Chocolate molasses cookies with a spicy chocolate flavor, and a soft chewy texture. No eggs or dairy. Eat them plain, or fill with cream and stack like whoopie pies!
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
Make cookies
Mix dry ingredients in a smaller bowl.
1 ¼ cups all purpose flour, ¾ teaspoon baking soda, 2 tablespoon cocoa, dutch processed, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, ½ teaspoon ginger, ¼ teaspoon cloves, pinch salt
Mix wet ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.
½ cup peanut butter, ¼ cup brown sugar, ¼ cup cane sugar, 2 tablespoon molasses, ¼ cup applesauce, 1 teaspoon vanilla
Add dry to wet and mix until you have a wettish batter. Stir by hand or use a hand-mixer.
Cover the bowl of batter and refrigerate this batter for an hour. This will allow you to roll them into ovals for rolling in sugar and baking.
Use a small cookie scoop to scoop dough. Then roll the scoops in cane sugar. Flatten into a circle with a spatula.
Bake at 350 F for 10-12 minutes. It's hard to tell if they are done. If your oven is hot, pull them out sooner.
Cool cookies on pan for 2 minutes. This is important to allow them to cool. Then remove them from the pan and cool longer on a rack.
Storage
Store at room temperature in sealed container for a week. Then freeze the cookies or even the dough for three months.
Notes
Typically all cookies go flat when they are lacking flour. So be sure to measure your flour correctly. Use the fluff, spoon and level method. Fluff the flour in the bag, spoon it into cups, and level off with a knife.