National Molasses Bar Day

Molasses, or treacle in British English, is essentially a thick sugary syrup made from sugarcane or sugar beets that contains large amounts of calcium, iron and magnesium. If you’ve never had molasses, then National Molasses Bar Day would be the perfect and most apt day to try it!

How to Celebrate National Molasses Bar Day

Enjoy Eating Molasses Bars

Hop on over to a local bakery and pick up a selection of these little bars that are so delicious and fun to eat! Even better, make a big celebration out of it and pick up some for the whole family, a group of coworkers or other friends who happen to be hanging around on this special day.

Try Making Molasses Bars

It’s not necessary to be gifted in culiary arts to participate in this day. After all, the recipe for these treats is not that complicated so it’s easy to bake up a batch to eat at home or share with others. Include the kids in the day by letting them help measure and stir. Check out the bonus recipe below or call your grandma to see if she has one!

Learn Fun Facts About Molasses

• Beet molasses is 50% sugar by weight, and sugar is sometimes extracted from beet molasses through molasses desugarization
• Cane molasses is more commonly used in cooking
• Molasses is rich in vitamins and minerals, including vitamin B6, iron, calcium, magnesium, and potassium

History of National Molasses Bar Day

The word molasses actually comes from the Portuguese word “melaco,” which evolved from the Latin “mel,” meaning “honey.” This sticky and sweet stuff has been used as far back as the 1500s as a sweetener for food. There are a wide variety of uses for it in cooking; for cookies, gingerbread, sauces, dark rye breads, beers such as stouts or porters, and of course, molasses bars. In middle Eastern culture, molasses is produced from dates, grapes and pomegranates. It can also be blended with magnesium chloride and used for de-icing, or as a soil additive to promote microbial activity. On early printing presses, it was mixed with glue to case ink rollers.

But for Molasses Bar day, you’re surely more interested in making a bar than using it for other cooking! Molasses bars are a chewy nibble that are enjoyed by many, usually containing cinnamon and other spices, too.

Bonus: Chewy Ginger Molasses Bars Recipe

The best way to celebrate molasses bar day is to make your own molasses bars and see what all of the fuss surrounding molasses is about–once you’ve tried these homemade molasses bars, you’ll never want a plain old gingerbread cookie again! The consistency of molasses makes the bars delightfully moist and chewy, and the tangy ginger offsets the sweetness. But beware of one thing: these are seriously addictive!

Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 16-18 minutes
Total time: under 40 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon ground ginger
• ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• pinch of ground cloves
• 1 cup brown sugar – packed
• ½ cup butter (1 stick) – softened
• ½ cup dark molasses
• 1 large egg
• 1 cup raisins

Directions

First, you should preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Next, butter and flour a cookie sheet and set it aside for later. In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients: flour, salt, baking powder and spices. In another bowl, beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, and then add the egg and molasses, stirring until well combined.

Slowly add the dry ingredients, constantly mixing. Next, stir in the raisins and make a dough. Flour your hands and press the dough over the cookie sheet in an even layer.

Bake for 16-18 minutes, removing from the oven when a toothpick inserted into the dough comes out clean. Let cool completely before slicing with a pizza slicer into about 32 pieces.

Pro Tips: These bars keep really well, even when they are left uncovered, as they are so moist. But that doesn’t mean they will last that long! One of these bars contains about 105 calories, which isn’t very much, but it is easy to overindulge.