Tutorial Tuesday: Molasses Cookies

So a little bit ago, I tried my hand at homemade sparkling sugar and a homemade allspice substitute (found in this post). The following is the tutorial for the yummy cookies I needed those ingredients for!

I used this recipe for my first try at Molasses Cookies.

Prep: 15 min.; Cook: 11 min. per batch; Other: 1 hr.

Yield: Makes 3 dozen

Ingredients

• 3/4  cup  shortening
• 1  cup  granulated sugar
• 1  large egg
• 1/4  cup  molasses
• 2  cups  all-purpose flour
• 1  teaspoon  baking powder
• 1  teaspoon  baking soda
• 1/4  teaspoon  salt
• 1  teaspoon  ground ginger
• 1  teaspoon  ground cinnamon
• 1/2  teaspoon  ground nutmeg
• 1/4  teaspoon  ground cloves
• 1/4  teaspoon  ground allspice
• 1  cup  sparkling sugar

Preparation

1. Beat shortening at medium speed with an electric mixer until fluffy. Gradually add 1 cup granulated sugar, beating well. Add egg and molasses; beat well.

2. Combine flour and next 8 ingredients, stirring well. Add one-fourth of flour mixture at a time to shortening mixture, beating at low speed after each addition until blended. Cover and chill 1 hour.

3. Shape dough into 1-inch balls, and roll in sparkling sugar. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets.

4. Bake at 375° for 9 to 11 minutes. (Tops will crack.) Remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Mix up the batter according to instructions.

Let a very dedicated helper taste it to make sure it's perfect.

Get greedy and plop ice cream scoop sized cookies on the pan and sadly watch them blend together in the oven.

First batch. Left them in too long (because they didn't look done to me) and made them too big.

Second batch. Almost perfect timing, but the cookies were still too big. Argh.

Final batch. Ok, so the recipe was right, drop tiny nearly one inch cookies on the pan and they'll spread out to perfectly respectable cookie size.

As for the previous batches, I used a pizza cutter on one pan.

And broke the other pan of cookies apart by hand. I liked the way the broken ones looked.

But the important thing to remember, is that no matter their shape......

Your little helper (who has by now removed his batter splashed shirt) will love them.

Enjoy your beautiful Tuesday!