you have to do is use the proper ingredients and mind the extra instructions and soon, your friends too will be hoarding cookies and hiding them from their children. Or maybe you’ll keep them all for yourself.

The recipe is listed below and is pretty perfect in its own right, but follow these few tips and you’ll end up with the best cookies you’ve ever had. Deviate at your own peril.

1) Use Challenge or Land O’Lakes butter, softened on the counter for at least one hour.
2) Have your eggs at room temperature.
3) Use C&H dark brown sugar and Brer Rabbit full flavor molasses (not blackstrap or mild).
4) Conventional granulated sugar is fine for the batter, but use organic evaporated cane juice to roll the cookies and roll them generously. You may require more than the recipe calls for.
5) Make them big! I use an ice cream scoop from the restaurant supply store.
6) Bake them one sheet at a time on a parchment or Silpat lined un-insulated pan in the middle to upper third of the oven. This ensures the perfect sugar crusted crackly top.
7) Batter can be made ahead and stored in the fridge for a day or two. Soften for half an hour before rolling and baking.
8) If you use a large ice cream scoop, one batch will yield 12 big cookies. Batch can be doubled without issue.
9) Underbake! Start with 10-12 minutes baking time. The cookies should look slightly wet in the crevices of the crackles. Once cool, this will produce a crisp outside and chewy middle.
10) Make sure your spices are fresh.
11) Enjoy!

Molasses Spice Cookies Recipe

Preparation time: 30 minutes. Makes 12 large cookies.

Molasses spice cookies are sort of like ginger snaps except bigger and chewy. The recipe for these cookies comes from Cook's Illustrated's The Best Recipe Cookbook.

Ingredients
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
12 Tbsp (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar, plus 1/3 cup for rolling cookies
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup unsulphured molasses

Directions
Preheat oven to 375°F.

Whisk flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, allspice together in a bowl and set aside.

With a mixer (or by hand), cream butter, brown sugar, and 1/2 cup granulated sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes with mixer set at medium speed. Add egg, vanilla extract, and molasses. Beat until combined, about 30 seconds. Scrape sides of bowl.

Add dry ingredients and beat at low speed until just combined, about 30 seconds.

Place remaining 1/3 cup of granulated sugar in a shallow bowl. Working with 2 Tbsp of dough each time, roll dough into 1 3/4 inch balls. Roll balls in sugar and place on ungreased cookie sheets, spacing them 1 1/2 to 2 inches apart.

Bake until outer edges begin to set and centers are soft and puffy, about 11 to 13 minutes. Cool cookies on sheets for 2 to 3 minutes before transferring them to cooling racks with a wide spatula.

Pomegranate Fudge for Rosh Hashana or any time

Here's one more recipe for Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year. Even if you're not celebrating this holiday, you'll want to bookmark this recipe and try it today or another time. This is a very simple recipe, but you'll find it incredibly tasty. I use dark chocolate, but milk chocolate works well, too. I buy my pomegranate seeds at Trader Joe's, but you may want to buy a whole pomegranate and de-seed it. Here's a link to an easy way to do that. As I've mentioned before, use the very best ingredients for the best flavor!

On the second day of Rosh Hashana, it's traditional to eat a fruit you haven't had this season. Pomegranates are often the 'preferred' fruit, because they also symbolize fruitfulness. It's also said to have 613 seeds which corresponds with the 613 commandments of the Torah.

Pomegranate Fudge

Ingredients
23 ounces Chocolate, chopped  (60-65% cacao) or chocolate chips (or milk chocolate, if you prefer)
14 ounces Sweetened Condensed Milk
1/4 cup Pomegranate Molasses
1/2 tsp Sea Salt
Seeds of 1 Pomegranate (about a cup  or 5 1/3 ounces if you're buying them loose)

Directions
Line a pan that is at least 7 x 7 and 2 inches high with parchment paper.
In saucepan over saucepan over simmering water, combine chocolate and condensed milk. Stirring constantly.
Remove from stove and mix in pomegranate molasses. Mix in 1/4 teaspoon sea salt.
Pour fudge into parchment-lined dish, smoothing with spatula.
Spread pomegranate seeds over top of fudge and gently pat into fudge so they stick to fudge as it cools.
Add another 1/4 teaspoon of fleur de sel over top of fudge.
Put in refrigerator to set.
Remove from refrigerator.
Cut and eat.

Fralinger's Molasses Paddle Pops

Today is National Lollipop Day, and I just want to mention a Pop that I adore: Fralinger's Molasses Paddle Pop! 

I grew up in Philadelphia. Every summer we went down the Shore to Atlantic City, Margate or Ventnor. Names you'll recognize if you've ever played Monopoly. One of the big attractions for me as a kid was salt water taffy. I loved it, and I remember thinking that my friend Margie had the best and most glamorous job selling salt water taffy at Fralinger's on the Boardwalk. In retrospect, it probably was not an easy job, but all I could think of was all that candy!

My favorite candy at Fralinger's was the Molasses Chocolate Covered Paddle Ppop.  Essentially it is Fralinger's fabulous molasses salt water taffy covered in delicious dark chocolate and shaped into a Paddle Pop! These Paddle Pops now come in other flavors, but Molasses was the original. I hadn't thought of this 'retro' treat in a long time, but I saw these Fralinger's Molasses Paddle Pops at the Fancy Food Show this year. Not going down the Shore this summer? These candy treats are available online. Yum!

One caveat: Hold on to your teeth.. this is like a hard taffy pull... the chocolate is easy.. the taffy is challenging, but it's worth the effort. Of course you could lick it. It is a pop, after all, but then you wouldn't enjoy the chocolate with the molasses. Technique is up to you!

I couldn't find a recipe that replicated this Molasses Paddle Pop. Let me know if you have one. Maybe sometimes, you just can't make it at home.

A little history from the Fralinger's website:

While the origins of Salt Water Taffy remain a mystery, one thing is for certain. No one did more to promote this popular confection than Joseph Fralinger.

A former glassblower and fish merchant, Joseph returned from Philadelphia to his Atlantic City roots in the mid 1880s. After taking a job with a bricklayer, he earned enough money to open a small concession on the Atlantic City Boardwalk from which he sold fruit, soda, and the latest summer sensation, "lemonade."

By 1884, Joseph was approached to take over a taffy stand on Applegate Pier. He agreed and began to perfect his own recipe for Salt Water Taffy, introducing his first batch of molasses taffy in 1885. Throughout the years he developed a number of new flavors, eventually offering Atlantic City's largest selection with 25.

As Fralinger's grew to six locations, he decided that Salt Water Taffy should return home with resort visitors. Using experiences from his fish merchant days, he packed one pound oyster boxes with Salt Water Taffy, making it the first "Atlantic City Souvenir." The one-pound box still remains the most popular souvenir over 125 years later. And by 1899 Salt Water Taffy had become a household word across America!