Grandma's Quilts, Afghans & Molasses Cookies

Last week I came across a recipe for molasses cookies and it reminded me of the hubby's paternal grandmother, Verna. Whenever you visited Verna, she had a molasses cookie and glass of iced tea ready for you. Those visits are the only times I can recall that I had molasses cookies, but then again, my memory is not the greatest!

I never thought of Verna as being particularly 'crafty' but for our wedding she gifted us a double-knit hand-tied patchwork quilt that she had made us. As young newlyweds saving up for our first house, that patchwork quilt graced our water bed for the first year or so (wow, that's a flashback to the 70s!). Verna rocked the double knits, wearing a housecoat-style dress made of double knits everyday. Hmmm, I seem to remember a dress she wore made of that green hounds tooth fabric, I wondered if she made her own dresses too?

At one point before I met her, she also made more traditional quilts and this Hexagon Diamonds quilt that she hand pieced (and had someone machine quilt) was handed down to me.


Look at that tiny binding!


In later years, she mostly crocheted afghans. This one, which we've had since the early 80s, has seen many years of use snuggled up on the couch watching TV, hence all the pilling of the yarn. I know nothing about crochet so I don't know the pattern of this, but every afghan that I saw that Verna made was this pattern. She also gifted an afghan to each of my kids when they were young. I stored them away and gave the afghans to them once they graduated college and were out on their own.


So for nostalgia, I made molasses cookies last week with the recipe I found and they were so good! Nice and soft, just like I like my cookies. So I thought I'd share the recipe here. It may not be the exact recipe that Verna made, but they are pretty darn close to what I remember. 

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Old Fashion Molasses Cookies

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 1 egg
• 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. ginger
• 1/2 tsp. cloves
• 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
• Sugar for coating

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, beat sugar, butter and molasses together. Beat in egg until light and fluffy. Mix in flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, ginger, clovers and nutmeg until well combined. Cover dough and refrigerate for one hour. Roll dough into 1" balls (I use a small ice cream scoop). Roll each ball in sugar to coat. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on wire rack. Makes approximately 3 dozen cookies. Note: Recipe adapted from Great Grub, Delicious Treats.

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I posted a photo of my cookies on Instagram and was surprised at how many people had never tasted molasses cookies. Of course, there were lots who loved them too. Hope you enjoy the recipe and my little walk down memory lane!

~Sharla

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