Molasses Spice Cookies

Hey there you cute crackly chewy little cookie. I like you. I like you a lot. You are made of molasses and cinnamon and nutmeg. You are sparkling and wintry.

Oh and you are absolutely perfect with a little vanilla bourbon ice cream. Bourbon vanilla + spiced molasses.

A new and now favorite ice cream flavor. Purchased at the corner store. Tastes like real homemade ice cream with lots of love and big hints of bourbon in it. Ooooo yes.

Psst…I also absolutely ADORE lemon ice cream with gingersnaps swirled in (even though these are not gingersnaps nor do they contain any ginger, they would be fantastic with lemon ice cream as well).

I rolled my dough into little balls the size of a quarter and then rolled the balls in sugar.  About midway through baking I took a spatula and lightly flattened the cookies so that they would achieve a nice chewiness.

I knew these would be a winner because we make them at my work. My co-workers and I are all about Martha Stewart’s recipes. Her recipes are pretty spectacular. A big tip for making good cookies is to chill the dough for a long time (I chilled it overnight), and then pinch off the dough and roll into little balls. Or, do the same and then freeze the balls and bake off as needed.

Molasses Spice Cookies

from Martha, makes about 36 cookies

2 cups (310 g) all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup (200 g) sugar + more for rolling

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, soft

1 egg

1/4 cup molasses

Combine all of the dry ingredients and set aside.

Cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Add the egg and mix until incorporated. Add the molasses and mix. Dump the dry ingredients into the bowl and stir until everything is combined (You can do all of this either by hand or in a stand mixer).

Wrap up the dough and refrigerate. Or, pinch off the dough and roll into balls and then refrigerate or freeze the dough balls.

When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Have a shallow bowl or plate ready with about 1/2 cup of granulated sugar and roll each ball in the sugar until coated evenly. Drop onto a parchment lined baking sheet (will take 2 sheet trays worth, but only bake 1 sheet tray at a time**) and bake for about 10-15 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through and flattening each cookie lightly with a spatula.Cool for about 1 minute then transfer to a rack to cool completely.

**cookies can be baked two sheets at a time, but they will not crackle uniformly