CHEWY GINGER COOKIES

Steps:

• Position a rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350°F; line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Sift the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and cloves into a medium bowl and set aside.
• In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the butter and brown sugar until smoothly blended, about 1 minute. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl as needed during mixing.
• Add the egg and molasses and mix until blended and an even light brown color, about 1 minute. On low speed, add the flour mixture, mixing just to incorporate.
• Spread the granulated sugar on a large piece of wax or parchment paper.
• Roll ¼ cup of dough between the palms of your hands into a 2 inch ball, roll the ball in the sugar and place on one of the prepared baking sheets.
• Continue making cookies, spacing them 2 inches apart.
• Bake the cookies one sheet at a time until the tops feel firm, but they are still soft in the center and there are several large cracks on top, about 14 minutes.
• Cool the cookies on the baking sheets for 5 minutes, then use a wide metal spatula to transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.
• These make BIG cookies!