Molasses Spice Cookies

We’ve made these cookies twice this Christmas season.  They are my all time favorites—chewy, spicy, great for dunking. Of course the recipe is from The Best Recipe, my all time favorite cookbook. Hope you like ‘em too!

 

1/3 cup granulated sugar (about 2 1/2 ounces), plus 1/2 cup for dipping
2 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (11 1/4 ounces)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon table salt
12 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), softened but still cool
1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar (about 2 1/2 ounces)
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup molasses (about 6 ounces), light or dark

Instructions

1. 1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Place 1/2 cup sugar for dipping in 8- or 9-inch cake pan.

2. 2. Whisk flour, baking soda, spices, and salt in medium bowl until thoroughly combined; set aside.

3. 3. In standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat butter with brown and granulated sugars at medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to medium-low and add yolk and vanilla; increase speed to medium and beat until incorporated, about 20 seconds. Reduce speed to medium-low and add molasses; beat until fully incorporated, about 20 seconds, scraping bottom and sides of bowl once with rubber spatula. Reduce speed to lowest setting; add flour mixture and beat until just incorporated, about 30 seconds, scraping bowl down once. Give dough final stir with rubber spatula to ensure that no pockets of flour remain at bottom. Dough will be soft.

4. 4. Using tablespoon measure, scoop heaping tablespoon of dough and roll between palms into 1 1/2-inch ball; drop ball into cake pan with sugar and repeat to form about 4 balls. Toss balls in sugar to coat and set on prepared baking sheet, spacing them about 2 inches apart. Repeat with remaining dough. Bake 1 sheet at a time until cookies are browned, still puffy, and edges have begun to set but centers are still soft (cookies will look raw between cracks and seem underdone), about 11 minutes, rotating baking sheet halfway through baking. Do not overbake.

5. 5. Cool cookies on baking sheet 5 minutes, then use wide metal spatula to transfer cookies to wire rack; cool cookies to room temperature and serve. (Can be stored at room temperature in airtight container or zipper-lock plastic bag up to 5 days.)

The Magic of Snow

Bless you mother nature for sending snow to my neighborhood. It’s been too cold to play outside all month and the kids have been fighting way too much due to cabin feveritis.  But now the white powder that delights my children has arrived. Why is snow like magic for children? And just in time for Christmas.

Like a good mom I sent the kids out in their snow gear to enjoy the splendor of it all! There can’t be more than 3 inches but it’s enough to give them something to smile about. 

 

Teenage Silliness

I received an email from my friend Andy (who has the most delicious food blog) this morning. It was a link to Eric Snyder's (formerly of the pullitzer-prize winning paper The Daily Herald) homepage where he wrote a screenplay for Twilight. I laughed so hard. My favorite line: "Since when do white people honor treaties with Indians?" Hardy, har har.

Ready to laugh? Click here.

Merry Christmas

This year our stake YW leaders challenged all the young women and young men (teenagers from 12-18 years of age) and their leaders (that would be me since I am the big P in my ward) to memorize The Living Christ.  For those readers not of my faith (the LDS / Mormon faith), The Living Christ is a document issued by leaders of our church proclaiming to the world our belief in Jesus Christ as Savior of the world.
It’s a pretty long document. And I often think I am low on gray matter these days, but I can finally say I have it all memorized. To explain here what this means to to me is pretty personal and I’m not articulate enough anyway to describe such feelings in a public forum. But I will say this—at this wonderful Christmas season I feel such a renewal that He is my Savior. “God be thanked for the matchless gift of His divine Son.” Merry Christmas. 

Dreaming of Me

I have crazy dreams that I often remember with such details that I confuse myself. Thank goodness my dear friend Allison is a master at dream interpretation. Earlier this year I had a dream that I went to Young Women’s Camp (which came true) but while at YW Camp my husband put our house up for sale and sold it—all in one week. I came home from camp desperately crying and begging the new owners to please not make us move, that I really did need my house.

I desperately called Allison to see what this crazy dream meant. She said that houses represent ourselves. So Paul was trying to get rid of me! FYI—I’ve told Paul before that if he ever wants to get rid of me I will not go quietly but will take him for all he’s worth—that’s when he usually looks at me like I’m one pawn short of playing with a full chess set. Anyway….I’ve been having some really do-whoppers of dreams lately that I desperately need interpreted.  I have all the usual dreams of not having any teeth, of being caught in just my underwear in public, and of course running but not going anywhere. Old hat.

But lately I have had dreams such as-- Obama having in his possession the lost 116 pages of the Book of Mormon manuscript and how I’m trying to convince him to turn them over to the church….or dreams where my neighbors all live on islands and can only get places by diving off their land and swimming out to sea……or ok….I can’t remember anymore right now. And I just asked Paul to remind me of some of my hokier dreams (because I always tell him when I wake up) but he doesn’t remember either. Smart boy. So don’t leave a comment of dream interpretation and say that I’m going looney, because I already know that. Give me something good.

And no, I’m not on any medication.