Chewy Gingerbread Cookies

Growing up in Utah, you grow up around a lot of stereotypes pertaining to Mormons. One of these stereotypes is that Mormons are fantastic cooks. Now, I don't know about all of the other's, but my mother-in-law, Kathy, is definitely a fantastic cook. Whether the recipe has been handed down in her family (think: orange rolls at Thanksgiving) or something that she found on the Internet (Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana) it always tastes incredible when she serves it up (yes, Kathy, even when you burn the garlic bread!)


I've always thought that there was an important difference between cooking and baking, and I still believe this. I am a great cook. I can throw recipes together like it's nothing, and I enjoy doing it! Baking, on the other hand, is something that is a lot of work for me. You'd think that my type-A personality would lend itself well to the meticulous process of baking as it calls for precision, attention to detail, and I'm sure some of my CDO (aka OCD) tendencies should come in handy for this kind of thing. I don't know what the reason for it is, but I generally do not enjoy baking. I do, however, enjoy eating baked goods! :)


Luckily for me, I was given an awesome recipe for chewy gingerbread cookies this past winter by Kathy. She had made a batch for Sunday dinner once and they were, of course, amazing. I had to have the recipe! Matt has a bit of a sweet tooth and craves cookies quite often and after having exhausted my family's chocolate chip cookie recipe, we've been branching out to brownies, his childhood recipe for oatmeal cookies, and now, to these chewy gingerbread bites of heaven.


I wanted to share the recipe here on my blog. They are super easy to make, and it hardly feels like I'm baking when I make them. 


If anyone tries them out, let me know how you liked them! I can't imagine anyone wouldn't!


Chewy Gingerbread Cookies


Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
1/2 cup molasses (Grandma's tastes best)
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
4 cups flour
4 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (or 1 tsp ground cloves + 1 tsp ground ginger)


Directions: Combine oil, molasses, and sugar. Beat in eggs. Mix flour with spices. Add flour mixture and beat to form a stiff dough (I used my hands to mix it all together). Chill well. Roll into walnut shaped balls of dough and roll in sugar. Bake on un-greased cookie sheet at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes. Do not overbake. Let cool on cooling rack for several minutes. Enjoy!


Yield: approx. 55 cookies (I know, right?!)


Here are some photos from my endeavor...

It's just not baking without using something from my pampered chef collection

I loved these photos of the cookies baking in the oven...they look dreamy!

The girls were napping while I did all of this. They are still a bit young, I think, to help me bake, but maybe soon they'll be able to pour the sugar or stir the dough for me. I really do look forward to teaching them how to cook and bake--I loved watching my dad do it when I was growing up, and I think that the girls will really like being a part of what is going on in the kitchen.