A Seasonal Treat -Have you ever gotten a flyer from a local grocery store and deciding that, yes, you WOULD try that recipe? That is exactly what I did. There is a small chain of markets in our region which always manages to carry items that brighten the holiday season. As it happens, both in Asheville and in Winter Park we have a Fresh Market. I looked through a flyer I received from them and saw this page – Bake Someone Happy. I thought it was pretty clever but wondered if anyone I knew liked ginger as much as I did. I followed the directions, but one thing that puzzled me was that there was no mention of oven temperature. I baked the cookies at a 375 degree oven. The recipe (below) said to bake the cookies in two racks of the oven. However, when I did I noticed that the cookies baked on top were nicely crinkled, but the ones in the bottom were not. I recommend not baking the cookies together but to bake them in two batches in the middle of the oven. Other than that, Thanks to whoever at Fresh Market thought this one up!

Ingredients:

1. 12 tablespoons of unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks) at room temperature
2. 1 cup light brown sugar
3. 1 egg at room temperature
4. 1/4 cup molasses
5. 2 teaspoons fresh ginger, very finely chopped
6. 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
7. 2 teaspoons baking soda
8. 2 teaspoons ground ginger
9. 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
10. 1/4 teaspoon salt
11. 3/4 semisweet chocolate chips
12. 2 ounces crystallized ginger, chopped
13. 1/2 cup granular sugar (for dusting

Directions:

1. Prepare two baking sheets lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
2. In a large bowl, beat butter with a mixer at high speed for one minute.
3. Add brown sugar and continue to beat for another 5 minutes scraping the bowl often.
4. Add the egg, the molasses and fresh ginger and beat for another minute scraping the bowl.
5. In a separate bowl sift together flour, baking soda, ground ginger, pumpkin spice mix, and salt.
6. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture dividing it into thirds. Beat at low speed scraping the bowl with each addition
7. Mix in the chocolate chips and chopped crystallized ginger on low speed.
8. Pour the granulated sugar into a small bowl.

Shape the dough into balls about the size of a walnut and coat with granulated sugar.

Arrange the cookies on the prepared baking sheets about two inches apart. The dough will be soft and the next step is to chill it!

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and adjust a rack in the middle

Since these are cold weather cookies, I simply set the sheets outside my kitchen where the temperature in Asheville was a bit colder than the temperature in my refrigerator. If you are not baking these cookies in a briskly cool climate, simply make room in your refrigerator for them and chill them until they are firm, about an hour.

Place the firm, chilled cookies in the middle rack of the oven and bake for 15 minutes, depending on your oven, more or less. The cookies should be a bit soft in the middle.