Preheat your oven to 350°
Add you butter and sugar to your bowl. Using a hand mixer or KitchenAid mixer, cream the two together until the are fluffy. Then add your egg, vanilla, and molasses.
While that is mixing, mix all your dry ingredients together in a bowl.
Once the egg, vanilla and molasses are well mixed, add the dry ingredients and mix until combined.
Scoop out spoon sized balls and lay them out on your sheet pan. On a large sheet pan I do 12 balls. I sprinkle a bit of raw sugar to the top to add a touch of sweetness and sparkle.
I roll the balls out to smooth out any rough edges from scooping out the dough. I use a 1 heaping teaspoon for each scoop.
Now, if you want these to be nice and chewy, bake them from 8-10 minutes.
Take them out when they are still pretty soft and puffy. Let them sit for a couple minutes and then use a spatula to se them on a bakers rack to cool. I like to bake mine at 8 minutes, which makes them seem uncooked, but once they sit on the pan and rest, they will firm up. You can also cook them about 12 minutes and get a more crisp cookie. I like mine soft and chewy. This also depends on the size of the cookie dough balls. I make my in the smaller size so they are a more manageable sized cookie.
Store in an airtight container or ziplock bag and they will stay nice and soft and chewy.