By Week before my birthday. Fifty-five on Thursday. Five years past fifty, five years past the age Earl's lungs started winning. I don't think about that. I think about cornbread.
Made pulled pork. Boston butt, seven pounds, rubbed with brown sugar and paprika and garlic powder and cayenne, into the smoker at two-twenty-five over hickory at six AM, out at six PM. Twelve hours. The pork came off mahogany-dark and falling apart. Pulled it with two forks and made vinegar slaw and baked beans and Connie's potato salad.
Clay came for supper. Ate three sandwiches. Three weeks straight, no wobble. He asked about the baby and there was something in his voice between happiness and loss — a man who is twenty-two and not ready for what his brother is ready for and knows it. I said there's no timetable. He said I know.
Betty called Sunday. She's making a quilt for the baby from fabric scraps saved for decades — from dresses and shirts and curtains. She described each piece: this one's from your daddy's work shirt, this one's from Amber's Easter dress. A quilt that is also a family tree, also a benediction. Eighty-two and her hands still make something from nothing.
After the pork came off and the plates were cleared and Clay headed home with something lighter in his step than he’d had in months, I wanted to make something small and sweet for the end of the evening — the kind of thing that closes a day properly. Molasses cookies felt right: dark and a little spiced, the same brown sugar and warmth that had been on my hands since six in the morning. Fifty-five years old and I still think a good cookie is one of the better things a kitchen can offer.
Molasses Cookies
Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 10 min | Total Time: 25 min | Servings: 36 cookies
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar, plus 1/3 cup for rolling
- 1 large egg
- 1/4 cup unsulfured molasses
Instructions
- Preheat. Heat oven to 375°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Mix dry ingredients. Whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- Cream butter and sugar. In a large bowl, beat softened butter and 1 cup sugar together until light and fluffy, about 2–3 minutes.
- Add wet ingredients. Beat in the egg and molasses until fully combined and smooth.
- Combine. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and stir until a soft dough forms. Do not overmix.
- Roll and coat. Pour the remaining 1/3 cup sugar into a shallow bowl. Scoop dough into 1-inch balls and roll each in sugar until well coated.
- Bake. Place balls 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets. Bake 8–10 minutes, until the tops are crackled and set but the centers still look slightly underdone.
- Cool. Let cookies rest on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack. They will firm up as they cool.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 95 | Protein: 1g | Fat: 4g | Carbs: 14g | Fiber: 0g | Sodium: 95mg