Now that you’re in college and almost a grown-up, it might be time to contribute something to the holiday table. If you’ve got a phobia of baking, fear not, these cookies are easy to master. Even if they don’t look pretty the first time, they are always delicious and you can continue to practice until the ninth hour.

As the directions read, begin by creaming the butter and sugar together. This basically means to mix it very thoroughly by hand or with an egg beater. You can melt the butter in the microwave for 30 seconds to make this process a lot easier. When you cream butter and sugar, the process allows lots of air to get in so that the dough can be light and fluffy.

After the butter and sugar are mixed, you can add the other wet ingredients with the molasses and the egg.

By separately mixing the wet ingredients with the dry, your chances of getting all of the ingredients evenly mixed throughout the dough are better.

Once the wet and dry ingredients are combined, chilling is a very important part of the process. Keep in mind that you’ll want the dough to sit in the refrigerator for at least an hour, so don’t bake this recipe in a rush. Chilling the dough makes it a lot denser. Density helps with forming the balls and it prevents the cookies from spreading too thinly while they bake. Chilling is not the step to skip!

If you don’t want to buy another kind of sugar for the sugar topping, you can use regular sugar. It won’t look the same, but the taste will still be there.

These cookies are often called “molasses crinkle cookies” because the dough cracks as it bakes, so you’ll see a lovely layer of sugar with cracks or crinkles of soft cookie insides peaking through.

When the cookies are done baking, take them out of the oven and don’t touch them for a whole minute—this part might be difficult.  After a minute, you can gently move them to a cooling rack or plate so they can continue to cool. Of course, you can eat them hot out of the oven, but let a few chill completely so that they may be firm and chewy.  Pair these with a tall order of coffee and ice cream; you won’t be sorry!

tgleason@chroniclemail.com