It’s a fairly simple recipe, made even easier if you buy walnuts pre-chopped.
                                 Mark Guydish | Times Leader

It’s a fairly simple recipe, made even easier if you buy walnuts pre-chopped.

Mark Guydish | Times Leader

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<p>Snack time molasses cookies, my dad’s favorite “Christmas cookie”</p>
                                 <p>Mark Guydish | Times Leader</p>

Snack time molasses cookies, my dad’s favorite “Christmas cookie”

Mark Guydish | Times Leader

My late father’s favorite “Christmas cookie” was this recipe. For me it got that designation because this was the only time of year we made them. Yet when I took them into the office for taste tester comments, two people made the same observation.

“I do like that it is a non-traditional Christmas cookie,” page designer Lyndsay Bartos said, an observation echoed by Ashley Bringmann. Which demonstrates that one’s tradition is another’s novelty.

This comes from my late mother’s little card box — though you can find the exact same recipe on multiple websites by searching “Snack time molasses cookies.” They’ve been on the family cookie tray every Christmas season since I was born (and before, I’m sure), along with other non-trads like “filbert crescents,” oatmeal, peanut butter, chocolate chip, “Ice box cookies” and kolace, which we used to call “little nut rolls.” (the “holly leaves” I made for a test kitchen last December were a later addition).

Yet as Lyndsay pointed out, for many people the traditional seasonal cookies are “Italian pepper cookies” (something I tried baking this summer without knowing they were often a yule-time treat), anise cookies (MT’s offering this week) or sugar cookies — the latter two typically cut into holiday-related shapes.

Lyndsay said she liked the flavor very much, but was not fond of the texture. “I wish they were not as caramelized as they were,” she said, “I wanted more softness inside.” Hannah Simerson had an almost opposite reaction. “I never had a cookie like that,” she said, “It was soft but also hard in a good way. The nuts added pizzazz.”

It’s quite possible they had different reactions because the cookies were just different enough. I was pretty sure the last batch was baked more thoroughly than the others, and thus harder. In fact, this is a cookie that lends itself to either the texture: Crackle hard on the outside but soft in the middle or pretty consistently hard-ish. Just shorten the baking time to make them softer inside — though I have done so to the point where the dough wasn’t fully baked inside.

Margaret Roarty and Bill O’Boyle both commented on the limited sweetness as a positive.

“It was not an overwhelming molasses taste,” Bill said, “It was very good.”

“It was good. I liked the sweetness, it wasn’t too sweet.” Then as if to show the texture — or at least the perception of it — did vary, she noted she would have liked it to be softer “It was a little chewy. I like chewy cookies.“

Kevin Carroll deemed it “tasty” and was another person who never had a cookie like it.

Roger DuPuis enjoyed the first one enough to come back for a second. “I like it,” he said, “It tastes like a nice cup of tea.”

Dobru chut!

Snack Time Molasses Cookies (mom’s old recipe box)

1 ½ cups flour

¾ teaspoon baking soda

½ salt

½ cup shortening

¾ cup sugar

1 egg

1/4 cup molasses

½ cup moist coconut

½ cup chopped walnuts

Heat oven to 375°. Grease baking sheet(s).

Sift together flour, soda and salt.

In mixing bowl, cream shortening while adding sugar slowly. Cream well. Add egg and molasses and beat well. Blend in dry ingredients gradually and mix thoroughly. Add coconut and walnuts and mix thoroughly.

Form balls, or drop by teaspoonful and place on baking sheet about 2 inches apart. bake 8-10 minutes. Let cool slightly before removing from sheet.

Reach Mark Guydish at 570-991-6112 or on Twitter @TLMarkGuydish