Chewy Molasses Cookies with Rum Caramel

Claire Saffitz isn’t just a self-proclaimed “dessert person”-she literally wrote the (cook)book on it. So when she declared her Chewy Molasses Cookies her go-to for the season, we couldn’t resist giving them the Salt & Straw treatment. First, we bake dozens (and dozens of dozens) of her spiced, sugar-crackled cookies. Some get crumbled right into salted vanilla ice cream, while bigger chunks are tucked in for extra chewy bites. To finish, we introduce a black-rum-spiked caramel, bringing a little extra decadence to Claire’s all-time holiday favorite.