Ginger Molasses Cookies

*I found this recipe on a blog called 'The Toby Show' (the pic is also hers). I HATE the smell of molasses, but ohhhh these are yummy!

Ingredients:

3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted & cooled
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 egg
3/4 cup molasses
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
-----------------------------
1/4 cup granulated sugar
3 tbsp coarsely chopped crystallized ginger

Directions:
In a medium bowl, wisk together the melted butter and brown sugar. Wisk in the egg and molasses. Blend it all well. It will be very dark and creamy.
In a big mixing bowl, wisk together all the dry ingredients--except for the sugar & crystallized ginger.
Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until you have a nice thick ginger bread dough. Cover and refrigerate the dough for 1 hour.
Meanwhile, place sugar and crystallized ginger in a food processor or mini-prep and grind. Pour mixture into a small bowl.
Preheat oven to 375F and line cookie sheets with parchment.

Take half the dough out of the fridge, leave the other half in there while you work. roll the dough into 1 1/2 inch balls. Lightly roll each ball in the sugar mixture and put on cookie sheet, 3 inches apart.

Bake for 12 minutes or until starting to get golden brown around the edges. Immediately slide parchment onto cooling racks.

This recipe made 27 cookies. I baked 18 of them in 2 batches and put the other 9 balls in the freezer. I omitted rolling the 9 I froze in the ginger sugar. But there's enough ginger sugar left over that I put it in a small glass jar for next time. All I have to do is thaw them, roll them in the ginger sugar and I'm ready to go.

*I make the cookies bigger (like all my cookies) and bake them for less time, just checking until I think they're perfect.

Chocolate Cake Cookies

*I got this recipe (and photo) from Becky Higgins' recipe blog. These are REALLY chocolaty(<-- looks weird but spellchecker did it) and seriously like the easiest, quickest cookies ever!
Ingredients:
1 box chocolate cake mix
2 eggs
1/2 c. oil (I prefer olive oil)
1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Mix all ingredients together. Bake at 350 for 8-9 minutes. Yield: About 3 dozen cookies.

My Favorite Snickerdoodles

*I LOVE these cookies, and I make them extra big and soft! I also usually double this because they don't last that long otherwise! :)

Ingredients:
1 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
3 cups flour
1 tsp cream tarter
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
cinnamon & sugar (for rolling balls in)

Directions:
Mix butter, sugar, and eggs. In separate bowl, mix dry ingredients. Combine both mixes, (I mix with my hands at this point) until its a nice even dough. Mold/shape into 1" balls and roll to coat in the cinnamon & sugar mix. Place on cookie sheet and bake at 400 degrees for 8-10 minutes. (I like mine 'fat' cookies and soft, so mine are usually finished around 8 minutes)
*dough also freezes well, and I save the extra cinnamon and sugar mix in a closed container for next time.

My YUMMMMMMMMY Recipe For Pumpkin Cookies!

Yeah. I honestly feel 'yummy' needed that many extra 'M's... so?! *wink*

You will too once you try these and fall in love with them too! I'm a HUGE pumpkin cookie fan. Like, for real homie! (lol don't know where that came from, but I'm leaving it) I don't even have to hesitate to call them my favorite cookies! ... That being said, Ive had a LOT of pumpkin cookie-making experience in my days, and trust me, I have tried many a recipe! :) With all of my cooking I like to 'experiment' here and there, by 'tweaking' and adding my own personal ideas/amounts into recipes to come up with something I really like, and that I feel is maybe even loads better that the original! *wink* .... So this is my own personal pumpkin cookie concoction, and every time I make them I make lots of them and take them around to my neighbors and friends! -so here you go, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do! :)

*(also, a quick apology to my neighbors/friends over the years: As you well know, pumpkin cookies are selfishly my very favorite cookies, and there's a really good chance that if I'm making cookies these are the ones you will get! I apologize for the lack of variety... but hey, they're free right?! *wink*)

Jes' Yummmmmmmmy Recipe For Pumpkin Cookies:
(-did I get the same number of 'm's in the title? lol

Ingredients:
2 c. sugar
1 c. butter or margarine
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. lemon juice
1 'gigantic' can of pumpkin puree ( -I just looked, and its 29 oz)
4 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. cloves
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. ginger
1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips (that's right, lol one WHOLE bag!)

Directions:
Cream butter and sugar together. Add all other 'wet' ingredients (including pumpkin) an mix well. In separate bowl, mix together all the 'dry' ingredients (excluding chocolate chips though). Add 'dry' ingredients to the 'wet', and again, mix really well. Stir in chocolate chips and spoon onto cookie sheet.
Bake for 10-15 minutes (or as needed... here in Logan 12 minutes seems to be perfect for how I like them -which is really moist and soft!) at 350 degrees.

Notes:
*Batter will be still slightly runny... or maybe really sticky... don't know how to describe it, lol but its normal. :)
*Makes a lot... maybe 4+ dozen (-if you make HUGE ones like I do at least) * Ive seen some people/recipes call for 'Pumpkin Spice' instead of the other spices (nutmeg, cloves, etc...) but Ive never tried it and wouldn't know on amounts, so you'd have to experiment on your own
*They freeze well, so feel free to make extras :)