Chewy Ginger Cookies with Cardamom

Everyone has their weird food tastes.  Mine is ginger.  I adore the stuff.  I have ginger cravings, which can only be satisfied by obscene quantities of candied ginger.  Yeah, it totally makes my mouth burn, and it's wonderful.  Most people crave ice cream, brownies, or chocolate chip cookies, nope not me.  I crave ginger snaps.  These ginger snaps are perfect- a strong gingery bite, a chewy moist center, and crunchy raw sugar coating, all punctuated by a lovely undertone of cardamom.

What's your strangest food craving?

• 2 ¼ cup all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 tablespoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1/2 teaspoon ground clove
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2/3 cup dark brown suga
• 5 ounces unsalted butter, room temperature
• ¼ cup molasses
• 1 large egg, room temperature
• 2 teaspoons finely grated fresh ginger
• 1/2 cup coarse raw sugar (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a medium mixing bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, ginger, cardamom, clove and salt.
3. Beat brown sugar and butter with an electric mixer on low speed until light and fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the molasses, egg and fresh ginger and beat on medium for 1 minute. 
4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir until well combined.
5. With a 2-teaspoon sized scoop, drop the dough into the raw sugar and roll to coat.  Move onto a parchment lined sheet pan approximately 2-inches apart. Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 12 minutes for slightly chewy cookies or 15 minutes for more crisp cookies. Rotate the pan halfway through cooking.
6. Remove from the oven and allow the cookies to stay on the sheet pan for 30 seconds before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with all of the dough.

Notes:

• Store in an airtight container for up 10 days.  Storing cookies in glass encourages a crunchy texture, while plastic storage containers keep cookies more moist.
• If desired, you may scoop and freeze the cookie dough on a sheet pan and once frozen, place in a resealable bag to store. Bake directly from the freezer as above.

Yields about 4 dozen cookies.

Adapted from Alton Brown.