8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, softened
½ cup shortening
1 ½ cups sugar
½ cup molasses
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
2 ¼ tsps. baking soda
2 ¼ tsps. ground ginger
1 ½ tsps. ground cloves
2 ½ tsps. ground cinnamon
additional sugar, to coat cookies
- Cream butter, shortening and sugar.
- Beat in molasses and eggs.
- Whisk together flour, salt, baking soda and spices.
- Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and blend until smooth.
- Refrigerate for 1 hour or until the dough has stiffened sufficiently to handle easily.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Roll the dough into balls the size of golf balls, about 2 tablespoons each. Roll each ball in the sugar to coat. Place the cookies 2 inches apart on lightly greased or parchment-lined cookie sheets.
- Bake for 14 minutes until cookies are slightly flattened but not browned; they should feel soft on top and be slightly cracked. If you let them brown they will be less chewy and moist once they cool. Cool the cookies completely on a wire rack and store them in a ziplock bag.
There are two keys to this recipe. The first is the amount of egg required for the dough to “come together”. It needs to be sufficiently moist, not crumbly. This recipe calls for 2 large eggs, meaning each is greater than 1/4 cup. If the dough seems dry, you’ll need to add more egg white from a third egg. This gives the cookies an amazing puffiness upon baking. The second key is the use of shortening to preserve chewiness. Although you can substitute butter for the 1/2 cup shortening, the cookies will be crisp.
