Chewy Ginger Cookies

Ginger is so in right now.

Seriously, are you not seeing it everywhere?

Gingerbread lattes at Starbucks, gingerbread donuts at Tim Hortons. Ginger! Ginger! Ginger!

Ginger is a wonderful ingredient to cook with, but in this post I am baking with it. I love the many different ways that ginger can be prepared, each form bringing out an entirely differently flavour. Fresh ginger has a pungent and penetrating flavour. Candied is sweet and chewy, and the spice has an aromatic peppery flavour that is added to all sorts of cakes and cookies. This versatile spice is sometimes referred to as ginger root when actually it is a rhizome, acting as the stem of the ginger plant.



So forget your ginger snaps and add these soft and chewy ginger cookies to your holiday baking.

Enjoy!

Chewy Ginger Cookies
Makes about 2 dozen

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2½ tsp dried ground ginger
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp cloves
• ¾ tsp salt
• ¾ cup chopped crystallized ginger (the chunky sugar coated kind)
• ½ cup Crisco
• ¼ cup unsalted butter
• 1 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• ¼ cup fancy molasses
• sugar for rolling

1. Combine flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and salt in a bowl and whisk to blend well. Mix in chopped ginger.
2. Beat butter and shortening until smooth. Beat in the sugar, egg and molasses until incorporated. Add the flour mixture and beat only until blended. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.
3. Preheat oven to 350 F. Line 2 baking sheet with parchment paper. Place ½ cup sugar on a small plate, replenishing as necessary. With wet hands, roll dough into 1 ¼” balls, then roll in sugar until completely covered. Place on baking sheets spacing 2” apart. Bake until the cookies crack on top but are still soft to the touch, about 12 min (it may seem like they are not ready by they will harden a bit when cooled). Cool on baking sheets for 1 min. then carefully transfer to wire rack to cool.