This recipe started out as an approximation of what my grandmother would toss into a mixing bowl — “a little of this, a pinch of that” interpreted and transcribed by me into “cups” and “teaspoons”. After making many batches over several years, I finally tweaked it to a point where I was content to add it to my “Family Recipes” cookbook, and now I’m going to share it with you. It makes a large batch of wonderfully crisp cookies with a nice gingery bite.
Given my grandmother just turned 93, it’s safe to say that this recipe is well over 100 years old. The dough is pretty sticky, but the cookies are best when only a scant amount of flour is used when rolling it out for cutting — refrigerating the dough first helps quite a bit.
Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup molasses
3/4 cup milk
1 egg, beaten
3 tsp ginger
2 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
5 cups flour
Cream together sugar and butter. Add molasses, milk and egg, and mix well. Sift together flour, ginger, baking soda and salt. Add gradually to wet ingredients, blending well until soft dough forms.
Preheat oven to 375F. Roll out dough to 1/4″ in thickness and cut with cookie cutters. Place on well-greased or parchment-lined pan, and bake for 10-12 minutes.
These cookies get even better as they go stale, so make a big batch. For a truly decadent treat, sandwich them together with some lemon buttercream icing — I fondly refer to these as “Hillbilly Oreos”. Yum!
