no butter? no problem!

We like to bake cookies at our house. Once the thought of a fresh-baked cookie pops into our head, it's hard to shake. So, we got the itch the other night, but we didn't have enough butter. That's when allrecipes.com comes into the picture. Joe was actually in charge of this mission and he found this recipe that uses vegetable oil instead of butter. These cookies are so delicious I think we should have a stock of them on hand constantly, but that would go against the whole cutting-back-on-sweets plan that I'm playing around with. They come out of the oven a bit crispy on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside. As they cool they become quite crunchy, perfect for milk dunking... and I don't even drink milk.

Without further ado...

Crackle Top Molasses Cookies

Ingredients

2/3 cup vegetable oil

1 cup white sugar

1 egg

1/4 cup molasses

2 cups all-purpose flour (we used whole wheat and Joe attributes that to them being so awesome)

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/3 cup white sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
2. In a large bowl, mix oil and 1 cup of sugar. Add egg, beat well. Stir in molasses, flour, baking soda and spices. If necessary, add more flour to make a firm dough.
3. Shape dough into 1 1/4 inch balls. Roll in 1/3 cup sugar. Place 3 inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake 12-14 minutes or until tops crack. Remove from baking sheet and cool on rack. (Or, wait until just barely cool enough to eat without burning your mouth and get your grub on.)

Just to make sure we give credit where credit is due, we would like to thank Laurie for submitting this recipe. Thanks!