3/4 Cup Shortening 1 Cup Sugar 1 Egg 1/4 Cup Molasses 2 Cups White or Unbleached Flour 2 Teaspoons Baking Soda 1/4 Teaspoon Salt 1 Teaspoon Cinnamon 1 Teaspoon Cloves 1 Teaspoon Ginger
Combine shortening and sugar and mix well. Add egg and molasses and continue mixing. Sift remaining dry ingredients together and add to mixture. When mixed the dough should be firm but still easily formable with your fingers. If necessary add additional flour to the dough but not so much that the dough becomes hard.
Roll dough into small balls about the size of golf balls or slightly larger, dip into sugar, and place a couple inches apart on a cookie sheet. Do not squish the cookies flat. As the dough gets hot in the oven they will slump flat on their own and the surface will crack to give them their characteristic appearance. Bake for 15 minutes at 375° F.
* A note on using Shortening. In these days of modern health consciousness we are being encouraged to substitute liquid shortening or various oils for solid shortening. While these substitutions often work well in many recipes, it just doesn't work in cookies. The result is a thin, hard, and generally unpleasing cookie. To make a really good cookie you have to use solid shortening.