Cookbook Challenge: Molasses Spice Cookies

I love baking. I am an emotional baker. As in, I have an emotion, and I bake. Sad, happy, frustrated, excited, nervous. You name the emotion and there is a cake, cookie, or pie that follows. Or an apple strudel. That's whats on the agenda for today.

But this week I made molasses spice cookies from a great cookbook, one of our very favorite wedding presents. I made the cookies for  girls night (don't judge- we watch the Bachelor, or rather the Bachelor's abs, have you seen them?). And then I made another batch for work. And another for a friend leaving for Tanzania who needed an airplane snack.

They may be our new favorite cookie. They are like Gingersnaps but the molasses makes them more gooey. And gooey just happens to be how I like my cookies.

Molasses Spice Cookies

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp salt
12 Tbs butter
1/3 c packed brown sugar
1/3 c sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup molasses

1. Preheat oven to 375. Grease baking sheets.
2. Mix together flour, baking soda, spices, and salt.
3. Beat butter with brown sugar and 1/3 cup granulated sugar for about 3 minutes. Add egg and vanilla until just incorporated. Add molasses until just incorporated, making sure to scrape the sides of the bowl. Add the flour mixture and beat until just mixed together.
4. Place 1/2 cup sugar for rolling in a shallow bowl. Roll the batter into balls about 1 1/2 inch across, drop the ball into the sugar and roll to coat with sugar. Place the balls onto the cookie sheet, about 2 inches apart.
5. Bake until the cookies are browned and still puffy. They will look underdone, this takes about 11 minutes.

6. Cool the cookies about 2 minutes before taking them off the wire rack to cool.

                                     This picture shows them ready to be popped into the oven.