During this holiday season, what are you cooking or baking?

In an impromptu afternoon, my girls called to see at what scale my migraine was doing; seeing as it was tolerable, they asked if we could do some Holiday baking, and the cookie madness ensued.

The great sugar and ginger molasses cookie contest began between my girls. Batches and batches of cookie dough are prepared and baked. Amid this craziness, my kids decided they wanted to make a batch of grandmother’s bread, so they took out the yeast, shortening, and more four. At this point, the counters are covered in flour and sugar, the house smells like cinnamon and ginger, and Holiday music is playing on the turn table.

What an excellent way to spend the afternoon! I hope all of you are enjoying some time to spend with your family this season to pass on some simple traditions like baking cookies and bread.

If you’d like to try our ginger molasses cookies, here are the ingredients you’ll need and the recipe:

1 ½ cup of unsalted butter softened to room temperature

1 cup of granulated sugar

1 cup of brown sugar (packed)

½ cup fancy molasses

2 eggs

4 ½ cups all-purpose flour

4 tsp baking soda

1 tbsp ground ginger

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground cloves

1 tsp fine salt

1. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, and spices in a large bowl and set aside.
2. With a hand or stand mixer, cream the butter sugars until silky smooth; add the eggs, one at a time, and the molasses beat on medium-low speed until well combined. Gradually add in the dry ingredients until evenly incorporated. Remove the dough from the bowl and store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 2 hours or until it is thoroughly chilled.
3. Preheat oven to 350F, line a sheet pan with parchment paper or grease it with cooking spray, fill a bowl with sugar, and set items aside.
4. Roll the dough into small balls of about 1 inch in diameter, roll each ball in the sugar bowl until completely coated, and then place the dough balls on the prepared baking sheet.
5. Bake for 8-10 minutes; cookies should start to crack on top; remove from the oven. They will crack more while cooling the baking sheet for 4-5 minutes and transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

These cookies are perfect in between. They have that crackly feeling of ginger snap and the chewiness of molasses cookies, which is why they are one of my holiday favorites.