Favorite Chewy Spice Cookies
Submitted by LH2037
Chewy spice cookies are low-fat molasses cookies sweetened with applesauce, scented with ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and allspice, then drizzled with lemon icing. Holiday spice cookies without butter or eggs.
YIELD
48 servingsPREP
20 minCOOK
10 minREADY
1 hrsThese spice cookies skip the butter, eggs, and shortening that most cookie recipes lean on, replacing them with applesauce, a touch of vegetable oil, and milk. The result is a dramatically lower-fat cookie that still delivers everything you want from a classic molasses spice cookie: chewy texture, deep warm spice, and that holiday-tin perfume.
Applesauce is the swap that makes the recipe work. It contributes both moisture (replacing some of the missing fat) and natural sweetness, while its mild flavor disappears into the molasses-spice mixture. Use unsweetened applesauce so you control the sugar level. Sweetened versions throw off the balance.
The rum flavoring adds an aromatic backnote that you wouldn’t expect to taste rum but you’d miss if you skipped it. It rounds out the molasses with a slight aged-spirit warmth. Vanilla extract works as a substitute, but rum extract is more authentic to old-school spice cookie traditions.
Four spices (ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and allspice) hit the warm holiday flavor profile from multiple angles. The ginger provides the dominant note while the others fill in supporting roles. Don’t substitute pumpkin pie spice. The proportions are different.
The lemon icing is the unexpected counterpoint. The bright citrus cuts through the deep molasses and warm spices in a way vanilla icing never could. The lemon zest is doing real work here, contributing aromatic oils that brighten every bite.
Pro Tips
- Spray your hands with cooking spray before shaping the dough as the directions say. The dough is sticky.
- Roll thin and cut with cookie cutters for festive holiday shapes, or shape into balls for traditional drop cookies.
- Watch the bake time carefully. Six to eight minutes is right. Overbaked low-fat cookies get hard fast.
- Let the icing harden completely before stacking. Soft icing means cookies stuck together in storage.
Variations
- Substitute orange zest and orange juice for the lemon in the icing for an orange-spice variation.
- Add ¼ teaspoon black pepper to the dough for a peppery Scandinavian-style spice cookie.
- Skip the icing and dust cooled cookies with powdered sugar instead for a simpler finish.
Ingredients
Directions
Preheat oven to 375℉ (190℃).
For cookies, beat sugar, molasses, applesauce, milk, oil and rum flavoring in a large bowl until will-blended.
In a medium bowl, combine flour, ginger, baking soda, cloves, nutmeg, allspice, and salt.
Add dry ingredients, one third at a time, to sugar mixture; stir until a soft dough forms.
Spray hands with cooking spray.
Shape teaspoon-size portions of dough into balls and flatten slightly with fingers. Or roll out to about ⅛-inch thick, then cut out with cookie cutters.
Place 2 inches apart on a baking sheet lightly sprayed with cooking spray.
Bake 6 to 8 minutes or until bottoms are lightly browned.
Transfer cookies to a wire rack with waxed paper underneath to cool.
For icing, combine all ingredients in a medium bowl; stir until smooth.
Ice cookies. Allow icing to harden. Store in an airtight container.
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