Sunday, February 10, 2013

Baked Sunday Mornings: Chocolate Ginger Molasses Cookies

I have been looking for ways to fit more hours into a day. Unfortunately, since that is seemingly impossible, I have taken it upon myself to make the most out of the twenty four hours a day we have. I had always been an evening exerciser; however, I have been transitioning to morning workouts (though I do still like to run with Josh and Eloise some nights). As a result, I have more time in the evening to make dinner and hang out with Josh and Eloise, which is awesome. Another result? I wake up early almost all the time now, and when I woke up at six on Saturday morning and didn’t need to be to Spin class until eight, I decided it was a good time to make the dough for this week’s Baked Sunday Mornings treat, Chocolate Ginger Molasses Cookies. I halved the recipe, which has gotten easier to do since I measure most ingredients in grams these days. When I saw how crumbly my dough was, I was concerned that my early morning brain had miscalculated an ingredient or two because the dough did not look good at all (I checked and it sounded like the other bakers had similar issues). I also generally do not love chocolate and ginger together, so I had pretty low expectations for this recipe. 

I was pleasantly surprised on two counts: the dough rolled out easily when I went to make the cookies yesterday evening and they were very tasty! I think I don’t like when a heavy chocolate base is saturated with ginger, but the flavors where well-balanced in these cookies. They were also nice and light in texture, perhaps as result of the shortening. I haven’t had a chance to make the glaze and decorate them yet - perhaps later today. I doubt I would make these again, but it’s nice that the recipe was not a total wash. My dad and sister always give me fun Christmas gifts and the squirrel cookie cutters were actually part of a dog biscuit set. I may not use the dog bones or fire hydrants for human treats, but squirrels are cute enough for human use. 

For the recipe and to see how the other bakers’ treats turned out, please visit the Baked Sundays Mornings site. And have a great Sunday!

6 comments:

Unknown said...

I've always wished I could be someone who snuck in early morning workouts, but I just can't get motivated to do it. Kudos to you for making it work!

I love these little squirrels, they're adorable! The cookies sound delicious too - I bet they'd be great around the holidays.

Have Apron....Will Bake said...

The squirrels are so cute!! I wish my dough had turned out better. It was tasty, just too dry. I will have to try them again some time.

Kris' Kitchen said...

Have you seen those really old cartoons where the old car is going down the road but then has engine troubles. The driver gets out of the car, lifts the hood and gets the squirrels running again which makes the engine go and things are fixed. I thought you were going to tell us that the squirrel is you out there running and spinning...your new symbol. So I think that is what these cute squirrel cookies are...they are a symbol for you. So cute and way to go with your workouts.

Unknown said...

Your cookies look great! I am also a morning person ( not for exercising , just for getting things done around the house!) and I do my best baking very early. Nice work!

Anonymous said...

Love the squirrels!

Gloria - The Ginger Snap Girl said...

I like chocolate and I like ginger, but I've never had them together. Sounds like this is a nice balance. Plus the squirrels are awesome!