Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Gather your equipment and ingredients so that you have everything close at hand where you are working. Place sugar in a prep bowl for dipping cookies and set aside until ready to use.
In a large mixing bowl, cream together the softened butter and granulated sugar. Add in eggs and dark molasses and mix well.
In a small bowl, combine the all-purpose flour, baking soda, ground cinnamon, ground ginger, salt, ground cloves and nutmeg. Gradually add flour mixture to creamed mixture and beat well.
Roll into balls the size of large walnuts. Roll balls in the prepared sugar to coat. Place the dough balls on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
Bake in preheated oven until set but not hard 10-14 minutes, depending on the size of the cookies. Cool on wire racks. Makes 2-3 dozen.
Notes
*Unless otherwise indicated, all butter used on this recipe site is salted.