Secret Recipe Club: Grandma's Molasses Cookies

Wow folks! Can anyone ELSE believe it is June? I totally feel like I am still in March or April. All I can say is that I am happy the weather has given us a break. It feels more like spring and April with all the showers we have been having.

I finally did some baking this weekend! I had a friend ask me how I found time with everything I have to do to bake. Well, after the baby goes down to sleep at 7:30 or 8pm, I catch up on housework and chores until maybe midnight. Lately we have been going to sleep at 11pm. So tired! Anyway, even though I have not been making sweets around the house I made an excuse to bake.

Secret Recipe Club is finally here for the month of June. I was so excited to realize I was given such a popular blog, called The Yummy Life. The author,Monica, is a fabulous blogger and poster of recipes. She creates recipes that I wish I could and pictures that have you salivating. She has a wonderful support system with her family especially the talents of her son, who built the website for her. I need some help on mine for sure! Is that possible Monica? 🙂

Anyway, I was a bit overwhelmed with the choices. I really wish I could have made 4 to 6 recipes, and I STILL plan on making them, like the Chili Beans and the Healthy Egg McMuffin Copycat . I also plan on trying her salads and dressings too. GO check out those recipes.

Okay, so what did I bake? I decided on spiced cookies, called Grandma’s Molasses Cookies. I know that the last two months I have chosen pumpkin recipes and now I chose a spice cookie that Monica posted in December 2011. I wanted to use my blackstrap molasses and the sound of spices in a cookies made me imagine the smell. I HAD to make them.

I made almost 3 dozen cookies and I ate 3 kept 4 and gave the rest away. I just had to. You should have been here to taste them. They were SO good! I did make some adjustments to reduce calories.

What you will realize is that my cookies do not look anything like the original recipe. You know why? I forgot the BAKING SODA!! I never forget ingredients but I guess I can blame my mommy brain right? Sigh….

Grandma’s Molasses Cookies

by adapted by Noelle Kelly (original recipe from theyummylife.com)

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Keywords: bake dessert vegetarian soy-free nut-free molasses Christmas Parties cookie

Ingredients (34 cookies)

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda ( I forgot to add this!!!)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-3/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 cup Earth Balance coconut spread, melted
1 cup coconut palm sugar
1/3 cup sugar, for rolling
1 egg, room temperature
1/4 cup molasses

Instructions

In small bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves, & ginger; set aside. In medium bowl, with electric mixer* on low speed, blend together the melted butter, 1 cup sugar, and egg until smooth. Stir in molasses. With mixer on low speed*, gradually add flour mixture to molasses mixture; mix until completely combined. Cover and chill dough in refrigerator for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Roll dough into walnut sized balls (use cookie scoop, if available); roll each ball in remaining sugar. Place 2 inches apart on parchment lined baking sheets. Bake 8-10 minutes just until tops are cracked all over, but cookies are still a bit gooey inside the center cracks. Cool on wire racks.

*In place of electric mixer, dough can be mixed thoroughly by hand with a spoon.

Original recipe by Melissa and Michelle King; adapted from All Recipes and memories of Grandma Marie’s cookies.

****Note: Even though I forgot the baking soda, these cookies came out really well! LOL