Monsters and Molasses Cookies

Since I was only two years old at the time, I don't actually remember the drive to Alaska. But I know, trust me, I just know we had homemade cookies to munch on during the long drive. I'm sure we had healthy stuff too, like carrot and celery sticks and apple slices, but cookies were Mom's thing, so we had ‘em.
   
One of my favorite cookies was (and still are) Mom’s Famous Molasses Cookies. They’re super easy to make, and are absolutely delicious straight from the oven…well, maybe give them a few minutes to cool down.

Memories of coming home from school to the smell of fresh cookies are too numerous to count, but we were always allowed to have 3 or 4 as our after-school snack before tackling our before-supper chores. (Kids actually did chores back then).

Thinking about chores brings to mind my addiction to the old afternoon soap opera featuring a bunch of supernatural characters, and specifically a vampire named Barnabas Collins, called Dark Shadows.

Now, I love a good scary show, but only if I don’t have to go outside in the dark afterward. By waiting until after the show a few times and getting the bejesus scared out of me by my brother, I learned the hard way to get my chores done before watching the show. You see, in Alaska during the winter, it gets dark very early, and if I waited until the show was over, in that mere 30 minutes, the dark had descended. And you know what comes out in the dark. Vampires, werewolves, and ghosts. And brothers.
    
Once my chores were done, I got my cookies and plopped my butt in front of the T.V. to watch the vampire Barnabas Collins, along with assorted ghosts, werewolves, witches and warlocks, terrorize the good people of the fictional town of Collinsport, Maine.

Mom’s Famous Molasses Cookies
3 cups sugar
2 cups vegetable shortening (or butter)
3 eggs
¾ cups molasses
6 ½ cups flour
3 tsp. each of ginger and cinnamon
1 ½ tsp. cloves
6 tsp. baking soda
Most important ingredient: Love (It keeps the monsters away.)

Mix dough, roll into cookie-sized balls, roll in sugar, and bake for 12 -15 minutes at 350 degrees.

ENJOY!!