This post may contain affiliate links. Every link is hand-selected by our team, and it isn’t dependent on receiving a commission. You can view our full policy here.
For years, I’ve been on a quest for the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe. I’ve tried the ones on the back of every bag of semisweet chocolate chips, the infamous New York Times recipe (including its painful 24-hour refrigeration process), ones proclaiming to be “the ONLY CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE RECIPE YOU’LL EVER WANT!!!!” on Pinterest, but I never quite found what I was looking for.
Until now.
And it’s largely thanks to an ingredient I was oh-so reluctant to add: Molasses.
Yes, molasses. That old-timey syrup you only hear about when you’re insulting someone’s pace transforms chocolate chip cookies into pillows of almost-dough-like delight.
You have to go easy on the molasses though — no more than 2 tablespoons for every 3 cups of flour, I’d say, otherwise it gives the cookies a slightly gingerbread-y taste, and you don’t want that. (Oh, and it can’t be blackstrap molasses, or it will throw off the flavor even more.)
Molasses is one half of what makes up brown sugar (that and regular white sugar), so really, you’re intensifying the brown sugar flavor. The syrup adds a little more liquid to the dough, but it isn’t watery, so it won’t turn it into a gloopy mess. The chewy chocolate chip cookies retain their shape and heft, but the overall flavor is more caramelized and rich, and the cookie’s texture is softer.
The next time you make cookies, try adding some in and feel your tastebuds throw a ticker-tape parade in your honor for putting something so delicious in your mouth. We’ll even give you a recipe (nay, THE recipe) to try, courtesy of our sister site, Collegiate Cook: