Molasses Cookies

 I'm in a baking mood and Mom's in a cupboard-cleaning mood. What about the jar of molasses I had her buy a month or more ago? Did I plan on doing anything with it, she hinted.

 So I pulled a recipe out of the box for award-winning molasses cookies as published in the Dayton Daily News (see bottom of this blog). It's Karen Findlay's recipe ... and it's a good one.

 This recipe makes a lighter-colored cookie when using the "Robust" version of Grandma's Molasses. I love how the tops crack and crinkle. That's probably due to the action of rolling the balls of dough in granulated sugar before baking.

 While the recipe is supposed to make three dozen cookies, I got a few more (41). "Walnut-sized" is hard to estimate and I must have made them a little on the small size. As suggested, I used parchment paper on my cookie sheet (though it is non-stick).

 The first batch of cookies took just ten minutes. The lower time (8 minutes) probably results in a cookie that's a little more chewy. These are crisp on the outside and soft on the inside.

 I lined them up to cool on paper (I don't have a wire rack) and then, as they cooled, I stacked them into rows to save space.

Credit: Dayton Daily News

 Here's Karen Findlay's recipe as it appeared in the Dayton Daily News. Click on any picture to see it in higher resolution.

 Now, time for a cup of black coffee ...