Happy Holidays!

And happy book launch! My contribution to The Wild Rose Press Christmas Cookies Series, Not a Chocolate Snowball's Chance in Hades, was released December 6. Which has been very exciting since this is my first published book.

Given it's release month, the holidays and time for celebration, how about another cookie recipe! Last time I posted peanut butter criss crosses. This time, I have a challenge recipe. This is one from my childhood and is one of those pass down recipes.

We called them Molasses Cookies. The recipe makes quite a lot (3-4 dozen) and is great for sharing. It’s also better as a group project and fantastic for the family to work on together.

The cut-out cookies are a lovely cinnamony molasses flavor crisp cookie. But, after you frost and decorate them, and they sit for a day or so, they develop a soft luscious texture. Super yummy!

This can be a two-day project if you choose to make the dough and refrigerate, or make the dough and bake during day one, then decorate in day two.

Ahead of time prep is important for this recipe.

· You need at least two (2) two-quart bowls

· A 2-quart pot

· Two (2) large cookie sheets – nonstick or if you don’t have those, you will line the sheets with parchment paper

· A lot of counter space is important – I’d say at least 3 feet as this is a large recipe and you will be rolling dough and cutting out shapes.

· Preheat oven to 350F

· Cookie cutters of your choice. I prefer less detailed cutters because sometimes getting the dough to pop out can be challenging. I’ll put pics below of some of mine.

· Buttercream frosting or cookie frosting of your choice – a thin layer of this will be used so sprinkles can adhere

· Decorating sugars/sprinkles/candy

Molasses Cookies

1 C Molasses

1 ½ C Granulated Sugar

1 ½ C Crisco – this is not something I’d substitute with butter.

2 Tsp Salt

Bring the above ingredients to a boil in a 2 qt pan, stirring frequently. Do not over boil. You are heating the ingredients to a soft boil only to melt the ingredients together. Once combined, take off the heat and let cool.

While that’s cooling, mix the below. This is where the old family recipe stops with directions so I’m including my observations of what was done back in the day.

1 Tsp Cinnamon

2 ½ Tsp Baking Soda

4-5C Flour (Sifted) and ½ C for rolling and baking.

Sift together the cinnamon, baking soda and flour in a large bowl and set aside– you need a lot of large bowls.

Poor the molasses mixture into a sturdy 2-quart mixing bowl. I used an old-fashioned Pyrex. Picture below.

2 Beaten eggs

Add the eggs to the cooled molasses mixture and mix well. It’s important the molasses mixture is cool or the eggs will semi cook and you don’t want that.

Slowly add the flour mixture, a ½ C at a time. You can try adding 1 C but it can get messy. The more of the flour mixture you add, the stiffer the dough will become. The goal is for a dough that’s stiff enough to roll out. You may not use all the flour. It depends on humidity, I think.

Sprinkle additional flour on the counter (you may want to line the counter with wax paper for easier clean up). Take 1-1.5 cups of dough, set on counter and roll out to about a ¼ inch thick. Cut cookies with various shapes and place on the baking sheet. You will repeat this process with the dough and cutters until all dough is used.

Bake each sheet for 10-12 mins. It depends on the cookie size on how quick these bake. Gingerbread men may take a little long than a diamond, star or wreath. Watch carefully so they don’t over brown. They should puff out slightly.

Quickly remove from cookie sheet and let cool on rack. Honestly, we didn’t have cooling racks back in the 70s and 80s. We had newspaper lining the table with wax paper on top so they cooled on wax paper. I did say you’d need lots of counter space. One section for rolling. One section for cooling and one section for decorating.

Once cool, frost with frosting of your choice.

We used home-made buttercream which is a softened 1/2 to 1 stick of butter, 2 tbsp of milk, 1 tsp of vanilla and most of a box of powdered sugar mixed together. You’d beat that till thick but not entirely stiff. This is to be thinly spread on the cookie. Frosting is for the decorations to stick.

Now comes the fun part! Decorating! We used colored sugar, sprinkles and candy. If you want to get fancy, color some of the buttercream.

Please ignore my slightly off gingerbread guy. He's had a hard holiday LOL.

Repeat the rolling, cutting, baking, cooling and decorating until finished.

As I’ve said, this recipe makes quite a lot. We stored ours in large Tupperware contains layered with wax paper. They keep for a week or more this way. The cookies will soften to a chewier consistency after a few days. I loved them either crisp or chewy.

Thank you all for reading my blog and following me on social media. I hope the the holiday season is merry, festive and filled with yummy treats and fun reads.

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