¼cupmolassesblack strap molasses will give a deeper, richer flavour, slightly less sweet. Fancy molasses works just as well
½cupgranulated sugar
⅓cuplightly packed brown sugarlight or dark, does not matter
2tablespoonsgrated fresh ginger
1large egg
¾cupdiced candied gingerabout 4 oz (small diced, ¼ in diced)
½cuporganic cane sugaror white granulated sugar, coconut sugar or Demerara sugar for rolling the cookies before baking
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 and line cookie sheets with parchment paper
Combine dry ingredients in a medium bowl and whisk to combine (flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, allspice and sea salt), set aside.
In a large bowl stir together melted butter, molasses, sugars, fresh ginger and egg. Whisk together until creamy and smooth. Stir in dry ingredients and candied ginger. Mix until just combined and no dry spots.
Form dough into 1 inch balls (i use a cookie scoop to measure uniform sized balls and roll until smooth and round with my palms of my hands). Roll each ball in coconut sugar (or granulated sugar) then place on the cookie sheets - about 2 inches apart. Bake 10-12 minutes. Cookies will puff up and then crack.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool for a minute before moving them to a cooling rack. Cool completely before storing. Cookies freeze well.
Notes
Recipe from Chewy, Gooey, Crispy Crunchy by Alice MedrichFor the best crunchy and chewy cookie, roll cookies in organic can sugar or coconut sugar before baking. You can also use regular white granulated sugar, but not icing sugar.The fresh ginger gives these cookies a real bite of heat. For a milder cookie skip this part.This is a lot of freshly grated ginger, I find the small size of a box grater is the best tool for this job. You will need a 2-3 inch piece of gingerTo keep the cookies a uniform size, use a cookie scoop - this 1 tablespoon size is my usual choice for Christmas cookies when I want cookies to be no more than 2 bites each.For bigger cookies - I like to think of this as bakery size, whole hand-sized cookies, I use a 3 tablespoon cookie scoop. Cooking time increases only slightly if starting with room temperature cookie dough as stated in the recipe above. So instead of baking 10-12 minutes, try 12-14 minutes. Cookies will spread as they bake, so no more than 8 cookies per baking sheet at this size! you will get 16-18 cookies at this size.