Best Ginger Cookies EVER

My mom and I were flying back for Ukraine and chatting on the plane. For some reason it came up that Gomma used to cook all the time and make the best ginger cookies (and almond cookies and bread, etc...). So, we decided to search for the recipe when we got back to the good old USA. We ended up not being able to find this recipe, but Gomma told us as much as she could remember from the recipe and then I pieced parts of it together from a recipe online and viola--the best ginger cookies ever came to be. These are absolutely fabulous and if you like chewy, gingery goodness--this one's for you.

Ingredients
1 cup molasses
1 cup crisco (not butter)
1 cup brown sugar (you might want a bit more brown sugar)
1/4 cup hot water
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ginger (maybe a bit more)
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
4 cups flour

Directions
Start by heating up the molasses and crisco together in a saucepan. Stir constantly until the crisco is completely mixed in the the molasses and it becomes the same color and consistency. Then take off the heat and mix in a separate bowl the brown sugar, hot water and baking soda. Then add the molasses mixture to the bowl. Add the salt, ginger and cinnamon stirring to incorporate everything. Then add the flower and stir, stir, stir!

Get out a piece of wax paper and put a mound of dough in the middle of the paper. Spread it out and roll it up in the paper (so it makes a log shape). Refrigerate for a few hours. Once the dough is chilled, slice it and put it on ungreased cookie sheets. I've also dipped the top of the cookies in sugar before putting them on the cookie sheets and I think I liked them better like that, but they are good either way. Bake in the oven on 350 degrees for about 8 minutes. Let them sit for a minute and you have amazing ginger cookies. You can also freeze the dough for a month or two if you need to.

This is really an awesome recipe and it was so fun to make one of Gomma's old recipes (and come up with the proportions too). Yummers!