Nanny's Molasses Cookies

One of my favorite memories of my Great Grandma, Nanny, is her scrumptious molasses cookies (aka Nanny Cookies). The perfect chewy, gooey, spicy treat!

Welcome to my very first blog post on Two Tots Bakeshop. I thought this would be the perfect time to start sharing my recipes since many of us are stuck home (myself included) during this strange time of quarantine. I've loved baking for years now, but as a working mom of two boys (2 years old and 7 months old), it has been difficult finding the time to bake. Now that I am home full time for the time being, I have been able to spend more time in the kitchen creating mouth watering treats. If you get bored, grab your tots or just have some alone time and get baking! I think I'm going to have some happy family and neighbors, they'll be getting a lot of treats over the course of this blog! I am so glad you are here and hope you enjoy this special recipe!

---

The Story

My Great Grandma, Nanny, was known by many as "The Cookie Lady". As a young child, I can remember walking into Nanny's house and there were always two things; orange slice gummy candies in the crystal candy dish and Molasses Cookies (aka Nanny Cookies). You can probably guess where I ran as soon as we got to here house when we would visit. Mmmmm you could smell them from outside and your mouth would instantly start watering. Nanny passed away my Freshman year of high school, but our family is lucky enough to have the recipe so we can keep making those special little cookies with so many memories attached them. Anytime we have a big family get together, Nanny Cookies can be found.

Nanny's Original Recipe

My Great Aunt Patti has Nanny's recipe box with all the original cards. She so kindly sent me photos of the cards when I told her about starting my blog off with her Mother's cookie recipe.

My two year old, Dawson, got to have his first Nanny Cookie today thanks to Two Tots Bakeshop and he LOVED it! I know you all will too!

---

Cookie Ingredients

• 3/4 C. Shortening or Butter (softened) - Nanny's recipe calls for shortening, but butter will work too! My family usually uses butter becuase we are a butter loving family!

• 1 C. Sugar

• 1/4 C. Molasses

• 1 Egg

• 2 tsp. Baking Soda

• 2 C. Flour

• 1 tsp. Ground Cinnamon

• 1/2 tsp. Ground Cloves

• 1/2 tsp. Ground Ginger

• 1/4 tsp. Salt

• Raisins (optional)

• Extra sugar for rolling the cookies in

---

Instructions

Serves: 36 cookies Prep Time: 20 minutes + 2-4 hours to chill Cook Time: 8-12 minutes

1. Mix Dry Ingredients - Add all of the dry ingredients to a small bowl and mix together.

2. Cream Shortening and Sugar - In a separate mixing bowl, place the shortening (or butter) and sugar. You will want to use an electric mixer so I place my ingredients in my stand mixer bowl. A hand mixer will work just fine. Beat the shortening and sugar until light and fluffy.

3. Add the Molasses and Egg - Mix the molasses and egg into the creamed sugar just until combined. Make sure to scrape the sides and give it an extra stir.

4. Add Dry Ingredients to Wet - Slowly add the dry ingredients into the mixing bowl and beat until it is just combined. Don't forget to scrape the sides and make sure it's all mixed together.

5. Add raisins if you would like. I skip this step. I am NOT a raisin fan.

6. Chill Dough - Chill dough in the fridge until firm. I usually like to wait about 4 hours.

7. Preheat Oven - Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease 2 cookie sheets. I like to get my oven heating while I am rolling my dough balls. No need to preheat before you make the dough since it needs to chill.

8. Roll Dough Balls - Once the dough is chilled, roll dough into about 1 inch sized balls. I like to use a cookie scoop for this to get a consistent size. Roll the balls in sugar and place on the greased baking sheets.

9. Put Them in the Oven - Bake cookies for about 8-12 minutes until they set. Transfer them to a cooling rack and enjoy!

I always bake one pan shorter and one pan longer because I like my cookies nice and doughy and my husband likes his crunchy enough to dip in milk. Feel free to adjust baking time to achieve your perfect cookie crunchiness.

If you make this recipe, please feel free to send me pictures or tag me on Facebook or Instagram

***Extra Tip*** Make slightly bigger cookies, cook them until they are nice and crunchy, squish some vanilla ice cream between 2 cookies and you have an amazing ice cream sandwich!!