Molasses Cookies Take 2

My comments in orange with Pondsy's in teal.

With many thanks to Mary MacDonald and her daughter who blogs at *Pondside.* These are the cookies John and I remember so well.

Soft Molasses Cookies Mary MacDonald's Soft Molasses Cookies ☺ (I copied this from my mum's book in 1974 - I date all my recipes!)

1/2 cup soft butter

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cup molasses

1 egg

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/4 cup water

Cream butter and sugar, blend in molasses and egg and beat well.

In a separate bowl, combine next four ingredients.

Dissolve baking soda in water and add it alternately with the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and blend.

Drop by tablespoons full on to greased cookie sheets.

Bake at 400 F for 10 minutes or until done.

If I were you I'd watch the first cookie sheet carefully as these are big and soft and depending on the oven can easily burn on the bottom.

*Printable recipe*

Thank you so much. The minute I saw the ¼ cup of water I thought "bingo." My mother would say that the trick was all in the water. If one wanted soft cookies, one used either hot or cold water, and if one wanted a tougher cookie one would use either hot or cold water. I remember thinking that, whichever way it went, the soft cookie used just the opposite from what one would think. In my mind, that's cold water, but I could be wrong. Have you ever heard anything like this before?

For soft cookies, use cold water. Weird, but true!

Please give the credit to my mother, Mary MacDonald, who baked these every Friday of my childhood. I hope they turn out well!

They turned out very well, just as we remember! They were even better the second day. We can't say about the third day because the cookie tin is e.m.p.t.y.

a soft molasses cookie...yummo!

Some have asked about molasses. We use Crosby's, which offers an unsulphered molasses considered the highest quality. It is not the black strap variety, which is pretty intense...very thick and black and refers to the third boiling of cane sugar. Black strap is often found in feed stores and healthfood stores. The joy of Crosby's is that it is processed in St. John, New Brunswick. When we visit the cottage in summer, we are able to replenish our molasses supplies much less expensively (I can purchase an entire gallon of molasses in New Brunswick for the price I pay for a 16 ounce bottle here). It's one of those items that is on my list for anyone heading to the Maritimes. I think this must be true of any state that borders Canada. We have our favorite things on the other side after all! 

Thank you for revisiting molasses cookies with me! Have you ever rediscovered a favorite recipe?