Cookbook:Lumberjacks

Cookbook | Ingredients | Recipes

Lumberjacks are a cookie from the Old Sturbridge Village Cookbook, and they reflect baking from 1830s New England.

Ingredients

• 1 cup caster sugar
• 1 cup white tinned vegetable shortening or butter
• 1 cup dark molasses
• 2 eggs
• 4 cups of sifted flour (not self-raising)
• 1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ginger

Procedure

1. Cream together the sugar and shortening.
2. Add molasses and eggs, and mix well.
3. Sift together the flour, spices, and bicarbonate of soda. Add this mixture to the egg-butter mixture, and mix well to make a dough.
4. Put ¼ cup more white sugar into a small bowl.
5. Dip fingers into the sugar, then pinch off a ball of dough and roll it into the size and shape of a walnut.
6. Roll the cookie dough ball into the sugar and place on a greased cookie sheet.
7. Repeat the shaping and sugar-coating process with the remaining dough, spacing the cookies about 3 inches apart on the sheet.
8. Bake in a pre-heated 350°F (175°C) oven for 10 to 15 minutes.
9. Let cool completely—the cookies should be soft when cooled.

Notes, tips, and variations

• Different countries use different strengths of molasses. If you can find the American brand of Grandma's dark molasses then that is perfect.
• If you use some muscovado sugar, then add the white and muscovado sugars at the same time.