Literally dusting off my cooking blog to share my recipe that I made, along with my sister Kate, in a “sizzle spot” demo at the World Food Championship in Celebration Florida last week. And dust off I do mean it as I have not blogged at all in two years. Well, that’s about to change. Time to get back at it so please follow along and look forward to some simple good recipes and goodness only knows what else with the holidays coming.
The recipe is a take off on a Lufkin family tradition at the holidays. My Mom always makes these cookies and all of my sisters have followed in her footsteps making them for their own friends and families. I call my recipe “double duty” because if you add additional flour to the recipe, you can roll them out and make ginger bread people and other cut out cookies. As you can see by the well worn card, this recipe is a true holiday classic. I like them spicier than my Mom makes them. If you compare the handwritten card below (which was a direct copy from her recipe) to my recipe below you will see that there is a lot more spice.
Try your best to read my recipe through the stained and tattered card but fear not, I’ll spell it all out below. However, some interesting tip emerge from the grime such as they reason they are called “Double Duty” cookies. If you add about 1/2 cup of flour to the recipe you can roll out the dough and make cut out cookies such as gingerbread men. If you need to make a massive amount of cookies, say 350 for a donation to our local elementary school, you need to purchase 2 large tubs of shortening–one tub is simply not enough–and five double batches of this recipe make a generous 350, even with children around who might like to sneak a little bit of the dough. Also, did you know that a cup of shortening weighs 6 7/8th oz? I got sick and tired of measuring it out and making a giant mess so I decided to weigh it on my food scale and that’s how I do it now if I have to make more than one batch. It’s also important to use fresh spices but to sift your dry ingredients in this recipe because the spices tend to clump, especially the nutmeg, in humid weather. The picture of the cookies above is what they look like from the recipe below.
Double Duty Molasses Ginger Cookies
2 ¼ cup all purpose flour*
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon, divided
2 teaspoons ground ginger, divided
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup butter flavored shortening
¾ cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1/2 cup molasses
1/2 cup sparkling or turbinado sugar
In a medium bowl, sift together flour, salt, baking soda and spices and set aside.
In a large bowl cream shortening and granulated sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and molasses until well blended. Slowly add flour mixture to creamed mixture and beat again until well combined. Divide dough in to two pieces and tightly wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour.
When read to bake, preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cover four baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a shallow dish, such as a pie plate, place turbinado/sparkling sugar.
Remove one wrapped dough from the refrigerator, keeping second dough chilled until ready to use. Roll dough into 1” balls and roll balls in turbindo or sparkling sugar mixture to coat. Press balls slightly into sugar if necessary.
Bake 12 cookies per sheet for 10-12 minutes or until tops are slightly cracked and cookies are firm to the touch.
*add 1/2 cup for gingerbread men
I love hand-me-down recipes like this one. Welcome back to the blogging world!
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Thanks Sista!!! I’m back!
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Laurie, I’m looking for an old molasses cookie called a “frogger”. It was for dunking in coffee or tea, and the cookies lasted forever as there were no eggs in them. I think it originally came from Marblehead or Gloucester. I lost my copy and haven’t been able to find anything like it, although yours seems close!
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[…] the Double Duty Molasses Ginger Cookies demonstration we watched featuring Laurie Lufkin & her family recipe. Trust me, you’ll want to save this recipe for the […]
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[…] personal favourite cooking demonstration of the day was by Laurie Lufkin. (So tasty I ate 4) Laurie Lufkin’s Double Duty Molasses Ginger Cookies […]
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I love little chica. You have the best little sous chef..
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