Cookie recipes

Within a relatively short amount of time I was bestowed with two really delicious ginger cookie recipes. The first is from my friend Wendy and it is more of a crackle cookie. I loved the crunchy outside and soft inside of this cookie and could eat them by the handful! I want to try making these by rolling them in the raw brown sugar to try something different sometime.

 Here is that Gingersnap cookie recipe.
 2 1/4 cups flour
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter (softened)
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg
3 1/2 oz crystallized ginger chips
 Preheat oven to 350degrees. Mix dry ingredients together and set aside. Mix butter and sugar in large bowl until creamy. Stir in molasses and egg. Add dry ingredients into dry mixture and mix well. Stir in crystallized ginger chips. Chill dough for one hour. Form one inch balls and roll in sugar, place on cookie sheet two inches apart. Bake 8-10 minutes. Remove cookies from sheet to cool. Makes 3 dozen cookies.

 The second is from my sister-in-law McKay. This is a traditional, roll out cookie that really holds it's shape well and is very soft to eat. Her icing is great for covering large amounts of cookie.

 Ginger Bread Cookies
Mix together first:
½ cup shortening
2 c sugar
½ cup butter
½ cup molasses
2 eggs
 Sift together in separate bowl, then add to sugar mixture:
4 cup flour
2 teaspoon(t) cinnamon
1 t ginger
½ t soda
1 t nutmeg
1 t cloves
¼ t salt
 Divide dough into 4 groups, wrap in wax paper, chill overnight or until stiff (3-4 hours). Roll out dough and use cookie cutters. Bake at 325 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Cool completely before icing. 

Icing
Mix together first:
½ cup butter
½ cup shortening
½ cup milk
½ t vanilla
Then add:
2 lb bag powdered sugar, until right consistency

Add food coloring (This icing recipe makes more than you need for one batch of cookies, but keeps great in the fridge if air tight.)

 For my sister's cookies I iced with a icing that hardens and is a bit easier to manipulate into smaller portions of the cookie.
 http://allrecipes.com/recipe/sugar-cookie-icing/

 Enjoy!

And thank goodness my trusty stand mixer is keeping up with all of my baking...it may be on it's last leg though. The first two speeds don't work very well and it definitely protests if it has to work hard!