Grandmas Molasses Sugar Cookies {Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap}

12 Days of Christmas Cookies

My Grandma’s Molasses Sugar Cookies are sweet sugar cookies flavored with molasses, ginger and cinnamon. Crunchy outside and soft, chewy inside! Grandma really does know best!

These unique spiced cookies are like a cross between Old Fashioned Gingersnaps and gingerbread. Both amazing on their own but phenomenal when combined. [There is a Captain Planet joke in there somewhere. Just sayin’…]

Like all scrumptious old-fashioned cookies, these are rolled in a generous amount of sugar prior to baking, which makes them extra sweet and crunchy on the outside!

I originally made my these Molasses Sugar Cookies to mail out for the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap, but when texted my Dad a picture of my cookies fresh out of the oven, he responded that these cookies were his & his dad’s favorite cookie! <Lots of exclamation points went along with the delivery of this message.>

So you know I had to bake another batch and send him some cookies too! Fortunately they are incredibly easy to make and the dough comes together in less than 15 minutes!

Both my dad and his sister, who gave me the recipe, insisted that these cookies are great with milk and perfect for dunking…

They were right! Yum.

These cookies ship well but they do not retain their signature crunch on the outside – they are best stored in a not-quite-air-tight container to maintain that perfect, dunkable crunch!

As a participant in The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap, which benefits Cookies For Kid’s Cancer, I made and shipped out these molasses cookies to three food bloggers across the U.S. and then I was delighted by three packages of cookies in return!

There is nothing better than getting homemade cookies in the mail. Period. End of story.

Maybe not the end…end.

The Frugal Foodie Mama sent me the most delectable White Chocolate Dipped Cherry Shortbread Cookies! They were really just too adorable for words! It took all my self-restraint not to post multiple pictures of them on Instagram.

Grandma Loy from Grandma Loy’s Kitchen sent me rich, chewy Butterscotch Chocolate Oatmeal Bars in a homemade reusable snack bag! I tried not to devour them instantly. Don’t tell my husband but there are still some in the freezer!

And The Foodette sent me Pumpkin Sugar Cookies in a precious tin! They had a mild but lovely spice flavor!

My Grandma’s Molasses Sugar Cookies are surprisingly easy and are positively addicting! They have that perfect balance of crunch and chew and sugar and spice.

The only change that I made to the recipe was substituting half the shortening for butter for flavor and texture. Butter lover. Guilty as Charged.

These Molasses Sugar Cookies are for the seventh day of my 12 Days of Christmas Cookies. You won’t want to miss the Old Fashioned Gingersnaps, Peanut Butter Blossoms, Old Fashioned Oat Lace Cookies, Raspberry Linzer Cookies, Holiday Bark or Cherry Pecan Cookies!

Grandma’s Molasses Sugar Cookies

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• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Cook Time: 40 minutes
• Total Time: 55 minutes
• Yield: 4 dozen 1x

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Description

My Grandma’s Molasses Sugar Cookies are sweet sugar cookies flavored with molasses, ginger and cinnamon. Crunchy outside and soft, chewy inside! Grandma really does know best!

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• ¾ cup shortening
• ¾ cup butter
• 2 cups sugar
• ½ cup molasses
• 2 eggs
• 4 teaspoons baking soda
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon ginger, slightly rounded
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• Additional sugar for rolling

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Instructions

1. Melt shortening and butter together in a pan on low heat.
2. While the butter and shortening melt, sift together flour, soda, ginger, cinnamon and salt; whisk to evenly distribute spices and soda. Set aside.
3. In another large bowl add sugar, molasses and butter/shorting mixture; beat well with a hand mixer. Add eggs and beat well.
4. In two additions add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture and stir on low speed. Chill until firm, at least 2 hours.
5. Preheat oven to 350° and line two baking sheets with parchment.
6. Roll into balls approximately 1 ½ inches across, roll in sugar and place 2 inches apart on your prepared cookie sheet.
7. Bake in preheated oven 8-10 minutes. For mostly soft, chewy cookies bake until the edges are brown and cracked but the centers are not.* For crispy outsides and soft centers bake between 10-12 minutes until the centers have started to crack.

Notes

*The cookies in the photos were cooked until the edges were brown and they started to crack but the centers were not yet cracked.

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