By Emma Weidmann | Arts and Life Editor

What do you get when you cross gingerbread and maple syrup? Molasses cookies. These are a holiday staple in my house, and I’m about to change your life with this recipe. Side note: These may just be the simplest dessert you’ll ever make, if you needed another reason to bake them.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup shortening
• 1 cup sugar (and some extra for rolling — more on that later)
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 1 egg
• 2 cups sifted flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda (do not, I repeat, do not forget this)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon cloves

Step 1:

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Fill a small bowl with a liberal amount of sugar, and set it aside.

Step 2:

While the oven is heating up, mix the first four ingredients on the list together. Then, add in the next five ingredients one by one. Admittedly, this is easier if you have a hand mixer. But if you’re like me and you don’t go to the gym, you can mix it by hand and call it arm day.

A note on molasses: Make sure you wipe the neck of the bottle and seal it up really well after you use it. It attracts bugs. Don’t learn this the hard way.

Step 3:

Once everything is mixed together, roll a walnut-sized ball of dough in the palm of your hand. Then, generously coat the dough in sugar by rolling it around in the bowl you set aside at the beginning.

Step 4:

Do this over and over until you’ve rolled all the dough into balls, and set them 2 inches apart on a cookie sheet. Pop those suckers in the oven for 10 to 12 minutes — or however long it takes for them to be golden brown on the top, but not too dark on the bottom.

Pro tip: You can check if your cookies are done by sticking a toothpick in the middle of one. If it comes up clean, they’re ready to come out.

Step 5:

Eat way too many cookies — or, if you’re a super nice person, pack some up to give away to friends. Either way, your apartment will be smelling like Christmas in October.