Molasses Crinkles

I make these every year for Christmas. The cloves and cinnamon fill the house with a wonderful aroma. They just smell like Christmas. And they remind me of my grandmother. These cookies were one of her favorites.

Ingredients
3/4 cup shortening
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup molasses
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/3 cup granulated sugar for decoration

Directions
Cream the shortening and the brown sugar. Stir in the egg and molasses and mix well. Combine the flour, baking soda, salt, cloves, cinnamon, and ginger. Add the flour mixture to the shortening mixture and mix well. Cover and chill 2-3 hours.

Now I can't wait that long. I usually only chill the dough for one hour and they turn out just fine. So if you are an impatient person like me when it comes to baking (especially cookies), then a shortcut will work just as well.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (175 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets. Roll dough into balls the size of large walnuts. Roll balls in sugar and place 3 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Let cool one minute before transferring to a wire rack to continue cooling.