Molasses in December
I want to make some molasses crinkles for Christmas (I love the spice). Right now I only have blackstrap molasses and virtually every recipe that calls for molasses specifies "not robust/blackstrap." Does anyone know if I can substitute it without a problem? Also, do you have any favorite uses/recipes for this sweetener?
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8 Comments:
Nope ... don't do it. Blackstrap is much more bitter than you want for baked goods.
Molasses is like olive oil ... there are multiple pressings with different levels of sweetness. Blackstrap is the last pressing -- dark and bitter. Mild is the first -- lighter and sweeter and better for baking.
Look on wikipedia for more detail.
kjgibson at 10:51PM on 12/09/07
Hells bells NO! we talked about this last week I think.
http://www.seriouseats.com/talk/2007/12/best-molasses-for-baking.html
I never use it the taste is not good to me.
JerzeeTomato at 11:07PM on 12/09/07
I completely missed that topic last week. Thanks for the heads up!
Littlebluesiren at 11:36PM on 12/09/07
Actually, I get David Lebovitz' newsletter and he had a recipe for a ginger molasses cake and this is what he said "*If you can't find mild molasses where you live, substitute one-half strong molasses (available in natural-food stores) or treacle, and one-half honey or golden syrup." I'm not sure if strong molasses is the same as blackstrap as I always use mild. But it makes sense to me. However, everyone seems pretty sure, so unless you want to play in the kitchen (or need cookies immediately which is completely understandable) maybe stick to the original mild goodness.
lola27 at 2:44AM on 12/10/07
For baking? NO.
For drizzling on top of hot, fresh pancakes with butter? A MILLION TIMES YES.
sheeats at 10:48AM on 12/10/07
Have you googled recipes?
While it's long been standard to ask for anything but blackstrap, I've noticed a trend of specifying strongly flavored blackstrap for ginger cakes, etc. I'm tempted to say British authors, especially, were listing the preference, but I honestly can't say I'm sure about the nature of the pattern. It may very well be the Marmite crowd who would go for this sort of thing.
Eliz. at 4:26PM on 12/10/07
heh, "the Marmite crowd." Well maybe I am in the marmite crowd, because I made the cookies tonight and DID use the blackstrap, substituting some honey as lola/David Lebovitz suggested. I really like them! I made some other modifications to the recipe, with a little fresh grated ginger. They came out thin, crispy outside and chewy inside and the molasses wasn't overwhelming. They are definitely good enough for my Christmas cookie gift tins. Thanks for the input everyone!
Littlebluesiren at 7:10PM on 12/10/07
There's a recipe for corn molasses here. It should be a good substitute for maple syrup.
Hope this helps,
Hillary
Chew on That
Chew on That at 12:52PM on 12/11/07