It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…

As sad as I am to see fall pass us by I have to say that I am excited about December. This month is filled with sparkly lights, hot chocolate, gifts wrapped with large bows, my birthday (hint hint to all my friends and family out there 🙂 ) and COOKIES! I love that during this season cookie parties are abundant and that all of us will be on the receiving end of at least 1 plate of cookies as a gift from a friend, colleague, or loved one.

One of my favorite cookie flavors is molasses…. mmm. Growing up my mom used to buy a bag of iced molasses cookies each holiday season and my sister, my mom, and I would savor each bite and live in fear of reaching into that bag and discovering the inevitable, the last cookie. Isn’t it funny how when you were little (sometimes even now) you felt like that last cookie, soda, chip, etc. was the last one in existence and that you’d never see that precious treasure again? The thought of going to the market to replace it never crossed our minds.

Sadly, after a while I stopped seeing iced molasses cookies in the market and only had my memories to rely on to recall the intoxicating warm flavors I enjoyed in my youth. Last year to my surprise, I opened a package from my mom and I saw my gem at last, there they were just lying there in all their glory.  I quickly devoured them and I soon went back into my lovesick state pining for another bag. This year I finally thought, “hey why don’t I try baking these myself.”  Yes, I know it’s strange that the thought really never occurred to me until now, as if these cookies could never be made by a mere mortal like myself.  To my delight the recipe I came up with tastes just as good as the ones from the bag and is filled with my 4 favorite spices of the season: cinnamon, ginger, clove, and nutmeg. I decided to forgo the icing though, don’t really need to add even more calories this time of year. 🙂

Soft & Chewy Molasses Cookies

Yields: Approximately 30 cookies

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 14 minutes (watch carefully)

Ingredients:

• 2 ½ Cup Unbleached All Purpose Flour
• 1 ½ tsp Crushed Cinnamon
• ¾ tsp Crushed Clove
• ¼ tsp Freshly Grated Nutmeg
• 1 ½ tsp Crushed Ginger
• 2 tsp. Baking Soda
• ¾ Cup (1 ½ sticks) Softened Unsalted Butter
• ¼ Cup Organic Granulated Sugar
• ¾ Cup Light Brown Sugar
• ½ Cup Unsulfured Molasses
• 1 Brown Cage Free Egg
• 1 tsp Good quality Vanilla Extract
• 1/8 tsp Salt

Directions:

1. Preheat Oven to 325 degrees
2. Grease (or use SilPads) cookie baking sheets
3. Sift flour, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger, salt, and baking soda
4. Beat sugar, butter, and brown sugar til creamy
5. Add molasses, egg, vanilla to butter & sugar mixture
6. Gradually add flour mixture to wet mixer and blend well
7. Place small mounds (about 1 Tb.) of dough on prepared baking sheets (it’s best to use a cookie dough scooper for consistent sized cookies)
8. Bake for 14 minutes or until cookies look slightly under done
9. Allow to cool for a couple minutes on baking sheet then transfer to a wire rack to cool all the way