Rachael Ray

Last night I was listening to my son taking his piano lesson (just a little jarring), while my daughter practiced clarinet (painful - this is a new instrument for her. The sounds emitted from this instrument sound like a duck - the dog goes running) and needed something to cheer me up. I of course headed for the computer and checked in with my favorite baking blogs (sad but true)- Joy the Baker (an old favorite) and King Arthur Flour blog (a new discovery - it’s drool-inducing. Home-made Twix bars? Are you kidding me?).

I was further cheered when I came across this new recipe posted on Joy’s blog - ginger cookies with chocolate - and immediately baked up a batch. I altered the original recipe a little- I didn’t have any cloves and added more chocolate chips of course - they are to die for. Chewy with a lightly crisp crust. Wow. Try them out - these would be good at holiday time too - they are very festive-tasting.

Chewy Ginger Chocolate Chip Cookies (modified from Joy the Baker - www.joythebaker.com)

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups flour

2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

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1 tsp. ground ginger

1 1/2 sticks butter, softened

1 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1/4 cup molasses

1 cup chocolate chips

1/4 cup granulated sugar (for rolling dough)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Sift flour, baking soda, salt, ginger and cinnamon in a small bowl. Beat butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer until well blended - about two minutes. Add egg and molasses and beat until light in color and well blended - another minute or so. Add flour and mix until just incorporated. Fold in chocolate chips.

Roll into 1 tablespoon sized balls and roll each ball in the granulated sugar. Place on cookie sheet (12 per sheet). Bake for ten minutes - cookies will look puffed up and have cracks, which is the way they should look - they will deflate as they cool. Let cool on sheets 5 minutes then move to cooling racks. Makes about 4 dozen. Store in an airtight container at room temp for up to 4 days.