Molasses Cookies

My grandma made molasses cookies for me-- soft, not crunchy-- when I was a girl. They were my favorite and she knew it. I can smell her kitchen every time I bake a batch and I miss her.

Yesterday, my son helped me make them, pouring in each ingredient as I measured. I told him about his great-grandmother that he never knew. Her generous heart, serving attitude, and how she was the quintessential grandma like from story books and movies. When I stayed at her house, we would paint with her good watercolors and oil paints on real canvases. I now have her paintbrushes displayed in a vase in my home. Visiting Grandma meant I would get to eat supper in the living room on little trays with a flower in a bud vase and watch TV. She taught me how to play poker with matches as chips, and Chinese checkers, and tell me funny stories about growing up in rural New Mexico.

When my son and I put the first dozen in the oven, I opened up my old photo albums so he could see his Pop's mommy. But I couldn't find one. Not one. How have so many years passed since her death and I never realized I don't have a single photograph of my beloved grandmother? I think about her daily, wishing I could speak to her now, as a woman, a wife, a mother. If she could have only met my husband and my precious babies. I guess she's such a part of my life-- her wisdom, her example, her paintings and recipes-- that I haven't missed having a tangible photo. I see her every day.

And so we ate our cookies and laughed and I prayed that one day my boys will remember me like that.

Preheat oven to 375. Cream 3/4 c. shortening, 1 c. brown sugar, 1/4 c. molasses and 1 egg until fluffy. Sift together 2-1/4 c. flour, 2 t. baking soda, 1/2 t. salt, 1 t. ground ginger, 1 t. ground cinnamon, 1/4 t. cloves. Stir into the molasses mixture. Form in small balls and roll in sugar. Place 2" apart on greased cookie sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes. 

Shared with: Tatertots and Jello