Ginger Cookies

The other day my baby sister Abigail (ok, she’s 18…but still a baby to me) texted me and said, “I’m a Ginger now!” At the time, I totally played it off like I knew exactly what she was talking about. I totally did not. As it turns out it meant she dyed her hair red(ish). She looks adorable, as usual.

That has nothing to do with the cookies.

I recently hosted a cookie exchange at my home and made these cookies. They were a huge hit…‘cause they’re awesome. Incidentally, I didn’t take a single photo. I really really really wish I had. I was super caught up in getting everything set up and making sure my guests were having a good time, I think I just completely forgot.

Anyhoo, I made these ginger cookies. They’re really easy to make, and they yield about 2 dozen, so that’s a perk as well.

Okay, I have a confession to make. I haven’t made these cookies for about 4 years, maybe? I loved the recipe and knew the cookies were awesome, but hadn’t actually made them in forever. I searched for the saved recipe on my computer and for some reason, couldn’t find it. I checked the back up file machine thing, wasn’t there either. Still not sure where the original went. I think maybe it was all a dream. Like “visions of sugar plums…” type of thing. I originally found the recipe on allrecipes.com so I assumed it would still be there.

It kind of was. That’s confusing, I know. What I mean is that there was a version of the cookie I remembered. Sounded right-ish, so I gave it a whirl. They came out sooooooo good. Super soft with the perfect balance of sweet to spicy ratio. The only issue is that they looked REALLY different than the ones I remembered. When I originally made them, they were (as the title read) Big Soft Ginger Cookies. They were puffy and dark brown. Gorgeous. These, not so puffy and dark brown. Soft, absolutely, but puffy and dark, not so much. The cookie exchange was just around the corner, I knew I didn’t have time to tinker around with the recipe to make them as I remembered. This version is DELICIOUS, just not the same in appearance as I remembered. So I can’t really call these Big Soft Ginger Cookies like they originally were called, I could call them Soft Ginger Cookies, but that sounds dumb.

As I said, everyone at the cookie exchange loved them, I made them for my husband’s pot luck at work, everyone there loved them as well. There are a few left over from the last batch that I’ve been trying REALLY hard to not slather with cream cheese and eat like a 4x4.

If you need a delicious and easy cookie to bake up for a party, these will be perfect. Go get your bake on people!

Yields: 2 dozen
Ingredients

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup margarine, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 egg, room temperature
1 Tablespoon water
1/4 cup molasses
Coarse sugar, optional

Preparation Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper or silpat.

Sift together the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together the margarine and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, then stir in the water and molasses.

Gradually stir the sifted ingredients into the molasses mixture.

Shape dough into walnut sized balls and roll them in the coarse sugar. Place the dough 2 inches apart onto the prepared cookie sheet. Flatten slightly with your finger (see note).

Bake for 9 – 11 minutes. Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Store in an airtight container.

NOTE: The dough will be very sticky. I have a little system and I’ll try to explain to you how I deal with rolling it into a ball without making a huge mess.

Have a bowl with the coarse sugar ready. Get out a tablespoon.

Have your baking sheet, cookie dough, bowl of rolling sugar and spoon all in one place.

Designate one hand to be the scraping hand and one to be the rolling hand.

With your scraping hand, use the spoon to scoop the dough from the cookie dough bowl. With your “scraping” hand, use your finger to drop a dollop (walnut size) of dough into the rolling sugar bowl. With your “rolling” hand, scoop the sugar over the ball of dough, being careful not to actually touch the dough. If you do, it’ll be sticky on the wrong hand. Once the ball is coated in sugar, lightly roll it in your “rolling” hand to make a round ball in the palm of your hand. Once the ball of dough is coated in sugar it won’t be sticky. Drop it onto the baking sheet and flatten slightly.

If you can get the hang of this method, it will help but by all means, do whatever works best for you. I just found that since it’s so sticky, this method works.

Enjoy!