Today I sat down and did a tally of how many dozen cookies I’ve baked in the last 2 weeks. Here’s the list I compiled:

White Chocolate Pumpkin bars 3 (36)

Maple Bacon Mittens 10 (120)

Cranberry Choc Chip 8 (96)

Snickerdoodles 5 (60)

Orange Cranberry Thumbprints 8 (96)

Decorated Cut outs 8 (96)

White Chocolate Lemon Blueberry 4 (48)

Candy Coated Ritz™️ 4 (48)

PB Blossoms 6 (72)

Doggie Biscuits 4 (48)

Pinwheels 3 (36)

Molasses 3 (36)

Egg Nog 3 (36)

According to my math, the final count is 69. It’s a Cancer thing. After adding it up, I realized that some of the pans of cookies contained more than 12, some had less. The doggie biscuit pans had about 2 dozen each , so I’m going to call it good at between 65 dozen, just to err on the side of honest, and 74 to push the envelope, as I do so enjoy doing!! Either way, these both equal 11, one of my very favorite sets of digits, so somewhere between 65 and 74 dozen is the magic and true number. I lost count and, I mean, seriously who wouldn’t at this point??

I finally finished the project today with these molasses cookies, some iced egg nog melt aways, and a few more pans of the Maple Bacon Mittens that were definitely worthy of an encore. I said I’d give you 11 days of recipes. I never said I’d be baking one on each of the 11 days. You already know, if you read my blog regularly, that I’ve hit the cookie wall. In other words, I’ve had enough.

I usually enlist the help of a bunch of women to knock this out over the course of a few days, however, this year I am in a new space and finding great strength in a recent practice of solitude. Also, I’m not offering wine and cocktails this year, so most would probably decline.

After rising early this morning to go and enjoy coffee and conversation with a lady friend of mine, I came home refreshed and ready to close the oven door on this project for good.

The guy and I enjoyed a beautiful breakfast of homemade buttermilk biscuits and sausage gravy, along with crispy fried potatoes, then I cleaned up and went to work on the final 9 dozen cookies.

I’m giving you this molasses cookie recipe because, quite simply put, its the easiest one to write. I still have to ice the egg nog melt aways and the maple mittens, and then pack up a few more gift boxes.

I’ll tell you the beautiful side of this whole thing: I didn’t disappoint a single person by giving them cookies as a gift. I gave from the heart and the hands, not from my credit card. I have some major goals right now, and using my hard earned dollars and credit as a means to say, “I love you,” at Christmas is not my M.O. at all. I felt bad at first for not Christmas shopping and stressing over the whole thing as usual, but at the end of the day, this was far more meaningful. Don’t worry, my friends who received baked goods. I only used the finest quality of ingredients.

These are simple, classic, chewy and I jacked the recipe from a really old paper book found right in this kitchen. I modified a couple things to make them my own and it worked. I didn’t want flat cookies. I was feeling the whole tea cookie thang today. Two of today’s recipes are little round nuggets that stay soft and doughy inside. You got molasses?? Well, go get it!!

What You Need:

1/2 c unsalted butter — softened

1/2 c packed brown sugar

1/3 c molasses

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

2 c all purpose flour

1/2 c granulated sugar set aside

What You Do:

In the bowl of a stand or with a hand mixer; cream the butter, brown sugar, egg molasses and vanilla.

In a separate large bowl whisk the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and pie spice.

Gradually add the flour mixture until a firm cookie dough forms.

Scoop tablespoon sized balls of dough and roll them into smooth balls.

Place on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper to chill in the refrigerator.

Chill 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350.

Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Roll each cookie dough ball in the extra bowl of sugar and then place on the cookie sheet.

Bake for about 10 minutes, or until they’re no longer glossy.

They should look something like that. Oh, how I wish I could transfer aromas through the miracle of the web. Who knows what the future holds, huh?

Peace Out, Cookers.

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