Sunday, August 15, 2010

Ultimate Ginger Cookies

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I don't often make cookies, mostly because I don't enjoy the assembly line process of constantly having to go back to the oven and bowl every 10-12 minutes and put more in the oven! However, this afternoon I was seized with the bizarre urge to bake cookies. I found a recipe I've been wanting to try, but was missing two of the ingredients, so I tried it anyway! They turned out yummy and I'm sure the original recipe would have been great too...but below is my twist on an Ina Garten original (for all my Barefoot Contessa lovers out there).

Ultimate Ginger Cookies

Ingredients
-
2 1/4 cups of flour
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 2 tsp. ground cinnamon
- 1 1/2 tsp. ground cloves
- 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
- 1 tsp. ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1 cup (light or dark) brown sugar
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1 large egg (at room temp.)
- 1/3 cup maple syrup
- Granulated sugar (for rolling)

*Ina's recipe included 6 oz. of chopped crystallized ginger and molasses instead of syrup

Instructions

1.
Prehead oven to 350 and line 2 large sheet pans with parchment paper or use silicone baking sheets (I used silicone).

2. In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger and salt - then combine mixture with your hands until blended.











3. Mix together (I use a standing mixer with the paddle attachment) brown sugar, oil and syrup on medium speed for 5 minutes. The mixture should be smooth and sticky, it almost looks like peanut butter!











4. Turn the mixer on low and beat in the egg for 1 minute. Stop the mixer and scrap down the batter off the sides, then beat on medium for another two minutes while you add in the dry ingredients.











5. This would be the step where you don't follow my example...I slammed my hand in the kitchen drawer! Here's hoping the red mark fades and it doesn't bruise...apparently my hand felt the need to justify the "Clutz" in my blog title.











6. The dough should be very thick and somewhat sticky. I used a small ice cream scoop to dish out my cookies, but if you don't have one you can use two spoons. Roll each cookie into a 1 3/4 inch ball (just eyeball it) and flatten them lightly with your fingers. Then lightly press both sides of each cookie in granulated sugar.

























7. These cookies don't spread out when they bake, so you can place them closely together. Bake for 13 minutes - they will be cracked on the top and soft inside when done.














Then just try not to eat them all (I'm typing as I'm chewing my way through my second cookie!) in one sitting...

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