Malaskas

1 ½ cup vegetable oil
2 cups sugar
½ cup molasses
2 eggs
4 cups flour
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ginger
½ tsp ground cloves
1 tsp salt

Beat oil, sugar, molasses and eggs. Add remaining ingredients. Roll into balls and coat in raw sugar. Place on greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 7 to 8 minutes for soft cookies, 9 minutes for crisp cookies. DO NOT DOUBLE (trust me, I know from tragic experience this is not a good idea....also it is very damaging to the ego of an 11 year old) The baked version of this cookie freezes extremely well.

OK, so most of you know these as molasses cookies and feel free to call them that. However, Stratton's will forever know these delicious morsels as malaskas. My niece Brookie is quite the munchkin chef. She loves to cook and is actually quite good at it. I (along with most of my siblings at one time or another) lived with my brother. Since these are my favorite cookies, I would often make them and freeze the majority of them. I noticed they would dwindle at quite a rapid pace because both my niece and nephew loved "Mel's frozen cookies." Well, as 4 year olds often are apt to do, she could not quite remember the name of these cookies and would always ask me if we could make "malaskas." So now, Brookie's and my favorite cookies are malaskas. And that is the official story of how molasses cookies came to be know simply as malaskas.