Cookies aren't done until they're completely cool and done, not just cool to the touch. Check them tomorrow.

Molasses cookies in general should be very moist inside, and bend more than snap, but they're stiffer. You can also make them crispy, like gingersnaps with a dryer recipe. Given the substitutions, borderline gooey isn't wrong. If you'd baked them more that might have been solved but the edges might have been overdone. Molasses is thicker, i.e., less liquidy. Liquid makes for gooey cookies. Let them air out a bit. :)

Did you taste one? That's what really matters.

They taste good, so they pass that test.

They have been sitting on parchment paper on a cooling rack since yesterday. This morning, they are still pliable. They are stiff enough to support their own weight - they don't droop when held up.

I "broke" one in half to go with my coffee. Definitely no snap to it. It was more like I tore it in half rather than broke it in half. I would say it conformed to your "bend more than snap" description.

When I make cookies, I portion out the dough, then freeze the balls. That way, DH and I can have a warm cookie or two and we won't have 3 dozen sitting on the counter taunting us. I have at least 2 dozen of these now frozen. I will be experimenting with the length of time for cooking as I take them out of the freezer.

Thanks for the comments, plllog. I hate to make substitutions, but it was too cold here yesterday to run to the grocery for molasses.

It sounds like you may have needed more flour and/or some additional leavening due to the substitutions, which occasionally happens with liquid sweeteners.

The hygroscopic attributes of molasses, maple syrup and dark corn syrup in baking are different. Maple syrup is 32% water and that may have been a big contributor to the dough being too wet and sticky. Golden Syrup may have been a better choice because it's not high in water. Sorghum Syrup would also be a good choice in the flavor department, but it is also high in water coming in at 22.5%.

-Grainlady

My grandmother's molasses cookies are like the ones you made and they were not crispy at all. They were soft. Mmmmmmmm

Her ginger snaps on the other had were very crisp and snapped when they broke.

Now I'm going to have to dig out those recipes and make them this weekend.

You are making me hungry for my aunt's ginger cookies, which contain molasses!

Perhaps a part of the recipe is missing? I mean the part where you refrigerate the dough for an hour or more before scooping & forming it. All the molded cooky recipes I use contain that step.

& yeah - ginger snaps are a thing unto themselves.

Maybe the balls will dry out a little in the freezer. :) Not a bad thing in this case. :) Next time you bake them, try to get them off the paper to cool. Maybe put the paper on the rack for a few minutes to start the cooling and get the bottoms to set a little, then peel them off with a thin spatula or something. If the bottoms have a chance to dry on the rack, it should help the goo. The paper will keep them from drying.

Oh, and another trick I learned from a cookie genius--since these bake up to slightly under in the middle, instead of putting them on a wire rack, try putting them on a broiler pan to cool (no paper)--the kind with thin, solid metal with slots--if you have one. They still cool, but more slowly or something, which helps the centers firm up.

Re bending, the "right" texture is for the cookie to bend, but it'll eventually break if you're trying to break it. Having to tear it is a symptom of overgooeyness. None of that matters since they taste good. Instead of classic molasses cookies, they're molasses fudge cookies. You invented something new. :) Maybe palm some off on kids. :) They generally love gooey. But if you do, you might be called upon to repeat the recipe!