Chubby Ginger Boys
(Makes 10 cookies)

Rolling dough can sometimes be more than we want to do. But this cute cookie is simple to make, doesn’t require a rolling pin, and is fun to make with your kids. The “Boys” are made by strategically placing balls of dough so they will form a chubby figure when they spread on the baking sheet. Kids love to decorate the faces and place candy or dried fruit “buttons” on the bodies. The cookies are soft, chewy and spicy, and are wonderful with hot coffee or milk.

1 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1-1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup unsalted Plugra butter, at cool room temperature
1 egg, graded large
1/4 cup light, unsulphered molasses
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
extra granulated sugar, for coating the dough (about 1/2 cup)
dried currants, raisins, candies, for garnish

Preheat a conventional oven to 325 degrees, or a convection oven to 310 degrees. Arrange the oven racks so they divide the oven into thirds. Line two baking sheets with parchment.

Combine the sugar, spices, baking soda and salt in a mixing bowl and blend on low speed for about 10 seconds. Add the butter, egg and molasses, and beat on medium high speed for about 2 minutes, until the mixture is light and creamy. Scrape the bowl and add the flour, blending on low speed until the flour is mixed in, about 20 seconds.

Using a #100 dough scoop, scoop the dough into 70 balls. Alternatively, divide the dough into 70 portions using heaping teaspoonfuls, and roll them into balls. Place the extra granulated sugar in a small dish and coat the dough balls evenly with the sugar.  You will be using 7 dough balls for each cookie. Start by placing three balls on the baking sheet, in a straight line, to form the body and the head. Place another ball to the right of the middle ball, and one to the left of the middle ball. These will be the arms.  Squeeze these two balls so they are oval in shape. Place the two remaining balls at diagonal angles at the end of the bottom of the body to form the legs, also squeezing these into ovals. The dough balls should all be tightly up against each other. Place your choice of decorations for the buttons, eyes and mouth. Bake the cookies in the preheated oven, reversing the pans halfway through the baking time, for 11-13 minutes, or until they are puffy and just starting to turn light brown around the edges. Do not over bake the cookies. Remove the pans from the oven and place them on wire racks to cool. Store the completely cooled cookies in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

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