Molasses Crinkles

The season for holiday baking is here! To be honest, I started my holiday baking weeks ago and have a freezer full of zucchini bread and oatmeal cookies. I'm starting to dive into the more festive recipes now and trying out what I think of as heritage recipes. My Mom and I used to make tons of Christmas Cookies when I was a kid, and I know my mother-in-law is a big holiday baker, so I am going to be working on gathering up old cookie recipes to bake into my own traditions. 

This is my great grandmother's recipe, apparently exactly as she made them, with just a few interpretations by my Mom and myself. This is old school mid-western baking, and I bet you could substitute the flour and shortening for gluten free and non-hydrogenated alternatives pretty successfully, if that's your bag.

Molasses Crinkles

Sift flour before measuring out 2 1/4 C. Sift with 1/4 t salt, 2 t soda, 1/2 t clove, 1 t cinnamon, 1 t ginger. Set aside.

Cream together 3/4 shortening and 1 C brown sugar. Gradually add 1 beaten egg and 4 T molasses. Mix well. Add dry ingredients and mix well. Chill until hard enough to roll into 1 to 1 1/2 inch balls. Dip tops of balls into sugar, put sugar side up, 3 inches apart, on cookie sheets. Sprinkle each cookie with 2-3 drops of water. Bake at 350 until done." 

Done might be 8 or 10 minutes, depending on how you like them. They'll obviously get crispier if you leave them in longer. I remember them being on the chewy side. I'm going to bake some of these up this afternoon, so I should be able to clarify anything here once I run through it. If you don't have a flour sifter you can use a whisk to achieve about the same effect.

**As usual, t = teaspoon, T = Tablespoon, C = cup**