Christmas Ginger Cookies

by Teal Graham

I look forward to the Christmas holiday season because the house is filled with all the wonderful smells of Christmas. Fresh baked goods warm from the oven and the lovely aroma of something sweet and decadent like cookies are a must for Christmas. I love this cookie recipe because it is packed with flavor and because it's a little different from most cookies. It uses two ingredients that don't get use much making cookies, ground pepper and molasses. These two ingredients give ginger cookies the spiciness and chewiness that I love.

Ingredients
½ c soften butter
½ c shortening
¾ c dark brown sugar
¼ c dark molasses
½ tsp vanilla
2 c flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
⅛ tsp ground cloves
⅛ tsp nutmeg
2 tsp black pepper 

Directions
In a large bowl cream butter and sugar. This can be done with a hand mixer or with a wooden spoon.

Next add in the vanilla and continue to mix to combine. Once all of the wet ingredients are mixed together set aside.

In another bowl add flour, salt and seasonings and stir to combine. Once dry ingredients are well incorporated. Retire the hand mixer if using one for the spoon or a silicone spatula and slowly add the dry to the wet batter. You might want to add in increments to prevent a huge mess of a flour shower.

The dough should come together and be a soft cookie dough. Next cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for one hour.

Preheat oven to 375°F degrees. Using a teaspoon or a small cookie scoop make 1 inch balls of dough. The cooking dough can be rolled in festive holiday sprinkles at this time. Place the dough on a lined cookie sheet. These cookies will spread so allow one inch for spreading.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Once baked remove cookies from oven and allow to cool for 2 minutes before moving to a cooling rack to finish cooling process.

This batter makes a total of 2 ½ dozen delicious cookies.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.