Five Spice Ginger Cookies

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Into a medium sized bowl, sift ginger, baking soda, five spice powder, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, flour and salt. Mix to combine. Set aside.

In a second bowl beat your butter with sugars until you reach a creamy consistency. Add egg and vanilla, beating some more. Finally add in your water and molasses mixing until everything is combined and smooth.

Stir your flour mixture into your wet ingredients. Add the chopped crystallized ginger and mix until combined. Mixture may be sticky. At this point you can put dough in the refrigerator to chill for 10 minutes for easier handling. Or if you’re like me and don’t have time for chilling get right to work.

Pour the extra white sugar onto a platter or pie dish. Set aside.

Shape dough into balls. I made the balls about 2-3 inches or big enough to fit into a ¼ cup. Roll in white sugar until completely coated.

I put four at a time on my parchment paper lined cookie sheets, so they need to be spaced at least 2 inches apart for expansion. Flatten slightly with back of pan or flat cup.

Bake large cookies for 14 minutes rotating pans halfway through. Remove pan from oven. Cool slightly on the pan before removing them to a rack to let them cool completely. If making cookies smaller adjust your baking time to 8-10 minutes.