Molasses Crackles
As silly as it sounds, I have a soft spot in my heart for any recipe that calls for molasses. I can still remember the time I forgot to warm the molasses and ended up burning out one of my mother's old mixers. That's when we stepped up to the KitchenAid mixer. This mixer has handled everything I've thrown into it. Two years ago I got a new, larger 5 1/2 quart Kitchenaid mixer. But, I still have then one I used since I was about 10 years old, from almost 30 years ago.
Ingredients
| 4 cups | flour |
| 1 tsp | baking soda |
| 1 tsp | salt |
| 1 cup | butter, softened |
| 1 cup | sugar |
| 1 1/2 cups | molasses, warmed |
| 2 tsp | ginger |
| 3 tsp | cinnamon |
| 1 tsp | nutmeg |
| 1 tsp | cloves |
| 2 | eggs |
| coarse sugar | for dipping |
Cream together butter and sugar until fluffy.
Beat in molasses, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.
Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition, again scraping
down the bowl once or twice.
Combine flour, baking soda, salt.
Slowly add flour mixture to butter mixture.
The dough may be loose.
Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 2 hours, or until
firm enough to roll.
The dough may be refrigerated overnight.
(You can also freeze dough up to 1 month double wrapped in plastic
wrap; defrost in refrigerator overnight before proceeding).
Preheat oven to 375°. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Roll the dough between your palms into 1 1/2-inch balls. Dip tops in coarse
sugar and place 2 inches apart on the prepared cookie sheets.
Bake 12 to 15 minutes, or until the cookies are puffed, dry to the
touch, and lift easily from the parchment paper.
Slide the parchment paper onto racks to cool cookies completely.