Update & Molasses Spice Cookies

Not much going on here but I HAVE been decorating for Christmas and doing some fun Christmas crafts. I also bought some great furniture at the salvation army a few weeks ago that Sean helped me repaint with his trusty sprayer. I don't have my memory card on me (its in the kitchen and I'm like 15 feet away in the den) so no pictures today, but I do plan to start posting regularly again. It might be more of a tour of my house than food though.

The truth is I haven't done much baking lately, we bought a treadmill about a month ago and Sean and I have both been running (well I run and walk, couch to 5k program to be exact). We're not officially dieting and still pretty much go to town (with food) on the weekends I just don't really feel like spending the time baking like I did, but I've made these cookies twice recently and they always disappear really quickly. The first time I made them though I (really, we, cause actually Natalie was here) over baked them at 11 minutes. They seemed perfect right out of the oven crispy on the outside chewy on the inside. By the time Sean got home though they had totally hardened up. It didn't stop us from finishing the whole batch in a couple days, just saying.

So err on the side of under baked.

Molasses Spice Cookies


2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (I used half whole wheat flour)
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar, plus 1/3 cup for rolling cookies
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup molasses

Preparation

1. Adjust racks to upper- and lower-middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Whisk flour, baking soda, salt, and spices together in medium bowl; set aside.

2. Either by hand or with electric mixer, cream butter, brown sugar, and 1/2 cup granulated sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes on medium speed. Scrape sides of bowl with rubber spatula. Add egg, vanilla extract, and molasses. Beat until combined, about 30 seconds. Scrape sides of bowl.

3. Add dry ingredients and beat at low speed until just combined, about 30 seconds.

4. Place remaining 1/3 cup granulated sugar in shallow bowl. Working with 2 tablespoons of dough each time, roll dough into 1 3/4-inch balls. Rolls balls in sugar and place them on ungreased baking sheets, spacing them 1 1/2 to 2 inches apart.(a cookie scoop works great for even size)

5. Bake, reversing position of cookie sheets (from top to bottom and front to back) halfway through baking, until outer edges begin to set and centers are soft and puffy, 9 -12 minutes. Cool cookies on sheets for 2 to 3 minutes before transferring to cooling racks with wide spatula. (I baked 9 minutes, switching the racks after 5min)

I also made a quick glaze with orange juice and powdered sugar to drizzle over the top. I think it looked nice but didn’t add much flavor.