Molasses Cookies To Celebrate One of the Oddest Historical Events Ever

Molasses Cookies
The book club met yesterday. We had an unbelievably fabulous time as usual. I made these cookies to celebrate an event in Boston’s history that also played a roll in the book that we just finished. You should have smelled them baking, it was incredible the smell was glorious.
The book we read was The Birth House by Ami Mckay. We had another book previously planned. Then Texas, got it’s crazy anti woman abusive thing on. And we opted to switch out the planned book for The Birth House. The fact is, this Texas law is not the first bit of insanity to ever become a historical event. in 1919 in Boston, we had our own brand of nuttery. We had a molasses factory that had a massive towering tankard of hot molasses. It was located in The North End. Evidently it exploded shooting the nails in it’s sides and it’s metal bits outward spraying them into the throngs of people like bullets. While the molasses it’s self rolled through the streets of The North End, like some kind of 35 foot high tidal wave of hot gooey sweetness. A number of people died in the event. The clean up was long and arduous. Whole houses were carried away on a wave of molasses and many more were laid to ruin. They tried to blame Italian immigrants, but that failed, because they were not the least bit responsible for the event. Some years later the molasses company was made to pay a fortune in damages due to the poorly built structure they had filled with molasses, due to being poorly made it exploded. This is known as a foot note in Boston’s history, “the great molasses flood.” Today all that remains of this horrific event, is a plaque located in the north end, and even to this day… On the hottest summer days, if you stand in the affected area you can smell the molasses. The smell is fainter now than it once was. But it is still there…
This terrible event made it into the book club’s last book. So I thought, some molasses cookies would be just the thing. These are soft baked, absolutely delicious.
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 ths teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 th teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4th teaspoon ground clove
1/4th teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4ths teaspoon himalayan pink salt.
3/4ths cup vegetable shortening at room temperature
3/4ths cup maple sugar
1 3/4ths teaspoons baking soda
1/8th teaspoon baking powder
1/4th cup dark molasses
1 egg (or the equivalent with egg substitute.)
1 and 1/2 tablespoons vanilla extract
More sugar for rolling.
In a large bowl mix the wet ingredients together. Add the sugar and cream it in with the wet ingredients. Gradually mix in the flour and other dry ingredients. Put it into the refrigerator over night. In the morning, pre heat the oven to 350. Next prepare your baking sheets, put down some baking paper, or use butter to ensure the cookies won’t stick. Get the dough from the fridge and roll into small balls that you then roll in sugar till they are completely covered. Place each ball on your baking sheets about 3 or so inches apart. Bake for about 11 or 12 minutes. Check at about the 3/4 mark and if they have not begun cracking on top remove the baking sheets bang them carefully on the counter and return them to the oven. This action helps them spread and crack so that they bake better. Once done baking, allow the cookies to sit on the baking sheets to cool for 5 to 10 minutes. Then enjoy them.
It really was a pleasure to bake these cookies after a long week of farming “troubles.” The goats, who are constantly plotting against me and their fence, finally made their move. I woke up most mornings to 3 goats on the lawn shouting “baaaattica! Baaaaattica!” as they ate the remaining kale right out of the garden. They took out a lot of the remaining gardens much to my horror… It took us days to figure out how they were getting out. I owe the dogs a great deal for their efforts at helping me herd the felon goats back into Goatcatraz goat prison. Or as some call it, Goatkaban, or as the goats themselves call it, “baaaaaattica!” So on sunday, to finally get to take a break from the furry horned inmates to enjoy a nice book discussion and some delicious cookies, with fabulous company…. Well, it was just what I needed.
It has been a long few days…
Thanx for reading
Amanda of Wildflower Farm
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Wildflower Farm, is a small New England homestead, B&B and AirBnB, in the Baystate. We came out here 7 years ago, when we returned from the better part of 10 years as peripatetic aristotelian nomads, for my husband's post docs. Upon our return, we had a plan. We had a lovely home. Everything was so clear. Then, I got sick. Things I used to eat all the time during our travels elsewhere in the world and even here before I left almost 10 years earlier made me ill. It took a couple trips to the ER and a trip to specialist... It became clear, something had changed in the way food is processed in this country since last I lived here. Some off label things was inevitably going to be my demise.
My husband and I looked around to see the clear path we were on, had exploded in front of us. We decided we had to create a new path for ourselves. We put children on hold. We found a small piece of land with a house we loved in a rural suburb in a right to farm area. I began researching how to do it ourselves. Grow it ourselves, make it ourselves, survive on our own as much as possible. We bought the property, and began plotting a new course. One that didn't involve off label chemicals. Closer to nature, with a lot more DIY, gardens, and animals for the products they provide. We created a life we loved though it hasn't always been easy and has of course come with compromise with each other, and even with ourselves.
Our family thought we had lost our minds. What were we doing leaving the city? We had no idea how hard this would be. They thought we would be back in 6 months. That was over 7 years ago, now. We have been making it work. They were not wrong, it isn't easy. But has anything worth doing ever been easy? And for us, avoiding as much store bought food as possible was simply necessary so I could live given how sick I was getting.
Then Covid hit.... We were lucky to have this place. It has allowed us a lot less need for public use territories which has kept us a lot safer and spared us much of the risk others face daily. This place, has given us a privilege through this of great meaning to us. To be of use in a difficult time. We have been able to help friends family and even strangers in need when things couldn't be found on store shelves. Or money was tight due to not working, rent being due and a child at home, or some other draining situation. We are so very grateful to have been able to not be helpless like so much of society through this miserable time. Our families, got used to it some time ago, us being out here. They made peace with it the day there was no bread and they had to ask me for some. Or when fresh vegies were rotten due to supply chain issues but they could find plenty in my garden.
Wildflower Farm, was a place I dreamed of. One of those sweet pastoral dreams a city dweller grows up knowing will never come true, that became unavoidable when I became ill. I never expected to get to do this. I never thought I had what it takes to make this work. I have learned pacing myself is important, compromise is critical, hard work never ends, burn out is real so breaks are just a necessary evil.
We are not fully self sufficient, but we work hard in that direction as we create a new path through life for ourselves, always reaching to do even more ourselves and to get closer to the ideal we envision. We are however far more self sufficient than many in this world. 7 years in, we continue to learn and grow in this homesteading lifestyle. We welcome comments and advice and ideas and questions.
We welcome visitors from all over to our home with strict covid policies in place. We spend our time learning to live all over again in a more environmental and sustainable way though even there we are far from perfect always learning and growing doing better as we know better.
This little homestead farm is a magical place named for the New England wildflowers that grow all around. A place where a physicist, watches the night sky on clear nights with the aide of mirror and glass, and a woman, works endlessly in the gardens, the kitchen, and a variety of projects to create and to keep a very unique life style running and functioning. Wildflower Farm, has become so much more than simply a piece of land we can grow a few vegetables on. The longer I spend here, the more alive the land seems, the more I learn about it's function and the more meaning it has. My place in the universe and the next steps on our new path become ever more clear.
We welcome you on this journey with us.
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