friendship can be bought…with baked goods

sometimes i think back to high school and cringe. well, i mostly cringe. when i think back to those times i see myself as a grumpy, chubby (still fit into that category, haha), emotional train wreck. i was wrapped up in my friends and extracurriculars…which included cheerleading (double cringe!), yearbook club, and the school newspaper. sometimes i think i was a rare breed of nerd that you could only find in a rural nevada high school.

there were a few fond memories…and the one that stands out (of course it involves treats) are of a girl that was in my class for a few months freshman year. she was new to town and lived with her grandparents and was in desperate need of friendship. she thought my friends and i were nice enough, so she made us mollasses cookies. i had never had a cookie that beat chocolate chip for me ever. these cookies were soft and chewy and spicy and tasted just like comfort. oh, we would definitely be friends. and yes, my friendship can be bought with baked goods.

i never got the recipe from her and she moved away before the end of the school year, never to be heard from again. but, i don’t doubt that she made even more friends wherever she went with those cookies in her reportoire. i did however come across this recipe from joy the baker and they really did fit into that cookie-comfort catagory. if you love gingery-mollassasy cookies, make these…they will not disapoint.

sugar crusted ginger cookies
adapted from joy the baker.

i didn’t have any ground ginger, so i used fresh. i also subbed the cloves for fresh nutmeg. they turned out pretty yummy and i will be adding them to my holiday cookie baskets. mine did become crunchy the next day, like gingersnaps, which is fine by me. i blame that on altitude and a dry climate however. i also only had a a few tablespoons of turbinado sugar, so i mixed it with some granulated and that was okay too.

2 1/4 cup flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
1/2 teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg
3/4 cup softened, unsalted butter
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 large egg, room temp
1/4 cup molasses

1/2 cup turbinado sugar for rolling (granulated is fine, and a mixture of the two is okay too!)

preheat oven to 350 F and line two baking sheets with parchment.

combine flour, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl, whisk to combine. in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attatchement beat butter on medium with vrown sugar and spices untile smooth, about 2 minutes. scrape down sides of bowl as needed before adding eggs. add eggs and molasses and mix until well blended and uniform in color, about 1 minute. mix in flour on low unitl just incorporated…you can fold it in by hand if you are worried about overmixing…as i often am.

place turbinado sugar in a shallow bowl and roll about 1 tablespoon of dough (for small cookies, 2tbsps for larger) in the sugar. place dough balls on cookie sheets spaced about 2 inches apart.

bake one sheet at a time until cookies are firm around the edges, soft in the center, and crackly all around. about 10-12 mins for small cookies and 12-14 mins for larger ones. allow to cool on baking sheet for about 5 minutes before transferring to a rack to cool completely. can be stored for up to 4 days in an airtight container.