Book club and Molasses Crinkle cookies

Actually enjoyed the rain today...it was soothing to my mood. I had to turn the heat on as it was pretty chilly this morning. I think the cold is here to stay now.






Tonight was book club. Last month we read this book! Outstanding read!



Each time we meet we choose a new book for the month. We are reading this one for November.
A summary of this book...the true story of the Chapman family their struggle of faith and hope through the tragedy of the loss of their five year old daughter.



We choose to pick biographies off the book list for the next few months. We have enjoyed everyone of them so far.



A friend recently asked how to go about starting a book club. Here's some pointers if you're interested in starting your own.



What kind of book club? Mystery, classics, ect? A good number is 5 to 10 max, I have 8 to 10 that come.



Choose a night of day that is most convenient for your group. Choose a place. I have a friend who holds hers at her local library. I do mine in my home.



We usually serve refreshments, coffee, ect. Usually we take turns on bringing dishes. Each time we meet we draw a name to choose a book for the next month. I try to choose books that can be bought on Amazon for under 10 dollars. Also a lot of these books can be checked out at the library if they don't want to own the book for their own library. Me...I collect books...so I purchase all mine.



I usually have a list of topics, questions or discussions to talk about the book. This helps keep the discussion moving and steer the discussion where you want or don't want it to go. :)



I believe November will mark a year that our book club has been going! Everyone enjoys coming and once a month is usually doable for most people's calender.



Tonight I made Molasses Crinkle cookies for book club. I think they are my favorite cookie. I used sprinkles that looked like fall leaves.




Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:
3/4 cup shortening
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/4 cup molasses
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ginger
granulated sugar

Preparation:
Mix shortening, brown sugar, egg and molasses thoroughly. Measure flour by sifting. Blend all dry ingredients; stir in molasses mixture. Chill. Roll dough into 1-1/4-inch balls. Dip tops in sugar. Place balls, sugared side up, three inches apart on greased baking sheet. Sprinkle each with two or three drops of water. Bake 10 to 12 minutes, just until set but not hard. (Double recipe makes 3 cookie sheets full.) I only bake them for probably 8 minutes so they are perfectly chewy!