The novel, Sunflower Sisters takes place during the American Civil War. There is one scene where the Woolsey sisters give molasses cookies to the soldiers.
This recipe for molasses cookies is adapted from a Menonite Cookbook from the 1860’s. The original called for lard instead of butter.
I cut the recipe in half, but found that I needed to add another 1/2 cup of flour. The dough is very sticky. The cookies are soft and chewy, full of ginger and other spices. My cookies looked very different from the ones on the website where I got the recipe.
If you want to “modernize” these cookies, I highly recommend spreading some cookie butter between two of them. Yum!!
Instructions
- Cream together brown sugar, butter, and sorghum. Add eggs, beat until well blended.
- Stir baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg into hot water; stir into creamed mixture, blending thoroughly.
- Add flour and mix well. Drop dough from a teaspoon onto an ungreased baking sheet. Sprinkle each cookie with a pinch of sugar.
- Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Cool 5 minutes in pans, then remove to wire rack to finish cooling.
Hi. What was the amount of lard used in the original recipe?
Molasses Cookies.
“A cup of brown sugar, one of molasses, one of lard, half a cupful of boiling water, one spoonful of ginger, one of saleratus (baking soda with impurities), one of salt and flour enough to roll. Beat the sugar, lard, molasses, saleratus and ginger together; then pour on the boiling water and mix in the flour. Roll about three-fourths of an inch thick and cut with round cutter. Bake in a quick oven (375 to 400 degrees).”
From Regimental Cooking http://www.secondwi.com/regimental_cooking.htm