2 beaten eggs (just whip them up in a glass with a fork)
2 teaspoons baking soda 1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
? teaspoon nutmeg (freshly ground is best)
? teaspoon cardamom (if you don’t have it, you can substitute more cinnamon for the cardamom)
4 and ? cups flour (don’t sift it—pack it down in the cup when you measure it)
? cup finely chopped walnuts
Walnut halves to place on top of the cookies before baking if you DO NOT plan to glaze them with Brown Powdered Sugar Glaze. (Recipe follows.) If you DO plan to glaze your cookies, wait until you glaze them to place the walnut halves on top of your cookies.
Melt the butter in a large microwave-safe bowl. Heat it on HIGH for 1 minute. Leave the bowl in the microwave for another minute and then check the butter after to see it’s melted. If it’s not, give it more time, in 20-second increments, until it is.
Take the bowl out of the microwave and mix in the white sugar. Mix until it’s all combined.
Add the molasses to the bowl and mix it in. Mix until it’s thoroughly incorporated.
Let the butter, sugar, and molasses mixture sit on the counter while you get out the eggs.
When the mixture in the bowl is not so hot it’ll cook the eggs, add them to the large bowl and stir them in thoroughly. Be sure to mix until they’re well combined.
Hannah’s 1st Note: This is a recipe that you can stir by hand if you wish, but it’s a lot easier if you use an electric mixer.
Sprinkle in the baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cardamom. Mix until all of the ingredients are well combined.
Add the flour in one-cup increments, mixing after each addition.
Hannah’s 2nd Note: If you coat the inside of your measuring cup with Pam or another nonstick cooking spray before you measure the half-cup of molasses, it will slide right out of the measuring cup into your mixing bowl.
Hannah’s 3rd Note: Once you add the flour, your cookie dough will be very stiff. Don’t worry. This is exactly as it should be.
Mix in the chopped walnuts. If this is too difficult with a spoon, simply add the walnuts to the top of your mixing bowl and knead them in as you would if you were making bread.
Once the walnuts have been added and are incorporated into the cookie dough, cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least 2 hours. (Overnight is even better.)
When you’re ready to bake, take the cookie dough out of the refrigerator and let it sit, still covered with the plastic wrap, on your kitchen counter. It will need to warm just a bit so that you can work with it.
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F., rack in the middle position.
While your oven is heating to the proper temperature, prepare your cookie sheets. You can either spray them with Pam or another nonstick cooking spray, or line them with parchment paper. (The parchment paper is more expensive, but easier in the long run. If you use it, you can simply pull the paper over to the wire cooling rack, cookies and all. It’s also easier to glaze the cookies if they’re still on the parchment paper.)
Remove the plastic wrap from your cookie dough. Roll the dough into walnut-sized balls with your impeccably clean hands and place them on a prepared cookie sheet, 12 dough balls to a standard-size sheet.
Press a walnut half down into the top of each dough ball.
Hannah’s 4th Note: If you form the dough into smaller dough balls, the cookies will be crisper. If you choose to do this, you’ll have to reduce the baking time. If I roll smaller balls, I start checking the Molasses Walnut Drop Cookies after 8 minutes in the oven.
Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until they’re nicely browned. The cookies will flatten out, all by themselves. Let them cool for 2 minutes on the cookie sheets and then move them to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Hannah’s 5th Note: Molasses Walnut Drop Cookies freeze well. Roll them up in foil, the same way you’d roll coins in a wrapper, put them in a freezer bag, and they’ll be fine for 3 months or so.
Yield: 6 to 10 dozen (depending on the size of your dough balls) tasty, molasses-infused, and delicious cookies.
Once your cookies have baked and cooled, move them all to parchment paper on your kitchen counter and glaze them with Brown Powdered Sugar Glaze (recipe follows).
BROWN POWDERED SUGAR GLAZE
? cup salted butter 1 Tablespoon molasses 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 cups powdered sugar
4 to 6 Tablespoons milk
Place the butter in a microwave-safe bowl. (I use a quart Pyrex measuring cup.)
Pour the Tablespoon of molasses on top of the butter.
Heat the butter and molasses on HIGH for 15 seconds or until it has melted in the bottom of the bowl or cup.
Set the container with the melted butter on your kitchen counter.
Stir the butter and molasses together until they are well mixed.
Add the vanilla extract to the melted butter and stir it in.
Measure out two cups of powdered sugar. Pack the powdered sugar down in the cup when you measure it.
Hannah’s 1st Note: There’s no need to sift the powdered sugar unless it has big lumps in it. You are going to pack it down in the measuring cup anyway.
Fill a small cup with 6 Tablespoons of whole milk. You probably will NOT use all of this milk in this glaze, so don’t add it to your bowl quite yet.
Hannah’s 2nd Note: Sometimes, when I make these cookies for adults, I like to use rum instead of the milk. I don’t do this when I make the cookies for children because the alcohol is not baked into the cookie and may not fully evaporate.
Add the milk (or rum) to your bowl, one Tablespoon at a time, stirring it in as you go. You will add only enough milk (or rum) to make this glaze liquid enough to brush on top of your cookies.
When your glaze reaches the proper brushing consistency, brush the tops of your Molasses Walnut Drop Cookies with the glaze with a pastry brush.
Hannah’s 3rd Note: For years, I didn’t bother using a pastry brush. I took a small brush home from my father’s hardware store, washed it thoroughly and dried it, and used that. It worked just fine and if it got sticky and I couldn’t rinse it off well enough, I just stuck it on the top rack of the dishwasher and washed it that way.
Hannah’s 4th Note: If you don’t brush the glaze fast enough, your glaze may harden a bit. If this happens, simply stick the microwave-safe container back in the microwave for 15 to 20 seconds until the glaze is thin enough to brush again.
Chapter Fourteen
Her long day at The Cookie Jar was over and Hannah was sitting at the kitchen table at the condo, enjoying a tall glass of ginger ale with Norman. He was her guard for tonight, and Hannah and Michelle had promised to feed him dinner.
“I wish you’d brought Cuddles,” Hannah told him. “I know Moishe would like some playtime.”
“I can always go get her while you two relax a little,” Norman offered, finishing his glass of ginger ale and standing up. “But are you sure you’ll be all right here alone?”
“I’m not alone,” Hannah said, gesturing toward Michelle. “And we won’t let anyone in without checking the peephole. Go ahead, Norman. That’ll give us time to shower and change before dinner.”
Once Norman had left, Hannah turned to Michelle. “Do you think that Mike and Lonnie will show up for dinner?”
“Of course they will,” Michelle answered. “They’ll be here by the time we’re finished setting the table.”
Hannah laughed. “You’re right, of course. It’s a good thing we have plenty of Beery Good Beef Brisket.”
Less than an hour later, after the two sisters had showered and changed into comfortable, at-home clothing, Hannah came back into the kitchen. She was just stirring the Crock-Pot containing their dinner when there was a knock at the door.