Sugar and Spice

I know Fall is around the corner when my tastes turn to sugar and spice. I baked a batch of molasses ginger cookies over weekend, so cooler weather and shorter days aren't far behind.

I've been using this recipe for several years. It's makes a wonderfully spicy cookie that's crisp on the outside, yet tender, moist, and chewy in the middle. I enjoy them with milk at night and in the morning with coffee for breakfast.

Molasses Ginger Cookies

2-cups all-purpose flour.
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon of ground ginger
2 1/2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
3/4 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
1 coup granulated sugar
1/4 cup (lightly packed) dark brown sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1 large egg

Preheat oven to 375ºF. Grease baking sheets with oil or line with parchment paper.

Sift dry ingredients in a small bowl and set aside. Using an electric mixer at medium speed, cream butter and both sugars until light and fluffy. Add molasses and mix until blended. Then add the egg and mixed until incorporated. Add dry ingredients, mix at lower speed until combined.

Drop dough in heaping tablespoons on baking sheet 2 inches apart. Bake cookies until they are soft in the middle, approx. 15 to 16 minutes. Cool cookies on a rack.

I can't wait to eat any cookies fresh from the oven, but these can be stored in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks in the freezer.

From Rosie's Bakery Chocolate-Packed Jam Filled Butter-Rich No-Holds-Barred Cookie Book. My old roommate from Grad. School gave me the book as a gift.

My notes
For this batch used light brown sugar, because I didn't have any dark brown sugar in my cupboard; and I omitted the allspice for the same reason. I like really spicy spice cookies, so my tablespoon and teaspoons of spices were more like heaping spoonfuls.