Goodies for Operation BakingGALS

I am so proud to have baked three sets of cookies for a wonderful project started by fellow blogger, Susan, of She's Becoming Domestic. Susan e-mailed us for help in sending some home-made cookies to her cousin, Jason,who is posted in Iraq and missing his wife and new baby very much. The whole story is on Operation Baking GALS - it is delightful - how everything got started, the pictures of all the goodies baked by participating bloggers, Jason's fine Thank You letter and photos, and useful advice from a military wife on how to mail packages to the troops.

These are samples of my cookies, photographed on my new Frigidaire oven which arrived this week. I wanted the cookies to be the first item baked in oven, which is really beautiful and lovely and gorgeous and everything.

I made Molasses Cookies ; M&M Cookies and Apricot-Almond Bars. Of course, I tasted them, just a few. I liked the M&M Cookies and the Apricot-Almond Bars, but I loved the Molasses Cookies - soft, chewy things, with just enough spice to taste the ginger and cloves and the real comforting sweetness of Grandma's Molasses. Yum. The recipe follows, and will become a staple in other BakingGALS packages I send.

Molasses Cookies
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Place parchment paper on cookie sheet.

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup of Crisco
1 egg
1/4 cup Grandma's Molasses
1/8th teasp. salt
2 cups flour
2 teasp. baking soda
1 teasp. ginger
1 teasp. ground cloves

1. Combine dry ingredients.
1. Cream together butter/Crisco and sugar (about 3-4 mins. on beater)
2. Lightly beat egg and add to creamed mixture - beat in just until blended.
3. Add molasses.
4. Slowly add dry ingredients combination.

Use Tbs. cookie scoop and drop batter in balls onto parchgment paper cookie sheet.

Bake for 11-12 minutes - cookies must look a nice bronze/ginger color. Remove from oven and leave on sheet for a couple of minutes. Remove to wire cooler.*
*Recipe adapted from GMA Recipes/Eliza Leverton/2002.