Double Ginger Cookies :)

I am an unashamed fan of spice cookies--ginger in particular. And I admit, I'm a snob when it comes to my ginger cookies. I would rather eat nothing than an insipidly flavored ginger cookie. And as far as hard ginger cookies go? As I heard it put recently, "I'm a fan of the ginger, not the snap." I like my ginger cookies thick and chewy, with a crystalline, sugar-coated exterior. Oh yes....and after I made ginger cookies with fresh ginger last year, I've never looked back. I'm a strange mix, actually, because I don't like ginger all that much usually. I can recall, with astonishing clarity, having to survive a potent ginger candy every time I visited my grandmother's house...and since she lived right next door that was practically every day. ;) I still remember the burning sensation as it went down my throat and the way it made me feel hot from the inside out. It must have been made from ginger on steroids!
But back to the cookies. I found out on Tuesday that I had orders for 5 dozen of these "amazingly fresh ginger cookies" and I had some serious tweaking of the recipe to do. Undaunted, I got two recipes and dove in head first, mixing the two to create the perfect ginger cookies--soft, dark, and spicy.
Here's the result--what I believe to be the perfect ginger cookie. Make them and see what you think!

Double Ginger Cookies

• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• at least 2 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp. cloves
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2/3 cup minced fresh ginger tossed in sugar and left to sit 15 minutes (two small-medium ginger roots)
• 3/4 cups butter, softened
• 1 c. brown sugar
• 1/3 c. molasses
• 1 egg, room temperature
• extra sugar for rolling

1. The first recipe called for a ton of candied ginger. Candied ginger? I mean, who keeps this stuff around? We certainly don't! So what's a girl to do when she isn't in possession of such a thing? Replace it, of course. That's why I chose fresh ginger. Peel ginger roots by scraping them with the side of a regular spoon. This seriously is the best way, as it allows you to get the peel even in between the lumps and bumps. Mince until fine. If your ginger is super-stringy, try to remove as many of the string as you can. Young, more tender ginger is best.

 2. In a separate bowl, combine flour, soda, dry spices, and salt.

3. In your main bowl beat brown sugar, butter, and molasses on high for 5 minutes. Scrape bowl.
4. Add egg and beat for 1 more minute.
5. Sift in flour mixture, and combine.

6. Add your fresh ginger now, including the syrup that will have formed from the ginger juice and sugar.
7. Roll into good size balls...1 1/2 inches or so. Roll in sugar. If dough is too sticky, add a little more flour until rollable. :)

I slightly flattened these balls, but I found the cookies went *too* flat for me, since I like rounder, thicker cookies. :) For the other batches I didn't flatten them at all, and they were lovely. 

8. Place on baking trays lined with parchment paper. If you don't have parchment paper, place on ungreased baking sheets.
9. Bake at 350 degrees F. for exactly 13 minutes. Let cool on trays one or two minutes, then remove to wire rack to continue cooling.
10. You can eat them whenever, but I recommend them cold with a glass of chilled apple cider! YUM! :)

Ah yes, here they are! Beautiful and spicy looking. I wanted to take a better picture, but I couldn't figure out the macro setting on my sister's camera, so you must make them yourselves to see how amazing they are! :)

Honest-to-goodness ginger, and a whole lot of it. Makes the perfect cookie, don't you think? :)