Molasses Clove Cookies

This molasses clove cookie recipe has all the classic flavors of gingerbread: cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger, and molasses, but with a crisp-outside/tender-inside texture, rather than a tender, cakey one. It was given to me by Sue Joffray, a teacher and administrator at the Loomis-Chaffee school in Windsor, Connecticut, during my sophomore year, and I’ve been making it ever since. But the history of this style of sweet goes back far beyond my own lifetime, or that of Connecticut, or America itself. Gingerbreads are an ancient creation, first recorded in Eastern Mediterranean cuisine, then brought to Western Europe by returning Crusaders in the 11th Century. The first American recipes for gingerbread-style cakes appeared in the first American cookbook, which was published in 1796 in Hartford, Connecticut, just about five miles down the Connecticut River from Windsor. The publisher was Hudson & Goodwin; the author was Amelia Simmons, “an American orphan,” and the title was a mouthful: American Cookery, or the art of dressing viands, fish, poultry, and vegetables, and the best modes of making pastes, puffs, pies, tarts, puddings, custards, and preserves, and all kinds of cakes, from the imperial plum to plain cake: Adapted to this country, and all grades of life. Simmons left few records of her life beyond this work, though historians have surmised that she probably worked as a servant cook. For her Gingerbread Cakes, Simmons writes in her usual no-nonsense style: Three pounds of flour, a grated nutmeg, two ginger, one pound sugar, three small spoons pearl ash (an early leavening agent) dissolved in cream, one pound butter,  four eggs, knead it stiff, shape it to your fancy, bake 15 minutes. Like Simmons’ cakes, these molasses clove cookies will fill your home with the smell of warm spices. They’re wonderful with a glass of milk or coffee. And they take just 45 minutes to make.

MOLASSES CLOVE COOKIES

Total time: 45 minutes Hands-on time: 30 minutes Ingredients

• 2 cups granulated sugar, divided
• 3/4 cup shortening, at room temperature, plus more for the tray
• 2 tablespoons molasses
• 1 large egg
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 to 1 teaspoon table salt (start with the smaller amount, taste, and add more as desired)

Method Preheat oven to 350º and set a rack to the middle position. Lightly grease two baking sheet and set aside. Pour 1 cup of sugar in a shallow bowl and set aside. In a large mixing bowl, beat the remaining 1 cup sugar with the shortening (or butter) until pale and fluffy, about 1 minute. Add the molasses and egg and stir to combine. Add the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg and salt and stir to combine, scraping down the sides to be sure all the flour is incorporated. Break off walnut-sized pieces of dough and roll into balls. Roll the balls in the bowl of sugar to coat and arrange on the baking sheets, spacing them about 2 inches apart. Use the bottom of a drinking glass to press the cookies flat (dust the glass with flour as needed to prevent sticking). Transfer the baking sheets to the oven and bake, rotating the sheets once midway through cooking, until the cookies are just beginning to turn golden at the edges, 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool. Yield: About 20 cookies PRINT THE RECIPE: Molasses-Clove Cookies Are you a fan of molasses clove cookies? Let us know in the comments!

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