My favorite cookie of all time is a molasses sugar cookie. My grandma makes the best ones and this is her recipe.
So, I pulled out her recipe from my recipe box which is jammed full of family recipes and clippings.
I made one modification to these cookies. I used butter instead of shortening. I think my grandma does this too because her cookies are always round and flat and crispy. When I have used shortening, the cookies haven't spread as much and remained thick. These are much better.
The dough must be chilled because the butter is melted and the dough starts out warm. You must chill it until firm enough to roll into a ball. The dough ball is rolled in sugar and baked until crackly and crisp.
If you could scratch and sniff this photo, you would smell "fall": the mingling of cloves, cinnamon and ginger melded with molasses. 
Yum!
Yum!
Yum!Here's the recipe:
3/4 cup butter 2 cup flour
1 cup sugar 1/2 tsp cloves
1/4 cup molasses 1/2 tsp ginger
1 egg 1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp salt
Preheat the oven to 375F. Melt the butter in a sauce pan. Turn off heat and stir in the sugar and molasses. Transfer to your mixing bowl and beat in the egg until mixed. Sift the dry ingredients and add to the mixture. Chill until firm enough to roll into a ball- this is absolutely important because the dough is "soupy" because it is warm. I tossed the bowl in the fridge and then got impatient and put it in the freezer.
Once chilled, scoop out and use your hands to roll into ~ 1 inch balls. Roll the ball in white sugar until completely covered. Bake on cookie sheet with a lot of space in between, these cookies really spread, for 8-11 min. I was baking them for 10 + 1 extra min. I was also baking about 7-8/ sheet at a time so they wouldn't touch. When the cookies are done, they are flattened on the sheet- if still puffy, let them bake longer. Remove immediately with a spatula and cool on rack. Cookies will firm as they cool. Enjoy!
8 comments:
Can you send me the recipe? They look delicious!
I just read through your entire site and all I have to say is, "You've been busy, girl!"!!! It is professional grade and I am impressed. I am also jealous that you can put so much time into your passion for baking, but I'll get back into it someday. I will definitely try these molasses cookies, maybe tomorrow!
As one of the lucky few fortunate enough to taste the final product, I must leave my "review". The perfect fall cookie! Thin and crisp, with a perfect combination of spices. Perfect with a hot cup of tea on a crisp fall night. I am about to try making them myself. Wish me luck!
I will have to try these also. I have one question for you, what sort of results do you get in general if you mix shortening and butter? I admit, I am a butter baker generally. eh
Can't wait to try these. I've been buying a Ginger-Molasses cookie at Turtle Bread every weekend, it's probably time to make my own.
OMG, I made these cookies on Monday night. ABSOLUTELY wonderful. Mine weren't as large as yours, but that didn't stop me from eating 4 of them at a time. Delicious! Maddie helped me roll the cookies in sugar and since she helped make them, she feels like she has to eat all of them.
I usually don't combine shortening and butter but I imagine you might get a mixed effect. These cookies don't flatten much with the shortening and spread very much with the butter. Shortening is solid at room temperature while butter has a lower melting point and that can affect textures. The best way would be to try it and see. Certainly other adjustments in the recipe can also affect the texture.
Martha had a great article for Chocolate Chip cookies with different recipes for different styles- soft and chewy, thin and crisp. You'll see she uses butter in both but at different proportions and different amounts of other ingredients as well:
http://www.marthastewart.com/article/chocolate-chip-cookie-101?autonomy_kw=chocolate%20chip%20cookies&rsc=header_1
So I revisited this recipe today and noticed the measurement on the ginger is a little unclear. Is it 1 teaspoon? By the way, this was delicious the first time I made it.
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