Big Soft Ginger Cookies

I was out with some lovely colleagues of mine this past week to the hospital's most visited coffee joint - Ideal Coffee. If you are around the area of Bruyere and Dalhousie, you must, and I mean must check this little joint out. It comes highly recommended by all Bruyere Hospital OT staff and by my very own husband who is quite the coffee snob. Ideal grounds their own coffee beans (making it smell exactly like our basement!) and have a wonderful, quirky staff. Their drinks/eats are remarkably well priced (cookie + chai latté was about 3.00$) and each of their mugs is different. It`s not your regular Starbucks, let me tell you. I write about Ideal because they have the BEST ginger cookies. As I was downing my cookie over lunch, I thought to myself that I could really go for a few more of these mega, soft ginger cookies with the crackled tops. That night I went home, checked to see if I had any molasses and went to town. Bon appétit! 


Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cups flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon 1/2 ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon allspice
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup dark brown sugar
- 1 extra-large egg
- 1/4 cup regular unsulphured molasses
- granulated sugar (for coating cookie dough before baking)

Directions

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees with the rack in the center. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicon pan liners. Set aside.

2. Sift flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, and cloves into a medium bowl. Set aside.

3. Cream the butter and brown sugar in a large mixing bowl with mixer on high speed until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. With mixer on medium speed, beat in the egg and molasses, then increase the speed to high and beat about 1 minute longer, until the mixture no longer looks curdled. Scrape the sides with a rubber spatula several times while mixing.

4. Mix in the flour mixture on low speed. The batter will be rather stiff. Place some granulated sugar on a small plate or saucer. Use a tablespoon to form 1 tbs portions of dough. (Spray the spoon with the optional non-stick vegetable spray to make it easier to release the dough.) Transfer the dough to your hands and roll each portion into a rough ball, then roll each ball into the sugar. Place 9-12 sugared balls on each baking sheet, spacing them evenly, because they will spread during baking.

5. Use a slightly damp bottom of a cup or measuring cup and press down lightly on each cookie to flatten it a little and dampen the top. Refrigerate one filled baking sheet while the other bakes. **Just remember the flatter you make your cookies and the longer you bake it, the crispier the cookie will be. So don't over do it.***

6. Bake for 7-10 minutes, or until the cookies have spread and are firm to the touch. Rotate the sheet 180 degrees halfway through the baking time. Remove from the oven and let the cookies cool on the baking sheet. Remember to remove your cookies slightly before they look totally cooked. They will cook a little more on the baking sheet. Watch your cookies really well during the last few minutes so that they do not burn - nobody likes a burnt crispy cookie!

Note: This dough can be frozen for slice-and- bake cookies. Just roll into a log 2-1/2 inches thick. Wrap in plastic wrap and then in foil. Can be stored in the freezer up to 6 months.