Quarter Cup Kitchen

Hello QCK, and welcome to Outside the Cookie Box — a 5-day cookie series dedicated to the recipes you won’t find in anyone else’s cookie tin.

All week long, I’m sharing playful, inventive, flavor-forward cookies that bring something new (and maybe a little unexpected) to your holiday baking lineup. My hope is that you stumble on a few “forever favorites” you’ll return to year after year — and maybe learn a little cookie science along the way. 🙂

Today’s recipe is one I get requests for every holiday season, without fail. Think: pillowy brown sugar–cardamom marshmallow, made completely from scratch, sandwiched between two soft, chewy molasses cookies. They’re spiced with ginger, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, and juuuust the tiniest pinch of cayenne for that warm, cozy heat that feels so right this time of year. They’re nostalgic, impressive, and absolutely irresistible.

My Favorite Cookie Hacks

• Add a tablespoon or two of dry milk powder.
I learned this from Christina Tosi of Milk Bar — it’s her secret to deeper, richer flavor in cookies. You can add it to almost any recipe and it just elevates everything.

• Add spices during the creaming stage.
Incorporate vanilla, cinnamon, or any spices while the butter and sugar are still being creamed. It “blooms” the flavors, making them more intense, even, and aromatic throughout the cookie.

• Chill the dough.
Not new, but essential. Chilling keeps the butter cold, which means it melts more slowly in the oven and helps the cookies stay soft and thick instead of spreading too fast.

• Pull them from the oven early.
Cookies continue to cook from residual heat. Taking them out 1–2 minutes before they look done ensures they finish perfectly soft and stay that way for days.

Note: If you’re not a big marshmallow person, or you just don’t want to go that far, you can leave that part out! These cookies on their own are absolutely flawless.

Recipe:

Prep: 35 mins

Cook: 14 Mins

Category: Cookies

Servings: 15

Ingredients:

Molasses Cookies

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup dark brown sugar, packed
• 1 cup full flavor molasses
• 1 large egg
• 1 tbsp vanilla
• ½ tbsp ground ginger
• 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp ground cayenne
• ¼ tsp ground cloves
• ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
• ¼ tsp ground allspice
• ¼ tsp kosher salt
• 2 ¼ cups all purpose flour
• ½ tbsp baking soda
• 2 tbsp dry milk powder

Brown Sugar–Cardamom Marshmallows

• 2 envelopes gelatin
• ⅓ cup cold water (for blooming)
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup corn syrup
• 2 tbsp water
• ¼ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp cardamom
• 1 tbsp milk powder
• 1 tbsp vanilla

Directions

Make the Molasses Cookies

1. Cream the butter and sugar.
   In a large bowl or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and dark brown sugar until it resembles wet sand.
2. Add wet ingredients and spices.
   Mix in the molasses, egg, vanilla, ginger, cinnamon, cayenne, cloves, nutmeg, and allspice until fully combined.
3. Add dry ingredients.
   Add the salt, flour, baking soda, and dry milk powder. Mix until the dough just comes together.
4. Scoop and chill.
   Using a medium cookie scoop, portion the dough onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, leaving space for spreading. Chill the tray for at least 30 minutes.
5. Bake.
   Preheat the oven to 350°F. Bake the cookies for 12–15 minutes, or until they’re flat, round, and slightly cracked on top.
   Let them cool completely before filling.

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Make the Brown Sugar–Cardamom Marshmallow Filling

6. Bloom the gelatin.
   In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, add ⅓ cup cold water and sprinkle the gelatin over top. Do not stir. Let bloom while you make the syrup.
7. Cook the sugar syrup.
   In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, combine brown sugar, corn syrup, 2 tbsp water, salt, and cardamom. Stir until the sugar dissolves.
8. Bring to temperature.
   Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce heat to maintain a heavy simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 6–8 minutes, or until it reaches 240°F on a candy thermometer. Remove from heat.
9. Whip the marshmallow.
   Turn the mixer on low and very slowly stream in the hot sugar syrup.
   Increase speed gradually as it thickens, then whip on high for about 10 minutes, until the mixture is creamy, shiny, white, and tripled in volume.
10. Add vanilla and milk powder.
    Mix in the vanilla and milk powder to evenly distribute.
11. Transfer to piping bag.
    Spoon the marshmallow into a piping bag and work quickly, it sets as it cools.

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Assemble the Cookie Sandwiches

12. Pipe and sandwich.
    Pipe marshmallow onto the flat underside of a cooled cookie. Top with a second cookie to form a sandwich.
13. Set the cookies.
    Let the cookie sandwiches sit at room temperature for about 4 hours so the marshmallow can firm and settle.

Thank you so much for visiting QCK! I’m happy to have you here. If you try any recipes, or have any requests, please let me know! Otherwise happy cooking and lots of love from my kitchen to yours. ❤

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