Molasses Crinkles

I know it's that time of year when spices like cinnamon and cloves and ginger start sounding extra appealing to me. So after dinner tonight, just for the heck of it, I broke out an old favorite recipe and whipped up some cookies to satisfy a craving.

This recipe comes from my mom's sister several years ago. My aunt Janis is a fabulous cook, and I love to get recipes from her. These cookies are beloved by her kids and grand kids as well, and my cousin Jill once even posted on her blog how her three year old loves these cookies so much and one day got tired of waiting around for her to make them so he proceeded to start without her. She walked into the kitchen to find this waiting for her-

I stole this excerpt from her blog, as I haven't the foggiest notion how to embed something and this just seemed easier anyway. So, sorry, Jill- hope you don't mind.

"Barrett had taken matters into his own hands and had assembled what he thought were the ingredients and measuring cups we needed to make his 'lasses cookies. I had a good laugh at the taco seasoning, which to his credit looks almost identical to my bottle of cinnamon. He did well with getting out the baking soda, salt and shortening. However, we didn't need the vanilla extract and we would have been better off if he'd gotten out the ground ginger rather than the dried basil. He also mistook the powdered sugar for flour, but considering the fact that he just turned 3 I think he did pretty well."

This recipe doesn't make a whole bunch, but is easy to double, FYI

So without further ado-

Janis' Molasses Crinkles

3/4 cup shortening

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1/4 cup molasses

2 1/4 cup flour (wheat, white, or mix)

2 tsp soda

1/2 tsp cloves

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ginger

Cream together sugar and shortening. Add egg and molasses, mix well. Stir together dry ingredients then add.

Roll into balls the size of walnuts. Roll tops of balls in sugar, place on ungreased baking sheet 2 inches apart. Bake at 350 degrees for 9-11 minutes or just until tops crack.

Makes about 40 cookies.