Jake's Cookies

I love molasses cookies. They are my favorite!
When living in Sofia in the early nineties, before TV or internet, we kept touch with the outside world through magazines delivered to our Dept of State address.  That is where I came across the recipe for "Giant Molasses Cookies".  Our commissary privileges at the US Embassy gave me access to the ingredients I needed, mainly molasses and spices. I baked huge batches because they were so easy to make.

I packed a large number of cookies along on one memorable road trip down the coast of Turkey to Ephesus. Being early in the year, the weather and tourist trade hadn't heated up yet and we were finding most hotels still closed for the season.

When we did find rooms, there was often no heating or restaurant available. So I remember Jon firing up his camp stove to make me tea, while Jake and I snuggled up in sleeping bags. Jake was one at the time, and so won't remember the trip, but I remember those cups of tea and cookies well.  They were always a comfort.

Later we moved to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and I continued making the same cookies, this time with a small boy to help me. They are perfect to make with little ones. The ingredients mix easily, then they are made into balls and rolled in sugar. We would take them to children's parties and play dates.  And since Jake, now three, claimed to have made them, they were called Jake's cookies.

Then we moved to the US where it is easier to buy cookies than make them, and my boys grew bigger with less interest in baking with mom. I stopped making the molasses cookies for 15 years.
As the Christmas season approaches, I want to start baking again, and try to make those favorites that bring with them memories of loved ones who are now far away.  I considered making mince pies, but I know mincemeat is out of the question here in Sofia. I did come across some "MELACA", and assumed I had found molasses. So I am back in the business of making molasses, or Jake's, cookies and stirring up all the memories that go with them.