Big Soft Chewy Molasses Cookies

Devil's Food Cake Murder

## Ingredients

* 1 and 1/4 cups white ***(granulated)*** sugar
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
* 1 and 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
* 1 cup light molasses ***(I used 1/2 cup dark molasses mixed with 1/2 cup light Karo syrup)***
* 2 beaten eggs ***(just whip them up in a glass with a fork)***
* 1 cup ***(2 sticks, 8 ounces, 1/2 pound)*** salted butter, melted
* 2 Tablespoons ***(1/8 cup)*** hot water ***(hot water right out of the tap is fine)***
* 4 cups quick-cooking oatmeal ***(dry, right out of the package—I used Quaker’s Quick-1 Minute)***
* 4 cups all-purpose flour ***(don’t sift, but don’t pack it down either—scoop it out with your measuring cup and level it off with a table knife)***
* 1 and 1/2 cups raisins ***(I used golden raisins)***
* 1 cup chopped nuts ***(I used walnuts)***
* approximately 1/2 cup white ***(granulated)*** sugar for a topping

## Directions

* Do NOT preheat oven yet—this cookie dough needs to chill.
* Put the sugar in the bottom of the bowl of your mixer and turn it on LOW speed.
* Add the salt, baking soda, and ground ginger. Mix them in thoroughly.
* Now add the cup of light molasses. Keep mixing until everything is thoroughly blended.
* Add the beaten eggs. Mix until they’re well incorporated.
* Melt the butter, either on the stovetop in a small saucepan, or in a microwave-safe bowl on HIGH for 90 seconds in the microwave. ***(Stir the butter around after microwaving and if it’s not melted, give it another 20 seconds.)***
* Add the melted butter to the your bowl and mix it in.
* Add the 2 Tablespoons of hot water to your bowl and mix it in.
* With your mixer still on LOW speed, add the oatmeal in one cup increments, making sure to mix after each addition.
* With the mixer still on LOW speed, add the flour in one cup increments, making sure to mix after each addition.
* Add the raisins and mix them in.
* Finally, add the nuts and mix thoroughly.
* Remove the bowl from the mixer and give it a final stir by hand. This dough will be fairly thick.
* Cover the cookie dough with plastic wrap and put the mixer bowl in the refrigerator for an hour. This dough will be easier to work with if it’s chilled.
* There are THREE ways to bake these cookies. They all turn out about the same, so you choose the way you like best. I’ll give you the way Lois uses first:
* Way to Bake #1—The Rolled Method
	+ Divide the chilled dough in half. Put one half in the refrigerator and round the other half into a big ball.
	+ Sprinkle your breadboard with flour. Set the dough ball in the center and flatten it with your palms.
	+ Sprinkle the top of the flattened dough ball with flour.
	+ With a rolling pin, roll out the cookie dough to 1/4 inch thick. Cut the dough into 3 and a half inch circles with a round cookie cutter. ***(If you don’t have a cookie cutter that size, I’ll bet you have something in your kitchen that you can use for a cookie cutter. I had a plastic drinking glass that measured 3 and a half inches across, and I used that.)***
	+ Place the round cutouts on a greased cookie sheet leaving 2 to 3 inches between the cookies. A standard-size cookie sheet will hold 6 cookies of this size.
	+ Brush the tops of the cookies with water and sprinkle them with sugar.
	+ Bake at 375 degrees F. for 9 to 10 minutes or until slightly brown around the edges. ***(Mine took the full 10 minutes.)***
	+ Remove the cookies from the oven, leave them on the cookie sheet for a minute or so, and then remove them to a wire rack.
	+ Cool the cookies completely and then store them in a tightly covered container or cookie jar.

* If you just don’t want to make rolled cookies, I’ve found an alternative. Here’s the ball and sugar method:
* Way To Bake #2—The Dough Ball Method
	+ This way is fun and easy, and it doesn’t require a breadboard, rolling pin, or flour. You also get sugar on the tops AND bottoms!
	+ Roll the chilled dough in 2 and a half inch balls with your fingers. ***(That’s approximately the size of a plum.)*** Roll the dough ball in a bowl of sugar and place it on a greased ***(or sprayed with Pam or another nonstick cooking spray)*** cookie sheet. Flatten it to a quarter-inch thick with a wide metal spatula or your impeccably clean palm.
	+ Repeat the process of rolling dough balls, coating them with sugar, and placing them on the cookie sheet. They should be 2 to 3 inches apart and a standard-size cookie sheet will hold 6 of these big delicious cookies.
	+ Bake at 375 degrees F. for 9 to 10 minutes or until slightly brown around the edges. ***(Mine took the full 10 minutes.)***
	+ Remove the cookies from the oven, leave them on the cookie sheet for a minute or so, and then remove them to a wire rack.
	+ Cool the cookies completely and then store them in a tightly covered container or cookie jar.

* The third way to make the cookies is the refrigerator method. It takes a little longer, but it’s very simple. Here it is:
* Way to Bake Cookies #3—The Slice Method
	+ Divide the chilled dough into 2 parts. Return the 2nd part to the refrigerator while you work with the 1st part.
	+ Tear off a sheet of wax paper that’s approximately a foot and a half ***(18 inches)*** long. Flip it over so it doesn’t roll right back up again for you and lay it out on your counter with the long expanse facing you.
	+ Plunk your chilled dough down on the wax paper and use your hands to shape it into a foot-long log. ***(This may remind you of playing with modeling clay in kindergarten.)***
	+ Center the cookie dough log at the edge of the long expanse of wax paper and roll it up.
	+ Twist the ends of the wax paper to secure the log of cookie dough inside, and place it in your refrigerator.
	+ Leave it there overnight so it’s chilled thoroughly.
	+ In the morning, when you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F., rack in the middle position.
	+ While you’re waiting for your oven to preheat, grease ***(or spray with Pam or another nonstick cooking spray)*** your cookie sheet.
	+ When your oven comes up to temperature, remove the log of cookie dough from the refrigerator. Unroll it and use a sharp, thin knife to slice off 6 quarter-inch slices.
	+ Put some white sugar in a bowl with a fairly flat bottom and, one by one, lay the cookie slices in the bowl. Flip them over to coat the other side with sugar and then place them 2 to 3 inches apart on the cookie sheet. A standard-size cookie sheet will hold 6 of these large cookies.
	+ Bake at 375 degrees F. for 8 to 10 minutes or until slightly brown around the edges. ***(Mine took the full 10 minutes.)***
	+ Remove the cookies from the oven, leave them on the cookie sheet for a minute or two to set up, and then use a flat metal spatula to remove them to a wire rack. Cool the cookies completely and then store them in a tightly covered container or cookie jar.

* It doesn’t really matter which way you choose to prepare the cookie dough for baking. Whether you roll them out with a rolling pin, form them into dough balls, or slice them, the bake time will be approximately the same, the cookies will be delicious, and the yield will remain approximately the same.

## Yield

3 dozen large, Big Soft Chewy Molasses-Oatmeal Cookies.