Elizabeth Austin Asch (Rob’s sister)– I could be wrong, but I think I got the original recipe from the old Gourmet magazine. That mag had great photos when I was young, and reading it and watching Nancie cook were my two sources of learning when I first became interested. Then in high school I started to watch Julia Child on TV and she was great fun too. Anyhow I tinkered a bit with this recipe, the original one called for shortening for example and I prefer butter. In fact, I bake with a European-style cultured butter which has much more flavor in my opinion, and possibly more fat too.

I bake these cookies each year for my friend Shelagh’s birthday on December 1, so I think of them as a sort of winter cookie. The kitchen smells great too when you bake them.

Enjoy and let me know how it goes!

Prep time – 60 minutes / Cook time – 9 minutes

  • 3/4 c butter
  • 1 c sugar
  • 1/4 c molasses
  • 1 egg
  • 1 t soda
  • 1 t ginger
  • 1/2 t cinnamon
  • 1/2 t salt
  • 1/2 t cloves
  • 1 1/2 c flour

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Stir in molasses and egg until combined.

Sift flour with spices, salt and soda. Then add in small amounts until incorporated into dough. Cover and chill dough until firm, a few hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 325*, no need to grease the cookie sheet.

Roll dough into 3/4″ balls, then rolls the balls in granulated sugar. I prefer larger grained sugar but actually Rob the ones you tried had superfine sugar just for a change, and I liked that too. The large granules of sugar is a little prettier in my opinion.

The cookies spread a lot in the oven, so keep that in mind when you put them on the pan. I do something like 9 cookies per sheet. Bake until barely brown at the edges. Let them cool for a minute on the pan before removing.

Store in airtight tin.