day 22 - spicy orange molasses cookies

So yesterday we spent the evening at our friends, playing cards, eating lots of food, and having an all around good time.  I brought over my caramel popcorn from yesterday to share. She had made her own batch the day before, and we wanted to compare recipies... same ingredients, mine had less popcorn, so it was a bit more caramel-y. 

When we got there she was making molasses cookies.  I love the flavor of molasses cookies, and was already planning on sharing my favorite recipe for them today, however, after tasting hers, I made a slight modification to mine, and think they are even more fantabulous!

So, here goes, spicy molasses cookies, with a hint of orange!

You'll need: shortening, sugar, molasses, egg, flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, salt (cardamom if you have it - I never do) and some orange zest.  In a large bowl combine the shortening, sugar, molasses and egg.  If you are feeling especially lazy, you can grab a mixer, or if you are so lazy you haven't been to the gym yet, you can use your own muscles to blend the ingredients (my choice today... yep, no gym yet!).

In a separate bowl combine all the dry ingredients plus the zest of one orange.  Be sure to mix it well so the orange will be in every bite!  Once the wet ingredients are well combined, toss in the dry, and mix away.  It seemed tough to do by hand at first, but that is probably because I'm so used to relying on my stand mixer, this was good practice.

Once all the ingredients are combined, roll into walnut sized balls.  Now, you have 2 choices - roll in orange sugar (more zest mixed with sugar) or leave as is.  I don't feel they need the extra sugar, however it does give a little more orange kick.  Your choice.  Bake at 350*F for about 10 minutes.  Eat them plain, coat with white chocolate, sandwich with ice cream.  Anyways you eat them, I think they are great.  And the orange adds something unexpected, and super great!

Spicy Orange Molasses Cookies (Adapted from PWs cookies)
1 c sugar
3/4 c shortening
1/4 c molasses
1 egg
2 c flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp grd cloves
1 tsp grd ginger
1/4 tsp gr cardamom
1/4 tsp salt
2 1/2 tsp baking soda
zest of 1 orange
sugar & zest for rolling

Preheat oven to 350*. Mix sugar, shortening, molasses, and egg together until well combined. Dump in dry ingredients, stirring dry ingredients together lightly. Mix together until dough is combined. In your hands, roll dough into walnut-sized balls, then generously coat each ball with sugar. Place balls on baking sheet and bake for 9-11 minutes, allowing to bake for about a minute after cookies begin to crack.