Soft Molasses 'Thank You' Cookies

My Geriatric Cat, Munchkin, has a Thyroid Disorder. I bring this up because Joe and I are leaving for Mexico tomorrow and we had to enlist some help from family to give Munch her much needed meds. Thanks to Joe's mom and my sister, her thyroid levels will remain normal while we drink tequila and dance around in sombreros.

Anyhoo. I decided some thank you cookies were in order for our two helpers. I have a bad habit of collecting baking supplies until I'm drowning in them, so I decided to bake something out of inventory. As it happens, I have about 6 jars of Molasses. WHO HAS 6 JARS OF MOLASSES?? me. That's who.


I decided on some Soft Molasses cookies. These were actually a favorite of mine, as I love Molasses, and used to eat it drizzled on wonder bread with my Great-Grandma when I was a kid ;)

Ingredients:

3/4 cup shortening

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 large egg

1/2 cup molasses

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon allspice

1 teaspoon nutmeg

Per usual, start by creaming together the shortening and brown sugar.

Next, add in the egg and molasses. unfortunately, this recipe only called for a half cup of molasses, so I barely made a dent in my copious molasses supply. recipe suggestions? let me know ;)

When all the wet stuff is well mixed, scrape down the sides of the bowl and add in the dry ingredients slowly.

You will end up with a thick sticky dough. refrigerate for about 30 minutes until firm.

When your dough is cooled, set up a little assembly line: dough: bowl of granulated sugar for rolling, parchment lined baking sheets. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Roll the dough into tablespoon sized balls, roll each ball in the granulated sugar, then place on the cookies sheets an inch or so apart.

Bake at 350 for 9 minutes. Let the cookies sit on the cookie sheet for a minute or two before attempting to move them to a cooling rack. They will be very soft and fragile at this stage.

Enjoy! Hasta Luego, Voy a Mejico! Adios!!!!