Day 9: Molasses Cookies

Welcome to Day 9 of my 12 Days of Christmas Cookies posts. Its about time we get traditional. I am a very adventurous baker, always trying new recipes year after year. But this recipe, well, I make it EVERY YEAR. Growing up, I can always remember molasses cookies. My mom (and my grandma) made them for Christmas every year. The truth is, I associate molasses cookies with Christmas, I can't imagine making them at any other time of year. My sister and I would help roll out the dough and roll it in sprinkles. And we would constantly get in trouble for eating it. I have so many fond memories of making these cookies for the holidays.

Molasses Cookies

yield: ~3 dozen cookies

3/4 c. shortening
1 c. sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ginger
2 c. flour
1/4 c. mild molasses

sugar or sprinkles for rolling

DIRECTIONS:
Melt shortening in sauce pan. Take off stove and let cool slightly, transfer to a mixing bowl. Add sugar and egg, beat well.

Sift together soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and flour.

Add flour mixture and molasses to sugar/egg/oil, mix to combine. Cover and chill 1/2 hour, or up to a few days.

Preheat oven to 375 deg F. Roll dough into 1.5" balls, and roll in sugar. Place on parchment lined cookie sheet, bake 8 to 10 minutes.REVIEW:
These cookies are quite yummy and have a bit of spice to them. I will warn you - they are sensitive to time and temperature while baking. My mom and I use the same recipe, and year after year, they don't turn out quite the same - so you may have to experiment a bit depending on your oven (don't over bake them!). Like the snickerdoodles I posted, these cookies have a little bite to them - but they are PERFECT for dunking in a tall glass of cold milk.