Favorite Ingredient Friday - Cookie Edition!

Christmas time = Gingerbread people and houses and snaps, etc. My husband loves gingerbread in all of the previous mentioned forms. Me - not so much. Why, you ask? Because most of the time they are neither moist nor chewy - the way that I like my desserts. They are crisp and crunchy and just not the delectible goodness I like in a cookie. But, being the "good wife" that I am - I want to bake some for my husband. But I just hate getting in the kitchen and making something that I don't even like - that I don't even get to enjoy when I am done. Thus, the search began for a soft and chewy ginger snap recipe began. And...wah la! I found one! I altered it just slightly and let me tell you - they have the great taste that he loves and the the moistness I crave. So, before you read - beware! Once you make these - you might not be able to stop (eating them)! :) Enjoy!

Soft & Chewy Gingersnaps

Ingredients:

• ¾ cup margarine
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• ¼ cup molasses
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon cardamom
• ½ cup cinnamon sugar

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• In a medium bowl, cream together the margarine and 1 cup white sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg and molasses until well blended.
• Combine the flour, ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, baking soda and salt; stir into the molasses mixture to form dough.
• Roll dough into 1 inch balls and roll the balls in the cinnamon sugar mixture.
• Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven.
• Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
• Makes approximately 2 dozen cookies.

Tip: You can place the balls on wax paper, get a cinnamon sugar shaker and sprinkle them with the mixture, move them onto a cookie sheet, and then fold up the wax paper and put the extra mixture back into the canister. Very easy and inexpensive!