Today’s offering is one of my all-time favorite holiday cookie recipes: Spicy Molasses Cookies. Oh my goodness, people. They’re so delightful. Rich, chewy, flavorful…and best of all, when they’re baking, they fill the kitchen with the scent of apple cider! are you ready? Trust me—it’s really uncanny.

I’ve made these before with just a hint of chopped fresh ginger added to the dough, and it makes them almost too delicious for words. But the basic recipe is wonderful, too—give it a try both ways!

The Cast of Characters: Sugar, Flour, Baking Soda, Salt, Egg, Crisco, Cinnamon, Ground Ginger, Ground Cardamom, Ground Cloves.

This mix of spices is so scrumptious.

Begin by adding 1 cup of sugar to a mixing bowl.

Add in 3/4 cup Crisco (vegetable shortening.) I’m sorry—you know I love butter more ‘my luggage. But there’s something about shortening in cookies.

You’ll just have to trust me on this.

Pour in 1/4 cup regular molasses.

Doesn’t this look like a hot fudge sundae?

Does anyone have a cherry?

Okay, back to the dough: crack in one egg.

Next, with an electric mixer, mix the ingredients together until well combined.

Dump in 2 cups of flour.

Next, add in the spices: 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves, 1 teaspoon ground ginger (can use fresh, but chopped really finely), and 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom. Note: if you’re missing one of the above ingredients, no big deal. I’ve made this before with just Cinnamon and a little bit of allspice. Just use what you have, but keep in mind that spices like ground cloves and cardamom are on the strong side!

Next, add 1/4 teaspoon of salt and 2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda.

And now, I shall demonstrate my alternative to mixing dry ingredients together in a separate bowl, which I hate doing. Just stir it around a bit on top of the wet ingredients below…

Now just mix it up gently until everything’s well combined. Don’t beat it to heck…just mix gently.

Next, begin rolling the dough into walnut-sized balls. Try to get them as round as possible, but don’t overly handle them or your grimy, sweaty hands will disrupt the dough.

Just kidding. I’m just projecting. Anyway, place the ball in a bowl of sugar…

Roll each dough ball in the sugar, making sure to really coat it. I usually roll it around to coat, then use my palms to roll it around in a ball for another second or two. Then I roll it back in the sugar a little. This ensures a nice sugar “crust” that’ll really make your skirt fly up—or your pants fall down. Or something.

Place the dough balls on a large baking sheet, then pop them into a 350 degree oven and bake ’em for 9 to 11 minutes, or about one minute after the surface begins to crack. Don’t remove the cookies before they crack!

The cracks are a beautiful reminder of the fallibility of man. Or the San Andreas Fault. Or my crow’s feet. Or my dry knuckles.

Molasses Cookies: they’re perfect for the holidays! Please try them today, or I shall weep.

Spicy Molasses Cookies