Ginger Chewies

I've been using my copy of Elinor Klivans' Big Fat Cookies a lot lately. Other than a past chocolate chip cookie disaster I had with one of her recipes, everything else has been smooth sailing.

About every six weeks I have an all-day meeting at work that I have to arrange lunch for. I always make sure that we don't order dessert and I bring something in. The group in the meeting, however, is on a continual health kick, so they don't go in very much for the sweets...so from the meeting the remaining cookies get parked by the coffee pot, and are gone in an instant.

I'm convinced people are taking handfuls at a time for them to disappear that fast...but with the deliciousness of these Chewy Ginger Cookies, I wouldn't be surprised. They're absolutely perfect in taste and texture. I made mine smaller than Klivans' suggestion of 1/4 C of dough per cookie to get more out of them, and I think they would be fabulous if done in small bite-sized form. This is a recipe that I think will see many repeat performances in my kitchen!

Chewy Ginger Cookies

From Elinor Klivans' Big Fat Cookies

2 ¼ cups unbleached all purpose flour

2 tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

½ tsp cloves

¾ cup (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup packed light brown sugar

1 large egg

¼ cup molasses

about ¼ cup granulated sugar
Position a rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350°. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Sift the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and cloves into a medium bowl and set aside. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the butter and brown sugar until smoothly blended, about 1 minute. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl as needed during mixing.

Add the egg and molasses and mix until blended and an even light brown color, about 1 minute. On low speed, add the flour mixture, mixing until incorporated.
Spread the granulated sugar on a large piece of wax or parchment paper. Roll ¼ cup of dough (more or less depending on size of cookie desired) between the palms of your hands into a 2 inch ball, roll the ball in the sugar and place on one of the prepared baking sheets. Continue making cookies, spacing them 2 inches apart.
Bake the cookies one sheet at a time until the tops feel firm, but they are still soft in the center and there are several large cracks on top, about 14 minutes. Cool the cookies on the baking sheets for 5 minutes, then use a wide metal spatula to transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.
Makes 9-12 cookies (more if making small cookies than suggested).

Check out my review of Elinor Klivans' Big Fat Cookies on Sazze.com.