December 13, 2012 10:27:59 AM
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Roseanne's Molasses Cookies

My mother made these moist and fragrant molasses cookies for most of her adult life. I believe the recipe was created with a college friend of my mom’s when they both attended Iowa State University in the early 1940s. She baked them year round. They were just as good with a glass of fresh lemonade as with a cup of hot cocoa. The cookies were placed in a brown ceramic jar that was also used once a year to bake beans on the fourth of July. I have that jar now and my mom has been gone for fifteen years. Every time I hear the lid of the jar rattle as it is being lifted, I am brought back to my childhood for a moment, the smell of fresh baked cookies fills the air and if I close my eyes, I can still hear my mother playing Chopin on the piano.

3/4 cup unsalted butter
( she used shortening I use butter)
1 cup light-brown sugar
1 large egg
1/4 cup molasses

2 1/4 cups flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1 tsp. ginger
1 tsp.cinnamon


Granulated sugar for rolling
Plain or colored to be festive
Parchment Paper for placing and baking the
cookies on.

Sift together the flour, baking soda,salt, ground cloves, ginger and cinnamon.
Beat together creaming the butter and brown sugar, then beat in the egg and the molasses.
Form the dough into a big ball and wrap in wax paper.
Chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

When ready to bake. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Pour granulated sugar into a bowl.
Shape a piece of the dough into a 1in. ball then roll in the granulated sugar. Place on the cookie sheet with parchment paper, keep the balls about 2 inches apart. Press down slightly with the back of a spoon on the balls. Sprinkle with more granulated sugar.
Back for 12 - 15 minutes depending on how you like them chewy or crunchy. Cool on a wire rack. One batch will make about 24 cookies, I always double it.

Barbara Coccioletti

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