Grandma's Molasses Ginger Cookies

Grandma's Molasses Ginger Cookies
by Suzie Hardy

3/4 c. butter or shortening
1 c. brown sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 c. molasses
6 c. flour
1 tsp. each allspice, ginger, cloves, cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 c. water
2 tsp. baking soda dissolved in 3 Tbls. warm water

Cream butter and sugar. Add egg and molasses. Mix dry ingredients together and add slowly. Add water and dissolved baking soda alternating with dry ingredients. The dough will be quite stiff. Divide dough into round discs wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least a couple of hours. Keep the dough in the fridge until you are ready to roll each disc out. The dough is easier to handle if it's chilled. Bake cut cookies at 350 degrees for 8-12 minutes.

If you want a quicker, easier version, I picked up a Gingerbread Cookie mix at Walmart, added a stick of butter and an egg. :) Enjoy!

Tips:
They smell really good but are not very tasty, so perfect if you are just going to hang them on the tree. The smell is strongest the first few days, but it lessens with time. A few tips...roll the dough thinner than if you are making sugar cookies and bake it a little longer. You want the cookies to be hard enough to hold up on a ribbon without falling apart or breaking. I also make the hole in the cookie (with a chopstick) right after they come out of the oven and then I push it all the way through again when I move them to the cooling rack. If you wait until they are cool the cookie will break.