Henny Penny Farmette

I’ve been going through my mom’s old cookbooks, organizing recipes she’d written down on scraps of paper and tucked inside. Finding one for molasses cookies on a holiday card inside her Pennsylvania Dutch cookbook, I decided to bake a batch. They turned out lovely so I packed a few in festive boxes along with sugar cookies to give as gifts between Christmas and New Years.

 

 

 

Raisin-Walnut Molasses Cookies

 

 

Ingredients:

 

3 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon of ginger

1/2 teaspoon cloves

1 1/2 sticks of unsalted butter (softened)

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup molasses

1 egg

3/4 cup raisins

3/4 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped

 

Directions for Mixing:

 

Combine flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves in a bowl.

Put butter and sugar in a medium bowl of an electric mixer and cream together until fluffy.

Pour molasses and egg into the butter/sugar mixture.

Add 1/3 the flour/spice mixture at a time to the creamed butter and sugar until all has been added and well blended.

Add the nuts and raisins and mix well.

 

Directions for Baking:

 

Set oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit

Line 2 or 3 cookie sheets with parchment paper

Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate until ready to sue (at least 1 to 2 hours)

Divide the dough into thirds.

Work with one ball of dough at a time to roll and bake the cookies.

Place dough onto a work surface that has been sifted with flour.

Roll out the dough.

Cut out the cookies with a cookie or biscuit cutter.

Space cookies 2 inches apart on the cookie sheet.

Bake for 20 to 15 minutes.

Remove from the oven and let cool.

 

*Optional: dust with turbinado or muscovado sugar while cookies are still warm.

Store in an air-tight container.