I live near a park that affords me an unobstructed view of the Santa Catalina mountains, and I try every day to go out to gaze at them.
The Catalinas fascinate me. Their aspect changes from day to day, sometimes from minute to minute. They blind me with their beauty on an overcast day when the sun peeks through the clouds to shine on their southern face. At sunset, their colors change to hues of rose and lavender, dusting their ridges with the most delicate tones.
By far, though, my favorite Catalina viewing is when the peaks are snow-topped, as they were early last week. I think that’s when the Catalinas are at their most glorious.
I got hungry for the taste and the scent of molasses cookies recently, and as they came from the oven, they reminded me of the Catalinas — the dull brown of the cookies looked like the Catalinas’ face over the long, dry summer, and the cookies’ random cracks echoed the ridge lines I see every day.
That spurred me to dust the cookies generously with confectioners’ sugar. Voila! Snowcapped Catalina cookies!
When I was a kid, my grandmother’s best friend kept a cookie jar for visiting young’uns like me. It was invariably filled with molasses cookies and she allowed her visitors to take two — “one for each hand,” she’d say.
As a result, I’ve been baking variations of these cookies since I was in my teens — both to remember her, in her lavender-scented glory, and to please myself as the house fills with their spicy aroma as they bake.
Over the years, I’ve explored what subtle changes do to the recipe. I’ve found that butter makes cookies that spread out — so they’re bigger — but margarine makes them hold their shape. Since I don’t like to use margarine, I’ve learned not to flatten the cookies before baking. Nor do I want to melt the butter before mixing the dough: I want a big, soft cookie, not a thin, crisp ginger snap.
I’ve learned that white sugar makes blander cookies, but brown sugar — especially dark brown sugar — gives the complexity of flavor that I prefer. It’s the same with the molasses: Blackstrap is just a touch too potent, and mild flavored molasses is hardly worth using.
Finally, I’ve learned that freshly grated nutmeg makes a world of difference in their fragrance. Since I also like a little nutmeg in my creamed spinach, I generally have whole nutmegs in the pantry. It takes only a moment to grate what I need as I need it.
The recipe I’m sharing today makes a lot of cookies — way more than my small household can eat up, even if I’ve stored them in a covered container with a slice of bread to keep them soft. For that reason, I often chill the dough, bake a dozen or two and then refrigerate or freeze the remaining dough for another day. The dough will keep up to three months in the freezer; let it thaw completely in the refrigerator before baking. Similarly, you can shape all the dough at once, and freeze some of the shaped dough balls to pluck out to bake whenever you need a cookie fix.
The main thing is, though, that these cookies reminded me both of my past and my present. They remind me to lift my eyes to see the beauty around me every single day.
I hope they’ll do that for you, too.
CATALINA COOKIES
Makes 4 to 5 dozen cookies
Use salted or unsalted butter in these cookies. The cookies’ texture will change if you melt the butter; they’ll be crisp instead of soft if you do so, more akin to ginger snaps than to the soft cookies that I prefer. Freeze the dough or the shaped balls for up to three months.
INGREDIENTS
3/4 cup butter, softened to room temperature (1 1/2 sticks)
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup dark molasses
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting
PREPARATION
In a medium bowl, combine softened butter, brown sugar, and egg; beat until smooth. Stir in the molasses and combine well.
In another bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, allspice, nutmeg, and salt.
Stir flour mixture into molasses mixture. The dough will be sticky. Cover the dough and chill for at least one hour, up to eight hours.
At baking time, preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Use a scoop or tablespoon to portion dough into walnut-sized pieces. Roll the pieces into balls and set 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets. Do not flatten the cookies.
Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until tops are cracked and center is still a little unset; underbaking these cookies is better than overbaking them. Remove and cool on baking sheets for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling.
When cookies are completely cool, sift confectioners’ sugar over them to simulate snow-topped mountains.
