Molasses Ginger Cookies
 
Ingredients
  • ½ cup granulated sugar, plus more for rolling cookies
  • 2 cups flour (I used whole wheat pastry flour)
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1½ teaspoons ground ginger
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon ground cloves
  • ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • ⅓ cup vegan butter spread, melted (I used Smart Balance)
  • ¼ cup molasses
  • ¼ cup water (plus more if needed)
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
Optional:
  • non-dairy ice cream or frosting
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
  2. Melt the vegan butter spread in the microwave. Set aside.
  3. In a large mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients: flour, sugar, ginger, cinnamon, salt, cloves, nutmeg, baking soda/powder. Mix well.
  4. In a separate bowl, combine the melted buttery spread, molasses, vanilla extract and water.
  5. Combine the wet and dry ingredients and stir by hand well until all the ingredients are blended into a moist ball of dough. The dough will seem dry at first, but keep stirring and folding and it will come together. If needed add in extra water one spoonful at a time until the dough consistency is reached.
  6. Freeze the dough for 15 minutes then roll out the dough to cookie cutter circle shapes for baking. Or what I do is simply take a heaping tablespoon of dough, roll it into a ball, roll each ball in sugar, place on greased cookie sheet, then press down slightly with the back of a spoon. (Make sure all your balls are the same size.)
  7. Bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes, depending on their size. Cookies will firm up when they cool. Note: do not over-bake - or you will get gingerSNAPS.
  8. Allow the cookies to cool at least 30 minutes before frosting or adding ice cream. If using ice cream, keep the sandwich cookies in the freezer until ready to eat.
Recipe by forkbelly.com at http://forkbelly.com/molasses-ginger-cookies/