I start baking cookies for the holidays in October, filling my freezer with family favorites and sometimes trying a new recipe or two. Over the next 3 weeks, I'll be sharing some of my family's favorite cookie recipes. The recipe listed below has been developed over the past 15 years and my children/grandbabes love them - especially my daughter, Jessika. This cookie is a soft and chewy -- with lots of spices -- and the house smells wonderful as they are baking.
Molasses Sugar Cookies
- 3/4 cup shortening
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup molasses
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 2 tsp ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
Cream shortening; gradually add 1 cup sugar, beating at medium speed of an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add egg and molasses; mix well. In a separate bowl, combine flour, soda, salt and spices; mix well. Add about one-fourth of dry mixture at a time to creamed mixture, mixing well until smooth after each addition. Chill dough for at least 1 hour. Shape chilled dough into 1-inch balls, and roll in sugar. Place 2 inches apart on un-greased cookie sheets. Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes (tops will crack) - cookies will be soft in the middle, do not overbake. Cool on wire rack. Yield: 4 dozen. Recipe can be doubled. Cookies can be frozen in zip-lock bags for up to 6 months.
Note: Pictures of this cookie and others I'm baking will be posted later -- it's hard to get a good picture of a cookie in a bag -- in the freezer !
O' and I'm doing a little sewing too - - - -
finally finishing a 'blankie' for Laney that I started 6 months ago -- just in time for her 1st birthday.
