Molasses Cookies

I thought of this recipe today, as plan to make them for my Marine son for his birthday. They are his favorite cookie. "Risti" and her son "Chewie" love them, too, so I will make a double batch of them. I sent some molasses cookies and also some snickerdoodle cookies to Mike when he was in CA. I sent them priority mail. I am certain they were to his base in two days, but once they got to the base, it took the people in charge of the mail another 10 plus days to decide to deliver them to a Pfc. I bet the captains, etc do not have to wait 10 days for their mail. Anyway, I had placed two cookies with bottoms together in a snack bag, then did the same with another two cookies. I packed the box full so they couldn't shift or break. They finally got around to delivering Mike his cookies when he was in class. He said everyone said "Hey, what do you have there!" I thought he would share--not so. He hid his nearly two week old cookies from the "scavengers" as he called his roommates. I got this recipe years ago from Pam Huston, who was in our ward at the time. Her cookies always ended up rounded and she frosted them with white frosting. My cookies ALWAYS look like a soft ginger snap type cookie--flat or slightly rounded, and no one wants any frosting on them!

Every time I make these cookies, I also think of my mother's mother, my Grandma Birdie. Her mother was a Mormon Pioneer from England. All of her children had three first names as the only people allowed to do that in the British Isles were royalty. Well, my poor grandmother's name was Constance Wilhemina Birdie Price. She went by "Birdie", but never liked any of her names. When she was in her 70's it was confusing to her first great grandson, as he had his grandma Donna and Great grandma Birdie. We just all ended up calling her "Great". She just LOVED her name. She said I have lived on this earth 70 years and I finally have a name I like! Anyway, when I was very young, I would stay out at her house in Ucon, ID. It was a treat to eat hard, tough ginger snaps and dunk them in grape juice with my grandmother. I loved to spend time with her. I darned the holes in her socks. No kidding. She taught me to put a light bulb inside the sock by the hole and use the surface created to help darn the hole in the sock. (The light bulb we used was not one of the twisted new ones--the old round ones. Can you believe it--soon no one will even be able to understand how you could darn a sock using a light bulb as the only ones they will know about are the curly, twisted ones.) Anyway, can you believe she taught me to darn a hole in a sock? There is some preparedness for you! I can't handle even slight lumps in my socks, so no, I do not darn any holes in socks--toss them. I used to take her some of these cookies when she was very elderly in a nursing home in Idaho Falls. We shared them together with my baby daughters Jen, Meg, and "Risti"....and we dunked them in our grape juice. Ok, so the recipe is below:

Molasses Cookies
3/4 cup melted margarine (or butter)
1 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup light molasses
1 egg
1/2 tsp soda
2 cups flour

Add sugar to melted margarine. Add egg and mix. Add spices, molasses. Mix salt and soda with flour and add to mixture. Refrigerate until chilled. Roll into balls. Roll in white sugar.
Bake 375 degree oven for 5-6 minutes. Let them set up a few minutes, then move to cooling rack. Enjoy with your loved ones--the young AND the old. My kids and grandkids are happy to roll the little balls and also roll them in sugar. It is fun for me to just step back and watch them work together.