12 Days of Cookies – Lumberjack cookies
I can’t believe it but December is already upon us. It’s time for holiday cookie baking. I’ve decided to join in the 12 Days of Cookies blogging event. It’s not a formal event, Nina just invited anyone who wanted to join in. She is doing a cookie a day. I can’t keep up with that pace (and I’m getting a late start), but I do plan on baking 12 different kinds of cookies before the end of December. The 12 cookie recipes I’ve picked feature some family favorites as well as some new ones. Most food websites have their own lists of holiday cookies right now. Definitely check them out for inspiration.
For the first cookie, I decided to make hubby’s favorite holiday cookie. Lumberjacks. I have no idea why they’re called lumberjacks but he loves them. I don’t doubt that he’d eat the entire batch if I had let him. He wanted to help out today so he offered to take the pictures. Not bad for his first food photo shoot. Nice work Hubby!
Lumberjack Cookies – from my Mother in Law – makes 4-5 dozen
1 cup sugar
1 cup shortening
1 cup dark molasses
2 eggs
4 cups sifted flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ginger – I couldn’t find our ginger, so I used nutmeg
Preheat oven to 350. Cream sugar & shortening.
Add molasses and unbeaten eggs. Mix well.
Sift together the dry ingredients and stir into the wet.
Put 1/4 c. sugar in a small bowl. Pinch off a ball of dough and roll
into shape/size of a walnut, roll in sugar.
Place on greased cookie sheet and bake 350 for 12-15 min. I used a cookie scoop and got 5 dozen cookies.
You can also put these onto the cookie sheet and freeze to be baked later.
I’m submitting into Joelen’s Cookie Swap Adventure. Check out her blog for all the details.
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
Aren’t they the best? They’re so addicting. I’ve actually starting using the same ingredients, but mixing them like a more traditional chocolate chip cookie (i.e., softened butter instead of melted), because I like the dough better with softened butter. The baked cookies were just as good. Best of both worlds!
These look gorgeous. Don’t you just love AB??? 🙂
The cookies look great. I love AB too..he’s such a dork (in a good way).
I love the ATK/CI Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies. I will have to try these to see what I think. I remember seeing that the recipes looked similar so I am sure I will love them.
Another AB lover here. My husband gives me a hard time about my DVR list with him but loves it when I give him a fun tidbit or cook him something from AB.
I completely agree CoCo. Hubby does the same thing. I sometimes even watch episodes I’ve seen before! Hubby doesn’t like to admit it, but he loves AB too. Sometimes he’ll be the one saying “AB says to do this…”
They look SO good!! I am a sucker for a chewy chocolate chip cookie. Although, I must side with your hubby – I prefer mine with just a bit of chocolate.
How much is a stick of butter? I’m not in the US and have never come across this measurement before.
Sorry about that Naomi – 1 stick of butter = 8 Tbsp. Does that help?
this is very similar to the ccc recipe i use, but anything that makes it chewier is good in my books! i will have to keep this one in mind 🙂
Yes Jen, thank you!
Yum! I will definitely be trying these. I always chill my cookie dough too usually because I’m too busy with 3 little ones but I also read that article in the NY times awhile ago and I felt like I deserved a nice big pat on the back for always doing the 24hour chill 🙂 Great post and beautiful cookies!
I love Alton Brown because of his scientific approach to cooking and baking. I’ve been baking “The Chewy” for years. One thing I do differently: Before chilling the dough, I scoop it into balls. This makes the process much easier. Sometimes I freeze the balls for baking later. After I place the balls on parchment, I carefully place a few extra chocolate morsels on top, pointy side up. This extra step produces picture-perfect cookies every time.
The Chewy is my go to recipe for cookies. I make a few alterations, occasionally, such as substituting 1/4 of the brown sugar with dark brown sugar. I bake small portions in mini muffin tins; one batch makes 48 cookie bites that are super chewy and the perfect size bite. I’ve made them every year for Christmas gifts for a few years now.