Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C)

Combine the flour, all the spices, salt, and baking soda in one bowl. Place the softened butter into another bowl.

Cream the butter until fluffy (~1 minute)

Add the sugar to the butter and beat on medium speed until the sugar has been well incorporated (~3-4 minutes)

Add the milk and vanilla extract and beat until incorporated.

Stir in the molasses by hand.

Add the dry ingredients and stir by hand just until no floury streaks remain. Do not over mix.

The dough will be very soft and sticky! You will need to roll the dough into balls about the size of walnuts (~1.5 inches in diameter). If the dough is too soft to work with, chill it in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

Place the dough balls into bowls of sugar and roll them around gently until they are completely coated. I coated half my batch with white sugar and half with larger grain Demerara sugar (or “Sugar in the Raw”) for a little more crunch.

Place the sugar-coated cookies on parchment paper-lined cookie trays. Bake the cookies for about 9 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway through baking.

Allow the cookies to cool on the sheets, then transfer them to an air-tight container. They will keep up to about 5 days.

Notes: 👩🏼‍🍳. The cookie texture will depend, in part, on the type of sugar you use in the dough. Using white sugar will result in a slightly puffier cookie. Using brown sugar will result in a flatter cookie that is a bit denser and chewier.