Spicy Ginger Cookies {12 Weeks of Christmas Treats}

Is there anything that says Christmas more than ginger cookies?  I am pretty sure that there isn't.  I only make this recipe once a year, but I love it so much that I spend the entire year anticipating the next time I get to make it.  This year, thanks to Brenda at Menu Planning Magic, Christmas has come early. 

You might wonder why I like these cookies so much, but the answer is simple.  First, they are soft with a crisp, crackly, sugar crust.  Second, they combine the spicy tastes of cloves, cinnamon, powdered ginger, and crystallized ginger.  Third, I can't think of anything else that I would rather have to accompany a hot chocolate and Christmas certainly falls in the hot-chocolate-drinking season.

Oh, and you know what?  It would appear that a certain someone else thinks that these cookies are delicious.

Yup.  That would be my one-year-old son's hand reaching into the camera frame to grab a cookie.  Ahem, let me clarify.  His first cookie ever.  I have been working fairly hard to keep all things with refined sugar out of his diet.  I don't intend to restrict his access to sugar quite so strictly when he is older, but for now he is happy eating fruit and plain yogurt and has no idea what a brownie is and I think that is how it should be.  That said, while I was taking pictures, he grabbed a cookie and promptly stuck it in his mouth.  I didn't take it from him immediately because the crystallized ginger gives them some bite and I thought, incorrectly, that he would promptly spit it out.  As it turns out, this baby loves ginger.  His first bite was met with a huge smile and a lot of enthusiasm.

Spicy Ginger Cookies
Yield: 26
Adapted from allrecipes.com 

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup molasses (not blackstrap)
1 1/4 cup white sugar, divided
1 egg
1 tbsp water
3 tbsp crystallized ginger, finely minced

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. Whisk together dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside.
3. Using an electric mixer, cream together the butter and 1 cup of sugar.  Add an egg, continue beating.  Add molasses and water, beat until completely combined.  Add dry ingredients in half-cup increments, beating after each addition.  Stir in crystallized ginger to distribute it throughout the batter.
4. Place 1/4 cup of sugar in a bowl.  Roll dough into tablespoon-sized balls and coat with sugar.  Place on parchment paper, leaving two inches between each cookie.  Bake for 9-10 minutes.  They took 9 minutes in my oven.