Molasses Cookies
Dec. 16th, 2012 11:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elizilla1 cup white sugar
1/4 cup molasses (Choice of molasses makes a big difference. Lighter makes a less intense cookie.)
1 egg
3/4 cup shortening, oil, margarine, or a combination thereof (Before I got my big kitchenaid mixer, when I had to mix this by hand, I melted this to make it easier to stir. Choice of oil or whether it's melted before mixing doesn't seem to change the results.)
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
Large granule sugar (I use turbanado or demerara sugar. If these are not available, standard white sugar also works, but the cookies will look different.)
Mix the shortening, sugar, molasses and egg until they're well mixed. You don't have to beat the heck out of this, but get it to where you can't see lumps of shortening floating around in it.
Mix flour, soda, cloves, ginger, cinnamon and salt in a separate bowl until they are well mixed. Then add them to the wet ingredients. Not all at once - if you do it all at once you will end up with spiced flour in your eyes and in every corner of your kitchen. Dump some in, mix it, dump in a bit more, mix some more, and then dump in the rest and mix it. I find this is much easier in the big Kitchenaid mixer, because this batter is fairly stiff. Before I had the big mixer, I usually ended up kneading it together with my hands.
Put the batter into a plastic bag or a sealed container and refrigerate for a couple hours or overnight.
Preheat over to 375 degrees.
Roll the dough into balls of your preferred size. Roll the balls in the large granule sugar to coat them. Put them on a greased cookie sheet, or on parchment paper. Bake at 375 degrees for 8 to 11 minutes.
Balls about 1.25" in diameter will make cookies about 3" across. Smaller balls make smaller cookies, obviously, and will cook faster. Larger balls won't spread out enough to cook right, unless you squash them a little before you cook them. Adjust the cook time within the 8 to 11 minute range based on size and how hard you prefer your cookies to be. You can't track how done they are by looking - the cookies are already dark and they don't spread any wider when cooked longer, so it's important to track the time, and figure out how you prefer them so you know how to cook them in future. Slightly overcooked, too-hard cookies can be softened when you're ready to eat them, by heating them on a paper towel in the microwave for 10 or 15 seconds. Reheated cookies taste nearly as good as fresh-from-oven, so it's all good. They also freeze well.
This is one of my favorite Christmas cookies.
1/4 cup molasses (Choice of molasses makes a big difference. Lighter makes a less intense cookie.)
1 egg
3/4 cup shortening, oil, margarine, or a combination thereof (Before I got my big kitchenaid mixer, when I had to mix this by hand, I melted this to make it easier to stir. Choice of oil or whether it's melted before mixing doesn't seem to change the results.)
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
Large granule sugar (I use turbanado or demerara sugar. If these are not available, standard white sugar also works, but the cookies will look different.)
Mix the shortening, sugar, molasses and egg until they're well mixed. You don't have to beat the heck out of this, but get it to where you can't see lumps of shortening floating around in it.
Mix flour, soda, cloves, ginger, cinnamon and salt in a separate bowl until they are well mixed. Then add them to the wet ingredients. Not all at once - if you do it all at once you will end up with spiced flour in your eyes and in every corner of your kitchen. Dump some in, mix it, dump in a bit more, mix some more, and then dump in the rest and mix it. I find this is much easier in the big Kitchenaid mixer, because this batter is fairly stiff. Before I had the big mixer, I usually ended up kneading it together with my hands.
Put the batter into a plastic bag or a sealed container and refrigerate for a couple hours or overnight.
Preheat over to 375 degrees.
Roll the dough into balls of your preferred size. Roll the balls in the large granule sugar to coat them. Put them on a greased cookie sheet, or on parchment paper. Bake at 375 degrees for 8 to 11 minutes.
Balls about 1.25" in diameter will make cookies about 3" across. Smaller balls make smaller cookies, obviously, and will cook faster. Larger balls won't spread out enough to cook right, unless you squash them a little before you cook them. Adjust the cook time within the 8 to 11 minute range based on size and how hard you prefer your cookies to be. You can't track how done they are by looking - the cookies are already dark and they don't spread any wider when cooked longer, so it's important to track the time, and figure out how you prefer them so you know how to cook them in future. Slightly overcooked, too-hard cookies can be softened when you're ready to eat them, by heating them on a paper towel in the microwave for 10 or 15 seconds. Reheated cookies taste nearly as good as fresh-from-oven, so it's all good. They also freeze well.
This is one of my favorite Christmas cookies.
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Date: 2012-12-21 01:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-12-21 05:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-12-28 03:32 am (UTC)Two cups smooth peanut butter (a whole 1-lb. jar)
Two cups granulated sugar
Four eggs
Two cups semi-sweet chocolate morsels
Preheat oven to 350°. Grease or PAM a pair of cookie sheets.
In a large bowl, beat together eggs and sugar. Add peanut butter, beating unti smooth. Mix in chocolate morsels.
Using a tablespoon, drop dough balls on cookie sheet. Bake approx. 15 minutes, or until browned on the edges. Remove from oven and let cool 15-20 minutes.
Makes 1.5 to 2 dozen, depending on how big you drop the dough, for the sheet delight of your gluten-free friends.
-R