Today’s post has two parts. First, a color inspiration board, and second, the source of the inspiration- my favorite holiday cookie! I love to bake, especially at the holidays, but this year I only had the chance to bake once. So of course, I chose my very favorite cookie, the molasses crackle! It is always a total hit with everyone, and seriously the most delicious thing ever. It tastes like the perfect blend of a sugar cookie and gingerbread. Yummy! Here is the little board I put together inspired by molasses + sugar, the key ingredients in these cookies.

And now, on to the recipe! I snapped a few pictures to show how pretty these cookies are in addition to being tasty. As an added bonus, they are really simple to make!

This recipe is adapted from one I found a few years back via Martha Stewart.

You will need…

-2 cups all-purpose flour

-3/4 cup of butter

-1 cup sugar, plus an extra 1/2 cup sugar for rolling the dough in

-1 egg

-1 1/2 tsp baking soda

-1 tsp cinnamon

-1/2 tsp ( I tend to make this a rather heaping 1/2 tsp) nutmeg

-1/2 tsp salt

-1/4 cup molasses

What to do…

- Start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees.

- Beat the sugar, butter, egg and molasses together using an electric mixer. Once they are mixed, slowly add in the dry ingredients. I start with the flour, then add baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg + salt. Mix until a dough forms, it shouldn’t be too sticky.

- Use a tablespoon to scoop out dough. Roll each tablespoon of dough into a ball, then roll in the extra 1/2 cup of sugar you have set aside. This time I used regular old sugar, but in the past I have used sanding sugar, which looked really pretty. Place the dough balls on a cookie sheet and bake for 15 minutes (you may need to adjust depending on your oven), one sheet at a time to get the pretty crackling on top.