01.17.07
Cats and Cookies
Much of my night last night was spent frozen in one position by three opportunistic cats. One was sleeping on top of my hip, one was curled behind my knees, and the third was curled up under my chin and against my chest. While I am pleased that Kitty Detente has proceeded, after less than a week of them all being together in a currently-at-war Feline States can agree to put aside their differences long enough to live up to their reputation as body-heat leeches, one of these days I am going to be deeply enough asleep that I don’t know they’re there and I will roll over, whereupon I will be exsanguinated when my semiconscious carcass becomes the site of triple-threat kitty warfare caused by the undesired instantaneous collision of hostile forces due to shifting ground.
And now that I have done the needful and bolstered the Internet’s daily quota of cat-related content, I will fulfill the other of the Two True Purposes of the Internet by providing you a gratuitious bit of kitty porn in the form of Inspector Qiao’s spotty, stripey little sleepy belly:
Several tweaks to a basically standard molasses spice cookie last night have yielded a truly superior item. Try it, you’ll like it. If you like molasses spice cookies, that is.
Nearly Platonic Molasses Spice Cookies
4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons ground Ceylon cinnamon
3 1/2 teaspoons ground dried ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground allspice
2 teaspoons baking soda1/2 pound butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups molasses sugar (muscovado sugar would also work)
2 cups white sugar
generous 1/2 cup blackstrap molasses
2 large eggsextra white sugar for rolling
Prepare pans by lining them with parchment paper or silicone baking sheets. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Sift together dry ingredients, set aside.
Cream butter and sugars until fluffy and uniform in color. Add molasses slowly while beating to incorporate evenly. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition.
Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients in 6 roughly equal portions, mixing thoroughly after each addition. Finished dough will be stiff but workable.
Roll dough into large-walnut-sized balls, roll balls in sugar, and place on pans, leaving ample space between them for spreading. Bake 18 minutes at 325, then remove promptly from oven and let cool completely on a cooling rack (about 10 minutes). Cookies will be exceedingly soft when removed from the pan, use of a thinbladed metal spatula is advised; they harden as they cool.
Make these at least 24 hours ahead of when you plan to serve them, and preferably even longer. Like many spice cookies their flavor improves given a few days’ time to bloom. The texture (crisp on the outside, chewy on the inside) should remain uncompromised for up to a week if they are stored in a dry box or tin with a little air circulation.
Makes about 4 dozen.