I’m sure you have nothing else to do today so why not make some delicious cookies? 🙂

My mom made several different kinds of cookies every year for Christmas, including rolled gingerbread and sugar cookies and Russian tea cakes.  Peppermint molasses snaps were by far my favorites, though.  It’s a really delicious molasses spice cookie filled with lots of crushed peppermint candy.  They’re frosted with a delicious peppermint frosting (the only cookie my mom frosted at Christmas.) What’s not to like?

Peppermint Molasses Snaps
makes about 6-7 dozen small cookies, plenty to eat and share (recipe is easily halved)

1 1/3 C butter (that’s two sticks of butter plus an additional 5 and 2/3 T)
½ C brown sugar
2 eggs
¼ C molasses
1 C crushed peppermint candy* (I used about 20 candy canes between the cookies and the frosting)
Combine and beat well.

5 C flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 tsp nutmeg (fresh grated is best)
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp ground ginger
Add in and mix until well combined. Roll into small balls.  Bake at 350° for 12-15 minutes until lightly browned on the bottom.

Frosting

2 C powdered sugar
½ tsp vanilla
2 tsp finely crushed peppermint candy (the finer the better) (I usually use way more, closer to 1/4 to 1/2 C)**
2 T very soft butter
Mix together.

1-3 T milk
Stir in until spreading consistency.  Frost cookies when they have completely cooled.

*This year, I realized that candy canes have artificial food coloring in them (not sure why I didn’t think about this sooner).  We totally eliminated artificial food coloring from our lives many years ago but somehow, candy canes for these cookies escaped my scrutiny.  This year, I found some corn-free, dye-free, organic candy canes at Mom’s Organic Market.  They were expensive but worth the splurge to make these cookies dye-free!

**It’s pretty difficult to spread frosting that has big chunks of candy in it.  I like to use all of the fine dust from crushing the candy canes in the frosting and the rest in the cookies.

my big helper!