Brandon’s favorite cookies are his grandma’s Molasses Cookies. His grandma would make them each year and he loves them. When we got married I tried to get the recipes of things he liked to add to my collection of recipes. A few years ago, Brandon’s mom made me a cookbook for Christmas and gave me a few family recipes – his aunt’s peanut butter cookies, his aunt’s pie crust, his grandma’s banana bread and the molasses cookie recipe.
I tried the recipe and the cookies tasted good but they got really firm. He told me that it was a family mission to try to keep the cookies soft and they tried various ways of storing them including storing them with apple slices which only led to molasses cookies with a hint of apple flavor.
I did a little research and decided to try one thing with the recipe to if it would make for a softer cookie and it worked. The recipe I was given called for 2 tsp of baking soda. This recipe doesn’t make a lot of cookies and that seemed like entirely too much baking soda so I cut it back. I made them with less baking soda and it made the cookies softer and even after four days they remain soft.
- 2 cups flour
- 1½ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ¾ tsp cloves
- ¾ tsp ginger
- ¾ cup shortening
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- ¼ cup molasses
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- In a large bowl, mix flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon cloves and ginger.
- In another large bowl, cream together shortening and sugar together. Add egg and molasses to shortening/sugar mixture and mix well.
- Add dry ingredients to the wet mixture a little at a time and mix until just combined.
- Form into balls the size of a walnut. You can dip the dough balls into sugar or just place them on cookie sheet or If you didn't dip the dough balls in sugar before baking, you can sprinkle powdered sugar on the cooked cookies.
- Bake 8-10 minutes until the tops crack. Cool on wire racks.
I never had molasses cookies before meeting Brandon and when I first tried them I didn’t really like them. Now I love them. I think I will be making these more often than just at Christmas!
