Why molasses for baking

Long before white sugar was cheap and easy to come by, molasses was the everyday sweetener in Canadian kitchens. It turned up in everything — from baked beans to brown bread to butter tarts — giving them a colour and flavour that nothing else can quite touch.

At Crosby's, we've been importing the world's finest molasses to the East Coast of Canada since 1879, and Crosby's has been in Canadian kitchens for over 146 years. When you bake with molasses, you're working with one of the original Canadian pantry staples — a single-ingredient sweetener with absolutely no additives or preservatives. Our carton lists exactly one ingredient: molasses.

Choosing the right molasses for your baked goods

Crosby's molasses comes in three formulations, and each one has a job in the kitchen. Fancy is the highest grade, with the smoothest, sweetest flavour. Blackstrap is bold, nutrient-rich, with deep colour and character. Cooking Molasses is a balanced blend of the two, built for baking.

Fancy Molasses for sweeter, lighter bakes. Crosby's Fancy Molasses is the highest-grade molasses available — 100% natural, unsulphured, non-GMO certified, with no additives or preservatives. It's our single-origin sugarcane molasses, sourced from one place: the Madre Tierra sugar mill in Santa Lucia, Guatemala. Fancy is ideal in cookies, cakes, breads, and gingerbread, where you want molasses flavour without bitterness. In Canada, Fancy is also a Standard of Identity designated by the CFIA — only pure sugarcane juice inverted into syrup can be classified as Fancy Molasses.

Cooking Molasses for deeper flavour. Cooking Molasses is a blend of our blackstrap and fancy molasses. It's darker than fancy and less sweet, with a more full-flavoured taste. Reach for it when you want a more pronounced molasses note in cookies and breads — and it doubles for baked beans and stews.

Blackstrap, rarely in baking. Blackstrap is a highly concentrated, very dark molasses with a robust, somewhat bitter flavour. Like our Fancy, it's a pure product with no added preservatives, and it's naturally rich in iron, calcium, magnesium, and potassium. In the kitchen, blackstrap is ideal in barbeque sauces, baked beans, stews, and marinades — savoury work rather than sweet baking.

Technique tips for baking with molasses

Bake low for loaves, hotter for cookies. Our Molasses Banana Bread bakes in an 8½ x 4½ inch loaf pan at 350°F for 1 hour, or until done. Our Fat Molasses Cookies bake at 375°F for 10 to 15 minutes — and we recommend watching closely after the 10-minute mark, because molasses dough browns fast.

Mind the thickness of your dough. With our Fat Molasses Cookies, the secret to that addictive soft texture is rolling the dough about twice as thick as usual. These are a soft cookie, not chewy — thickness is what gets you there. Our Gingerbread Cut-Out Cookies work both ways: roll them thinly and they're just a little crispy (but not crispy like a gingersnap); keep them thick and they'll be soft.

Useful swaps. In the Fat Molasses Cookies, the milk can be substituted with tea, coffee, or plain water. In the Gingerbread Cut-Outs, you can use margarine in place of butter. Small flexibilities, same heritage result.

Storage matters. Don't refrigerate your molasses — when it's cold, it's actually harder to pour. (The phrase 'as slow as cold molasses' isn't just an old wives' tale.) Keep it at room temperature between 10°C and 21°C (50–70°F), and it generally maintains quality for about 18 months under reasonably steady conditions.

Crosby's signature molasses bakes

Old Fashioned Gingerbread. A heritage gingerbread made with 3/4 cup Crosby's Fancy Molasses — the recipe came out of the Laura Secord Canadian Cookbook, compiled in 1967.

Molasses Sticky Buns. Cinnamon sticky buns made with a soft, buttery yeast dough and a sticky molasses sauce built around Crosby's Fancy Molasses.

Molasses Banana Bread. A loaf that harmoniously blends the delightful taste of ripe bananas and the richness of Crosby's Fancy Molasses — bakes at 350°F for 1 hour.

Fat Molasses Cookies. A soft (not chewy) molasses cookie made with 1 cup of Crosby's Fancy Molasses. The secret is rolling the dough twice as thick as usual.

Steamed Brown Bread. Not baked — steamed. The batter goes into greased tin cans, gets covered with foil, and sits in a kettle of boiling water for two hours. The result is dense and moist, sliced into rounds, with a deep rich flavour from whole wheat flour, cornmeal, and a good pour of molasses. Families used to save tin cans specifically for this recipe.

Pecan Pie Squares. Easier to make, and to serve, than a pecan pie — the filling is built around ¼ cup of Crosby's Fancy Molasses. The recipe is from Bonnie Stern's Friday Night Dinners.

Gingerbread Cut-Out Cookies. A wholesome gingerbread cookie that's delicious and sturdy enough for decorating with kids, made with 1/2 cup Crosby's Fancy Molasses.

About Crosby's molasses for baking

Crosby's is proudly Canadian, since 1879 — fifth generation, family-owned, with roots in the same Canadian community for over 146 years. Our Fancy Molasses is single-origin sugarcane: it comes from one place, the Madre Tierra sugar mill in Santa Lucia, Guatemala, made from sugarcane grown in the surrounding volcanic soils. It's produced by condensing, inverting, and purifying pure sugarcane juice — gluten-free, certified Kosher, and non-GMO.

For home bakers, Crosby's Fancy Molasses is available in 300g, 675g, 1.35kg, and 5kg packages, and Cooking Molasses and Blackstrap Molasses are each available in 675g. You'll find Crosby's carried by all major grocery chains across Canada. For more inspiration, we keep a collection of our best-ever recipes on our recipes page.

Frequently Asked Questions