There is really only one time of year when everything slows down, at work, at home, and pretty much everywhere.  We are in that zone right now, and boy am I loving it (as I knock loudly on wood).  Thanksgiving was more like a tease…there was hopes of quiet in the air, but that never really happened.  Similar to any vacation I try to go on during the year, life never stops, you just dodge the waves the best you can and put everything back together again when you return.

Of course relaxation in my world takes on a very interesting form.  Yes, cooking is always involved, and I am looking forward to making some fun creations for New Years this year.  So this brings me to this recipe.  As I mentioned before, Thanksgiving was a little crazy for me, mostly on the work front, and of course because I thought things would be slow, and I was taking some time off, of course I tried to cram in a little too much.

A week before Thanksgiving I travelled to Istanbul (definitely more on another post), and the day after I retuned our house guests started arriving.  I have no idea what possessed me to do this, but when the email came asking for baked goods for teachers during parent- teacher conferences, I signed up.  Big mistake.

So, here I was scrambling for a simple yet delicious holiday cookie.  It was a good thing I read the annual cookie edition of Bon Appetit and found these morsels.  I swear they were a life-saver.  Within an hour, the house smelled amazing, and the girls were standing over the counter drooling.

As I sit here relaxing, I look back on that day with a smile.  Typical me trying to do too much, but it ended in sugar, spice and everything nice.  Just the way a holiday should be.

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp. ground ginger
• 3/4 tsp. ground cardamom
• 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup mild-flavored (light) or robust-flavored (dark) molasses
• 1/4 cup (packed) brown sugar
• Coarse sanding or raw sugar (for rolling)

Preparation

Place sanding sugar in a shallow bowl. Scoop out dough by the tablespoonful and roll into balls (if dough is sticky, chill 20 minutes). Roll in sugar and place on 2 parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing 2” apart.

Bake cookies, rotating baking sheets halfway through, until cookies are puffed, cracked, and just set around edges (overbaked cookies won’t be chewy), 8–10 minutes. Transfer to wire racks and let cool.

DO AHEAD: Cookie dough can be made and rolled into balls 2 weeks ahead. Freeze on a baking sheet; transfer to resealable plastic bags. Let sit at room temperature 30 minutes before rolling in sugar.

For a printer-friendly version of this recipe, please click here:  Chewy Molasses Cookies