25 Days of Christmas in Cookies--Day 4 Chewy Gingerbread Cookies

The girls were glad to have a distraction from the football-laden television. :)

Here is our creation for the day. You won't be able to have just one. I promise! ;)

Chewy Gingerbread Cookies

Yield...a lot :)

• 3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ground allspice
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 cup granulated sugar, divided
• 1/2 cup molasses

    Preheat oven to either 350 or 375* degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a baking mat and set aside.

    In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, cloves, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside. 

    Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, begin beating the butter. Once it begins to soften, beat in 1 cup of sugar. Scrape the sides down and mix in the eggs. As the eggs are being mixed in, pour in the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar. 

After scraping the sides down, pour in the molasses.

    

With the mixer on low speed, slowly beat in the flour mixture.

    Drop the dough by 1/2-inch balls onto the prepared baking sheets. 

    Bake in the preheated oven.* If baking at 350 degrees, bake for 8 minutes. If baking at 375 degrees, bake for 11 minutes. Pull the pans from the oven and let the cookies cool for only a minute or two--just until they are stiff enough to be moved onto cooling racks.

Enjoy with a nice cold glass of milk....

Yes, they are a hit!!

....or just straight off of the cooling rack. ;)




*The reason for the two different baking temperatures determines whether you end up with a more 'raw dough' kind of cookie (nice and gooey) or a more cooked and slightly chewier cookie. My favorite is the gooier of the cookies--then again I LOVE raw cookie dough. :) <--sheepish grin  But I made both kinds since I am in the minority in my cookie preference....but I am not complaining because that leaves more for me. :-D

Oh, and be sure to actually make them about 1/2-inch balls with enough space between them. As I was so silly distracted generous enough to demonstrate, you will end up with a cookie "puzzle" if the dough balls are too big and too close together. haha 'Course you could always use that to occupy little ones: Let them go to work trying to put the "puzzle" back together. :) hehe