Gingersnaps!

No food tastes like Christmas to me more than gingersnaps.  I love their flavor and the way they make my whole house smell divine.  This is our tried and true recipes for the holidays.  They make nice homemade gifts, fit in nicely on a cookie tray, and are just plain tasty with a cup of coffee or hot chocolate in the morning.

Here's the line-up:

3/4 cup butter

1 cup sugar

2 cups flour

1 Tbsp. ginger

2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 heaping tsp. cinnamon

1 egg

1/4 cup molasess

1/4 cup cinnamon sugar

First cream the butter and sugar together well. 

In a separate bowl, mix flour, ginger, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.

Add the egg and molasses to the butter mixture and beat well.

Slowly add the flour mixture until well mixed. 

Here's the important part:  find a child and employ a little slave labor.  Have them scoop out small balls (that would be my eldest's hand)....

and then roll them in cinnamon sugar.

Place on a cookie sheet.  I'm a big fan of parchment paper.  I can scoop out all of my cookie dough onto parchment papers and then dirty only one baking sheet.  I'm all about less dishes. 

**A quick word about baking sheets:  There a ton of different kinds of baking sheets out there.  Rimmed, non-stick, insulated, stoneware, etc.  I've tried most of them and I have to say that my favorite, by far, is the one above.  It's a rimmed, heavy-gauge stainless steel number I picked up at my local restaurant supply store for less than $8.00.  I've used it for cookies, baking chicken breasts, nachos, roasting veggies; you name it I've done it on this sheet.  It's super easy to clean and very sturdy.

I just thought you needed to know that.  Anyway....

See these guys?  They're in the holding pattern.  My first pan of cookies is in the oven and these are just hanging around.  All I have to do is pick up the paper and plop it down on the cookie sheet when I take the first one off.  It's a handy trick when you have lots of baking to do.

Bake these puppies at 350 for 11 minutes.  11 is the magic number for my oven.  It gives me soft, chewy cookies that are just a bit crispy around the outside edge.

Mmm.  Heavenly.  Transfer to a cooling rack when they come out of the oven and store in an airtight container. 

Couldn't be much easier or much yummier.  Enjoy!