Grandma Mommsen’s Molasses Cookies & Catching Up :)
Wow. I can’t believe I haven’t posted since summer.. What big food-related events have happened since then?
• I visited my sister in SLC at the end of summer and learned how to make pesto (basil walnut, mmm..), raspberry-kissed chocolate truffles, and molasses cookies. Oh, and I fell in love with grilled corn, grilled zucchini, and beet salad. Delicious!
• A few of us who stayed on campus for part (or all) of Thanksgiving Break whipped together a pre-Thanksgiving feast. The feast consisted of pumpkin scones, a winter bruschetta, spicy lentil & butternut squash salad, stuffing, sweet potato gratin, and tiramisu for dessert. Thanks to everybody for coming and contributing to our pre-Thanksgiving dinner! :)
• I started a 9-day marathon of making pancakes for my brother (leading up to his 23rd birthday). I learned that I’m really bad at making pancakes — really bad. Let’s just say his birthday pancakes are probably going to be a courtesy of Aunt Jemima..
The recipe for the molasses cookies belongs to my sister’s (future) Grandmother-in-law: Grandma Mommsen (whose 90th birthday is just around the corner!). I baked about 250 of these for my sister’s engagement party when I visited her at the end of the summer (catering for ~70 people is not a trivial task), and just baked about 3 dozen the other day to mail out and share for the holidays. Before these cookies stepped into my life, I despised molasses; to me, molasses smells just like soy sauce — something I would never want in my rice, let alone my cookies. This recipe yields a perfectly spicy, chewy cookie, with just the right amount of crisp on the outside. Using the cloves definitely makes a difference (so don’t skimp on that!), and taking the cookies out just before they’re fully cooked allows for a chewy texture (leave them in too long and they become a little too puffy and cracker-like). This recipe has made it onto my “must keep forever” list, and this cookie will forever be upheld as one of my favorites. :)
Grandma Mommsen’s Molasses Cookies
Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup shortening
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg
1 tsp ginger
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
Extra sugar for rolling
Instructions:
• Pre-heat oven to 350°F
• Mix dry ingredients (flour, spices, salt, baking soda)
• In a separate bowl, cream sugar, shortening, molasses, and ginger. Add egg.
• Mix in dry ingredients
• Roll in tiny balls and dip each in sugar
• Bake until “half-baked” (~8 minutes)
Note: These cookies keep really well in the freezer, so if what you bake ends up escaping your raging appetite, store them in a zip-lock bag and toss them in the freezer! When you’re ready to eat them, just let them sit out at room temperature to thaw for about an hour. They’re even delicious cold. :)
Happy Winter Solstice, everybody! Eat cookies. Be happy. :)
