My favorite
part of the year is arriving. No, I am
not talking about the Christmas season, which is 5 months away, in case you are
wondering. I am referring to the next 6
glorious months (not counting August).
These are the best months of the year. These months are when there are
mandated, prescheduled, paid holidays/days off from work! Free-off days, as I call them.
These
glorious free-off days are the best and over the next 6 months they are
sprinkled out where I (and most other non-retail/medical/emergency… let’s just
say other federal, state, and local government employees, including teachers)
get at least one a month. Wow, that
sounded like I was rubbing it in. I
really am not rubbing it in; just trying to share my joy.
Think about
it, the following holidays are on the horizon over the next 6 months:
·
September-
Labor Day
·
October-
Columbus Day
·
November-
Veteran’s Day; Thanksgiving and the day after (and a half day before, if you
are lucky); maybe even election day this year
·
December-
Christmas Eve and Day
·
January- New
Year’s Day; Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday
·
February-
President’s Day
Then after
February, there is a perennial drought of free-off days. There is nothing in March or April (I pointed
out to my boss that in college we got spring break in March/April. He said that they are called furlough days in
the real/adult world. No, thank you; Point
taken; and I will pass!). Then there is
finally a holiday in May, 3 months after the last holiday, and another 6 weeks
before the next holiday.
It feels
like mental torture during these long months with no provided breaks. Free-off days are little nuggets of mental
health happiness that are necessary for a happy healthy me employee.
To celebrate
the last holiday, before the holiday drought comes to an end, I decide to
randomly bake something new. On July 4th,
while sitting on my couch watching some random rerun I pulled out my Martha
Stewart Cookie Book and baked the first recipe that seemed interesting to me
and which I had all the ingredients. The
result was these Chewy Molasses Cookies.
These
cookies came out crisp on the edges and chewy in the center. The overwhelming and over powdering smell of
molasses bakes out, leaving behind an in depth, not-too-sweet, indescribable
flavored cookie. It is hard to describe
the flavor of molasses. You just have to
try it and I think you will like it, or it will grow on you (as it has on me…
but only in its baked form, the “raw” stuff’s smell still turns my stomach).
Anyway,
these cookies baked up so flat that I thought the recipe was a failure and it made
nearly double what Martha estimated. I
hate wasting cookies. They were edible,
but imperfect. I decided to still share
them with my office and my mom’s co-workers.
These cookies were so well received; I was astounded. They are definitely a must try and a recipe I
will pull out again, maybe on one of those free-off days around November or
December.
Chewy Molasses Cookies
(adapted
from Martha Stewart’s Cookie Book)
Makes about 2
Dozen (according to Martha)
Ingredients:
2 cups
all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking
soda
1 tsp
cinnamon
1 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup brown
sugar
1/2 cup
granulated sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick)
unsalted butter, room temperature
2 large eggs,
room temperature
1/2 cup
molasses
2 TBS
vegetable oil
Extra
granulated sugar or sparkling/sanding sugar for rolling
Method:
1. In a
medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, spices, and salt; set aside.
2. Beat butter,
granulated sugar, and brown sugar until combined and smooth. Beat in eggs one
at a time and then molasses and oil.
3. Gradually
mix in dry ingredients, just until a dough forms. Wrap dough in plastic, put
dough in the fridge, and chill it for at least an hour.
4. Preheat
oven to 325F. Place sugar for rolling in
shallow dish.
5. Use 1TBS
cookie scoop to form cookies. Roll cookies in sugar to coat.
6. Arrange dough
on baking sheets, about 3 inches apart.
The cookies will spread. Bake for approximately 17 minutes, until the
cookies are flat and the centers are set.
Cool completely before storing.
7. Because
cookies are chewy, store between layers of parchment.
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