Gingery-Molasses Cookies [repost]

I went to look up this recipe to make these and thought, what the heck--I'm gonna repost those babies. These cookies are a family favorite and you can't go wrong with or without the vanilla bean filling. I'm going without tonight. (-:

I love looking at these old posts and checking out the pictures. Progress! [At least, I like to think that I've made progress. ha!]

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I never met a person who didn't like Molasses Cookies. I'm not joking. Everyone loves these things.

And they are basic and easy.

It's messy work, but soooooo worth it.

I like to roll all the dough out first so it's ready to go then I just plop the little balls onto my cookie sheet and it makes the baking process go really quickly.

I use about a 1 1/2 Tablespoon sized scoop for these, I don't squish them down at all, but if I made them bigger I would do a slight flattening of the cookie.

mmmmmm....COOKIES!

They're great plain. They'll keep for 3-5 days in a sealed container or you can freeze them.

Except I didn't want plain cookies, so I kicked it up a notch.
With Vanilla Bean Buttercream.

I know. I'm sorry.

I love, love, LOVE vanilla beans. If you're intimidated by them, don't be. They are forgiving, delicious, magical additions to ice cream, icing, and just about anything else.

I thought they would be hard, but a vanilla bean is flexible and a little like a Twizzler.

Just slice down the middle.

Scrape down the opening with the edge of your (slightly rusty) knife.

And use those beautiful seeds for all things good.

Like buttercream:

I may have been inspired by the Oatmeal Cream Pies from Sugarland, but these Molasses Cream Pies were BANGIN'. That's right I said bangin'.

Molasses Cookies
3/4 cup Butter
1 cup Brown Sugar
1 Egg
1/4 cup Molasses
2 1/4 cup Flour
2 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp Ginger
1/2 tsp Cloves
1/4 tsp Salt

Mix butter, brown sugar, egg and molasses. Blend in remaining ingredients. Cover and chill one hour. Heat oven to 350. Shape dough in rounded balls. Roll in granulated sugar. Bake 10-12 minutes.

Vanilla Bean Buttercream
(I doubled the recipe in the pictures, so this is for a single batch. And, yes, I measured.)

1/2 cup Butter
2 cups Powdered Sugar
1-2 Tblsp Milk
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 Vanilla Bean, scraped

Mix all ingredients together, add more milk as necessary to reach desired consistency.