Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey

So for my birthday this year I received a truly beautiful book from my beautiful housemates: Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey: Desserts for the Serious Sweet Tooth. Now this book, is going to be my death. It contains a huge collection of the most mouth-watering, rich, chocolatey, (and terribly fattening) desserts I have ever seen. I am pretty sure I gained 5 pounds just reading it. But seriously, I want to make and eat everything this book has to offer. I opted for one of the less heavy desserts (saving those for the holidays) to make for my housemates. I baked them gingersnaps, which were delicious! I used large amounts of the dough, so the cookies came out big and fat, almost cake-like. They were lovely, soft and filled the kitchen with the scents of spice. I will definitely be making them again (after i try out everything else in the book of course).

Gingersnaps (adapted from Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey)

1 cup    butter, room temperature

1 cup    firmly packed light brown sugar

1 cup    sugar
1/2 cup molasses
2           large eggs
4 cups   flour
2 tsp     cinnamon
1 tbsp   ground ginger
1/2 tsp  ground cloves
1/2 tsp  baking soda
1/4 tsp  salt
Demerara sugar or granulated sugar for rolling

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer set at medium speed, creeam the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the molasses and eggs and beat until blended, the mixturee may appear curdled at this point.

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, connamon, ginger, cloves, baking soda and salt. Beat the dry ingredients into the wet just until they form a soft dough. Cover and refrigerate the dough for at least 2 hours or up to overnight.

Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Scoop the dough and roll into balls. Place the demerara sugar in a large shallow plate. Roll dough balls in th sugar and place 2 inches apart on the baking sheets. Flatten slightly. Bake until the cookies are flattened and crackled and smell very spicy and fragrant, 11 to 14 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Thanks Anna & Sara!