I thought I was all cookied-out after the holidays.
But these cookies changed that.
Since she was around 4-years old, my youngest daughter has loved to bake. One day she asked if she could start making up her own recipes. With supervision, we let her loose with whatever ingredients she was inspired to use, and in any quantity she saw fit.
Each time she concocted, we took careful notes. There were plenty of flops, especially in the cake department. Suffice to say she wouldn't yield to our advice about minimizing the use of cinnamon.
Then, one day, at the age of 5, the stars aligned and the little turkey came up with a real winner -- a chewy spice cookie that she named "Chyler Chews". We made them many times over, much to the delight of friends and family.
With that Everest climbed, my daughter went on hiatus from mixing and baking...until last week.
Over the school vacation, my daughter, now almost 7, got her second wind. Her first request was to bake "Chyler Chews". I pulled up the recipe and suggested, most delicately and humbly, just a few small tweaks -- the addition of 1/2 cup flour and rolling the finished dough in raw sugar before baking.
The result: COOKIE PERFECTION!
Don't wait until next holiday season to try them!
Ginger Chews
a.k.a Chyler Chews
Makes 3 dozen
2 1/2 cups AP flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
½ tsp baking powder
3 tsp cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 cup (2 sticks butter) softened
½ cup granulated sugar
1 ½ cups (8 oz.) dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1 Tablespoon honey
1 cup raw sugar or sanding sugar
Preheat oven to 350.
Step 1: Sift flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder and spices into a medium bowl. Set aside.
Step 2: In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter, sugars, & honey until light and fluffy (2 minutes). Add the eggs and vanilla and mix till combined.
Step 3: Add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture and beat on low to combine. Chill the dough in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.
Step 4: Place the raw sugar in a shallow bowl. Scoop roughly 2 Tablespoons of dough (use a #40 scoop if you have one) and roll into a ball. Roll the ball in the raw sugar to coat completely. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet, 2 inches apart. Using a 1/2 sheet pan, I was able to bake 12 to a sheet.
Step 5: Bake 12-14 minutes until edges have set, but middle is still slightly soft. Cool pan on a rack for 5 minutes. Then use a thin spatula to transfer the cookies on to a cooling rack. Enjoy!
Click the "Print Friendly" icon at the bottom of this post to get a printer-ready copy of this recipe!
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