Molasses Cookies

My favorite cookie of all time is the molasses cookie.  It’s rich in spice: cinnamon, ginger, clove.  It’s chewy and crackled on top, and has crunchy crystals of turbinado sugar sprinkled over it.  My Dad has always favored this cookie as well.  This past weekend my father, who has always lived within half an hour’s drive from me, packed all of his belongings into a U-Haul truck and left to begin a new chapter of his life in Mount Pleasant, Iowa.  Since he’d be on the road for several hours each day spanned over a three-day trip, I decided that a few dozen molasses cookies were in order.
Ingredients:
¾ Cup shortening
1 Cup sugar
1 Egg
¼ Cup molasses
2 Cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 cup turbinado sugar

the beautiful, large crystals of turbinado sugar

Directions:

  • Preheat the oven to 350
  • Cream the shortening and sugar together
  • Add in the egg, then molasses
  • In a separate bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger & cloves
  • Incorporate the dry ingredients into the wet until just mixed
the dough
  • Roll into walnut-sized balls and dip one side in sugar
dough balls all scooped out & dipped in sugar, ready for the oven
  • Bake sugar side up for 10 minutes
wonderfully crackled cookie tops
  • Let cookies cool on the sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to complete

cooling cookies

This recipe comes to me from a family member (cousin Marie) three generations older than me and I’m not sure of its origin when she found it.    All I know is that my grandmother used to make them, as did my mother, and now I do as well.
J

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *