I came across a hundred-year-old recipe for Nut Molasses Bars and decided to give it a try.
The cookies are a cross between cutout cookies and modern bar cookies. The dough is rolled out, then cut into bars, and topped with coconut and walnuts. They were tasty with just the right amount of spices and molasses.
Here is the original recipe:
English walnuts are just the usual walnuts that are sold commercially. Unless walnuts are specifically labeled as black walnuts, they are English walnuts.
If the butter is softened before making this recipe, the water does not need to be boiling.
The cookie dough was extremely dry, so I added additional water to make it rollable.
I had trouble with the coconut and walnuts not adhering to the bars. To help make the topping stay put, I revised the recipe to say that the rolled cookie dough should be brushed with beaten egg white before the coconut and walnuts are sprinkled on it.
Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:
Nut Molasses Bars
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup water + additional water, if needed
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup molasses
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon salt
3 2/3 cups flour
1 egg white, beaten
1/2 cup coconut
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
Preheat oven to 350◦ F. Put butter, water, brown sugar, and molasses in a mixing bowl; stir. Add baking soda, ginger, cloves, and salt; stir to combine. Add flour, and stir. If the dough is too dry, add additional water until it holds together. (I had to add about 3/4 cup of additional water). Chill for 1/2 hour. Place the dough on a lightly floured surface. Roll to 1/8 inch thickness. Cut into 3 1/2 inch X 1 inch strips. Brush with egg white, then sprinkle with coconut and walnuts. Press the coconut and the walnuts firmly into the dough. Cut each strip into 3 pieces. Put the pieces on a prepared baking sheet. Bake 12 minutes.
Those look tasty. But 60 bars??? That’s a lot!
It does make a lot of bars. I recommend halving this recipe.
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Love a spice cookie! Your modifications are spot on Sheryl!
Good to hear that you like the modifications I made.
You definitely have a knack for taking these old recipes and bringing them into the twenty-first century!
Thank you for the kind words. You adapt and create so many amazing recipes, and it means a lot to me that you enjoy this blog.
I look forward to it Sheryl!
They look so good! I love spicey cakes or cookies !
They were tasty, though more challenging to make than more modern bar cookies.
These seem really labor intensive… But they also appear to be a tasty and festive cookie – this might just make it into the Christmas cookie rotation!
I agree that they are more labor intensive than modern bar cookies. I thought numerous times while making these cookies, “Instead of trying to cut nice squares of cookie dough with 90◦ angles, why aren’t I just pressing the dough into a pan to make bars?”
I think that the edges would be softer if I’d put the dough into a pan, and then cut them after they were baked – though it might be really good.
I also thought about whether the nuts and coconut could just be stirred into the dough. I think that they could, and cookies would taste about the same, but won’t be as visually appealing (though there would be no issues with any of the topping falling off).
It sounds tasty. I like walnuts and coconut with spices.
The walnuts and coconut make a nice combination with the spices.