JUMBO MOLASSES COOKIES

These are my favorite Molasses cookies ever. They are so SO delicious, they stay soft, they smell up your home as you bake them better than ANY candle, and they make a TON-so you can freeze them (or the dough) for later use.

I made these the day that the Browns were expected and ran out of time. So I used 1/3 of the dough and then rolled up the rest into a log and then froze it. Using only 1/3 of the recipe gave me about 2 dozen HUGE cookies.

Of course, you CAN make them smaller and then get even MORE!

Jumbo Molasses Cookies

3 cups butter-flavored shortening
4 cups sugar
1 cup molasses
4 eggs
8 cups all purpose flour
2 T. plus 2 t. baking soda
2 t. ground cinnamon
1 t. each: salt, ground cloves, ground ginger

Additional sugar

In a large mixing bowl, cream shortening and sugar. Add molasses and eggs, mix well. Combine dry ingredients; gradually add to creamed mixture. Cover and refridgerate for 1-2 hours. Shape 1/4 cupfuls of dough into balls; roll in additional sugar. Place several inches from each other on a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 18-20 minutes or until sides are set and have gotten a molasses coloring.

NOTE: I made this all at once and dough shot EVERYWHERE which made me clean my kitchen-again-before my company. You CAN prepare half the recipe at a time to avoid that problem. Unless of course, you LIKE to clean kitchens several times a day... :-)

I put all the dry ingredients together and then suddenly saw how pretty the spices all looked together. So of course, I had to snap a picture. Don't the different shades of spices look so rich?