Soft Molasses Cookies (Soy, Fish and Nut-Free)

I am a big fan of molasses cookies, but had never made them before, so I decided to scour the web and find one to make.  I found this recipe on allrecipes.com submitted by sal and decided to modify it some according to my personal preferences.  The results were a wonderful molasses cookie that was not too spicy, soft and chewy and overall delicious.  I hope you enjoy it!

Please note that this recipe is fish and nut-free and only soy-free if you use all soy-free ingredients.

Soft Molasses Cookies

1 Cup full-fat, salted butter

1/2 Cup brown sugar

1 egg

3/4 Cup molasses

3 Cups soy-free flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ginger (optional)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar and egg until well blended.

2. Stir in molasses.

3. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger (if using) and salt.

4. Stir dry ingredients into the molasses mixture until well blended.

5. At this point you can either cover the dough with aluminum foil or plastic wrap and chill for at least an hour or move onto the next step.

6. Preheat oven to 350^oF.

7. Grease cookie sheets.

8. Roll the dough into walnut (smaller or larger depending on preference) sized balls.

9. Place the cookies 2 inches apart on the prepared cookie sheets.

10. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes (If you made the cookies smaller, check them at about 6 minutes, and note that you may need additional time if you made the cookies larger than walnut-sized.).

11. Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack, waxed paper, aluminum foil or brown paper to cool completely.

 (This recipe was originally posted on my original site, Natural and Free.)