Ginger Cookies

Original Recipe

3/4 cup shortening

1 cup sugar

1 egg

4 tbsp. molasses

2 cups flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. ginger

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ground cloves

1/2 tsp. salt

Sugar for rolling dough in

Preheat the oven to 350°.

In a large bowl cream together shortening and sugar until fluffy. Add in the egg and molasses until fully combined.

In a separate bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, spices and salt.

Add the flour mixture to the shortening mixture and mix until combined.

Roll the dough into small balls [I measured mine at about 2 teaspoons] and then roll in sugar. Bake for about 10 minutes.

Did it Work?

This is a nice straight forward spice cookie with a lovely crunch thanks to the sugar coating. The molasses adds a bit of color, but the flavor of it does not overwhelm anything.
You get a lot of wiggle room on the spices, so feel free to experiment. For several batches I upped the ginger because I love ginger. Due to a lack of cinnamon for one batch I ended up replacing the cinnamon with star anise and some allspice. Chinese five-space powder would probably also be tasty, as would adding some chopped candied ginger.

The cookies do not come out too big, making them nice for a tea-time treat or a cookie tray. You could easily pre-potion these and freeze for baking off later.

Modifications

Except for messing with the spices, this really did not need any changes. I did not change out the shortening for butter like I normally do because I did not want the flavor of the butter interfering with the spices.

Photos

Dough ready to bake.

The finished product