Shopping and Baking Adventures....

It's been a shopping/baking day.... I got up at o'dark thirty and picked up my niece and went out shopping for Black Friday... we went to two Targets, the mall, and a few random stores. I picked up a few things for the kiddos, and another present for someone else. It wasn't too bad, and the deals really do make it worth it. I don't have much shopping left to do for Christmas which is nice. Of course, the people I have left are always the hardest ones... I had a friend go to Walmart today, and she posted on facebook that a mini riot broke out and she almost got hit on the head with a raw egg.... I go to Walmart maybe 5 times a year, but I always make sure I never go on Black Friday....

I have been busy baking today since I got home. Nothing crazy, I just made a batch of the standard chocolate chip cookies. Those are another item that I like to make fresh, not from store bought cookie dough. Chocolate chip cookies were pretty much the first thing I ever learned to cook/bake waaaayyy back when. I mean if you buy it from the store how are you going to lick the beaters??? I also made a batch of Molasses Ginger Cookies. These are something I have never made before. I asked my mom the other day for some of her cookie reciepes. She still does quite a bit of baking during the holidays, but when I was a child my mom would have just about every cookie you could imagine. I remember the night before Christmas the dining room would just be covered in pretty platters with cookies all over them. I would go around the table picking out cookies for "Santa" and fix a Pepsi for him too, my parents would tell me that Santa plenty of milk elsewhere, and that he need the Pepsi to give him some energy....Maybe I will try that trick with my kids....

Anyways, I am after her cookie receipes to recreate some memories, and to also test out things for the cookie exchange I am going to. She told me that she actually got a lot of them from her Junior League cookbooks. She's let me borrow some of the ones I don't have. The molasses one I made today is repeated in the most recent one, called "My Mamma Made That." Very appropriate....

If you would like to give them a whirl here it is:

4 cups all purpse four, 4 teaspoons baking soda, 2 teaspoons cinnamon, 1 teaspoon ginger, 1 teaspoon ground cloves, 3 sticks of butter (yikes!), 1/2 cup molasses, 2 cups sugar, 2 eggs, sugar for rolling.

Sift the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and cloves together. Beat the butter, molasses, sugar, and eggs in a mixing bowl until smooth. Add the four mixtute gradually, beating constantly. Chill the dough for several hours.

Preheat the oven to 350. Shape the dough into small balls and roll in sugar. Place on a cookie sheet and bake for 8-10 min untill firm and brown. Remove to wire rack to cool. This makes 3-4 dozen.