Thing I Love #1: Chewy Ginger Cookies

Photo courtesy of Anna Fischer/Flickr

When it comes to cookies, my family rarely branches out:
Chocolate Chip.
Peanut Butter.
Oatmeal Raisin.

Okay, my dad makes a bastardization of chocolate chip cookies he calls “Conga Bars” (no idea why), which is basically cookie dough baked in one big pan, brownie-style. He’s very proud of this, so please smile and make appreciative noises if he ever feeds it to you.

But then I found these.

These chewy, ginger-y, spicy little disks of yum. I discovered the recipe a few years ago, and it’s now my go-to, not-chocolate-chip cookie.

Get your face ready.

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons fresh grated ginger*
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter, softened or melted**
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 tablespoon water
1/4 cup molasses
2 tablespoons white sugar

* You can use ground ginger if you’d like, but then you’d be a cheater. Really, use the fresh stuff. It looks like this.
** I always completely melt the butter in the microwave for these. Yes, the original recipe says to just soften it, but I’m being efficient here. Or lazy. Either one.

To make the dough:

Peel, then grate, the ginger. Note: I have put more than 2 teaspoons into this recipe and it resulted in slightly more ginger-y, spicy cookies (duh), so be generous with this ingredient if that appeals to your sensibilities. Combine the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and 1 cup sugar until light and fluffy; use electric mixers if you want or just a good, old-fashioned wooden spoon if you’ve chosen to liquefy the butter (like me). Beat in the egg, then stir in the water and molasses. Gradually stir the sifted ingredients into the molasses mixture.
Refrigerate the dough for a couple of hours. Seriously. You will be f***ed if you skip this step.
Now preheat your oven to 375°. Shape the dough into walnut sized balls and roll them in the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar. Place the cookies on a cookie sheet and flatten slightly.
Bake cookies: 8 for chewy (can’t recommend this more) to 10 (for cookies erring on the side of crunchy) minutes.
Note: These cookies are good, nay, better, a few days after you bake them, so exercise some self control and keep a few around*.

*I have trouble with that last one.

See the original recipe here.