recipe: chewy ginger cookies

I love chocolate chip oatmeal cookies but I don't usually have chocolate chips in the house unless I am planning on making something specific. That definitely poses a problem on those rainy afternoons when something sweet sounds extra yummy.  And no....I can't substitute raisins. Nothing is worse than biting into a oatmeal cookie and realizing that the chocolate chips are actually raisins. Gross.

So...we have been digging spice cookies lately and these are by far our favorite (so far).

Even Mr. I-don't-really-eat-sweets will gobble one up. Then the rest go to friends and I usually stock pile a few bags in the freezer just in case I need a sweet treat.

 I usually do.

After they came out of the oven, Little Man ate one right along side a cucumber. He must be his father's child.

Anyway, since I have come to grips that there is no possible way to have an enjoyable cookie-making-afternoon with a 22 month-old while taking pictures of each step of the recipe, you only get the final product and the recipe.

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup butter, softened

1/4 cup molasses

1 egg

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 T. ground ginger (I know it seems like a ton, but trust me....they are delicious!)

2 t. baking soda

1 t. ground cinnamon

1/4 t. ground cloves

1/4 t. salt

3 T. sugar (for rolling the cookies in)

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Beat sugar and butter together until soft and fluffy. Beat in molasses and egg. Stir in remaining ingredients (except 3 T. sugar) until mixed. 

Place 3 T. sugar in a small bowl. Form the dough into balls using about 1 T. of dough and roll in sugar. Place on ungreased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. 

Bake 6-8 minutes (mine needed more like 8 minutes) until golden brown. Let rest on cookie sheet for a minute or two before placing on cooling racks (or in my case, napkins on the counter).

Makes about 3 dozen cookies

(Recipe adapted from Betty Crocker's Big Book of Cookies)

Enjoy!

 

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