This is my grandmother's recipe and it's been a family favorite for years. I'm all about using butter in my baked goods, but sadly, this recipe really does require vegetable shortening to get the right spread and chewiness. I like to replace half of the flour with white whole wheat flour, and I bet you could replace all of it with white whole wheat without much difference in taste or texture. If using regular whole wheat flour, I'd probably stick to subbing out half of the all-purpose.

3/4 cup vegetable shortening, melted and cooled
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 cups sifted flour
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 375°F.
Combine shortening, sugar, molasses and egg and beat with mixer.
Sift together flour, salt, baking soda and spices; add to first mixture and mix well.
Chill dough.
Form into 1" balls, roll in granulated sugar and place on greased cookie sheet 2" apart. (note: I use a parchment lined cookie sheet and it works fine)
Do not press down.
Bake for 10 minutes, rotating pan after about 8 minutes to bake evenly.
Cool on wire rack.