In the category of lace cookies. The batter is easy to make and the baking easy, but you can only do four cookies at a time – they spread large and cool quickly, making them too hard to shape. The batter stores well in the refrigerator. Crisp and candy-like, spicy and not overly sweet. An old recipe. Makes a whole lot.
½ c light molasses
1 stick of butter (1/2 c or 4 oz)
1 ¼ c of cake flour, sifted before measuring
¼ tsp salt
2/3 c white granulated sugar
1 TBSP (yes, tablespoon) ground ginger
3 Tbsp brandy
In a saucepan, bring the molasses to a boil; remove from heat, add the butter & let the butter melt as the molasses cools to just warm. Mix all the dry ingredients together and stir them into the cooled molasses, along with the brandy. This makes a thick sticky batter. It will be easier to handle if you chill it, but this isn’t necessary if you’re in a hurry.
When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Use ungreased parchment paper to line a cookie sheet. (You can use a well greased cookie sheet, but the cookies tend to stick & parchment makes it a lot easier). Decide how you’re going to shape the baked cookies & have anything you need ready. I roll tube shapes around wooden handled spoons. Some people make cones or drape them over a rolling pin. They cool really fast and can be removed from the shaping device within minutes. Flat works, too.
Place 4 half-teaspoonfuls (use a measuring ½ teaspoon) very far apart on the paper. If the batter is really sticky, you can wet your hands to handle it; this won’t affect the results at all. Bake around 10 minutes. As every oven is different, you’ll know they’re ready when they have pretty much stopped bubbling, but aren’t dark brown yet. If this takes much longer or much less than 10 minutes, adjust your oven up or down.
Remove them from the oven and let them cool about 1 minute, till you can pick them up and handle them without burning yourself, but while they’re still flexible. Shape them however you want. If the first one is still too sticky, bake the rest for another minute or so. If they get too hard before you’ve shaped them, put them back in the oven just long enough to soften them. Put the shaped cookies on racks to cool.
Repeat till the batter is used up. It stores well, so you don’t have to bake them all at once. If you use several pieces of parchment, you can be loading one while another is in the oven and just keep slipping them on and off the same cookie sheet. Store the completely cooled cookies in an airtight container and keep away from moisture or humidity.
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