Christmas Cookies

I took charge of the cookie-baking this year, because my mom, for reasons unbeknownst to me, finds hours of baking tedious and soul-destroying. I was more than happy to spare her the agony. Since we didn’t have any of our traditional cookie recipes anymore, I was free to try out whatever I wanted. So I opened up The Taste of Home Baking Book (ie, my bible) and chose a couple.

First was this chocolate-walnuty variation on the traditional Hershey’s Kiss cookies. They’re delicious and pretty, and they don’t dry out and get rock solid like their more common counterparts.

Then there were these pretzel-shaped ones– chocolate cookie with mocha-chocolate glaze and white chocolate drizzle. I had fun rolling them out and considered it good practice pre-returning-to-work-at-the-pottery-studio.

I really needed a more effective way for dipping them, though. Oh, my poor scorched fingers.

But my favorites are the least aesthetically compelling ones: the ginger snaps! I nabbed the recipe from my Uncle John, who’d made them at Thanksgiving. I added fresh ginger…because fresh = good and if I were going to have babies, I would totally have them with ginger. Just think, they’d be all weird-looking and gnarled…just like any other babies! Only spicier.

Mmm, tasty ginger babies.

But anyway. Here’s the recipe.

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 large egg
1/4 cup molasses
2 cups flour
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, thinnly chopped
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Mix butter and 1 cup of the sugar. Add the egg and molasses and beat together.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda and salt.
4. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and beat until the dough is smooth.
5. Roll the dough into 1-inch balls, and then roll in the remaining sugar. Put on cookie sheets, 2 inches apart.
6. Bake until fragrant and cracks appear on the top, about 8-12 minutes.
7. Let cool for 5 minutes, then remove the cookies with a spatula and finish cooling the cookies on a wire rack.

Promise me if you make them you’ll have at least three while they’re warm. Oh my god. They get soft and chewy once they’ve cooled, but while they’re still hot, they are the perfect blend of crispy on the bottom and melty on top. Guh guh guh.