Nantucket Cookies

These Nantucket cookies hail from the New England whaling islands, where pantry ingredients ruled and eggs were a sometimes thing. The recipe makes do without them, leaning on butter, brown sugar, and molasses for both flavor and tenderness. The result is a soft, almost cake-like cookie with deep caramel notes and a faint molasses bite.

No egg means the cookies stay tender rather than going crisp. The water is the egg’s stand-in, providing the liquid the gluten needs to hydrate and the steam to puff the cookies slightly in the oven. Don’t be tempted to skip it.

The slightly underbaked center is what gives these their soft chew. Pull at 11 minutes when the edges are set but the centers still look a touch glossy. They firm up considerably as they cool, and overbaking turns them into little brown discs.

Loosen them from the pan immediately with a spatula but let them cool on the sheet a minute before transferring to a rack. They’re fragile while warm and will tear if moved too fast, but they harden too much if left on the hot pan too long.

Use light brown sugar (not dark) for the most balanced flavor. Dark brown competes too aggressively with the molasses.

Pro Tips

• Cream the butter and sugar a full 2 minutes until pale and fluffy. This is the only leavening boost these get aside from the baking soda, so don’t shortcut it.
• Use unsulphured molasses, not blackstrap. Blackstrap is too bitter and intense for these delicate cookies.
• Store in an airtight container with a slice of bread to keep them soft. The cookies absorb moisture from the bread and stay tender for days.

Variations

• Add 1 teaspoon of ground ginger (per the recipe note) for Nantucket Ginger Cookies.
• Stir in ¼ teaspoon each of cinnamon, allspice, and cloves for warm-spiced versions.
• Sandwich pairs with vanilla buttercream for an old-school cookie sandwich.