Gingerbread Cookie Hugs...by Brooke

Hey guys! Today at my aunts I made these white chocolate gingerbread cookies! I thought they were so good! Here’s how I made them:

• 3 cups flour
• 2 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon 
• 1 tsp baking soda 
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp salt 
• 1 1/2 (3/4 cup) sticks butter, softened
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup molasses 
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract 

• 1/4 cup sugar
• 60 White and milk chocolate swirled Hershey hugs. 

First mix flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda, nutmeg and salt in a large bowl. Set aside.

Beat butter and brown sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy. Add molasses, egg, and vanilla; mix well. Gradually beat in flour mixture on low speed until well mixed. Press dough into a thick flat disk. Wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350°F

Shape dough into 1" balls. Roll in  1/4 cup granulated sugar to coat. Place 2 inches apart on uncreased baking sheets. 

Bake 8-10 minutes or until edges of cookies just begin to brown. 

Right after the cookies get out of the oven push a Hershey’s hug into the middle. Remove to wire racks; cool completely.

Hope you guys enjoyed these cookies as much as I did!

Jill Here - couple funny things while B made these cookies (without my help by the way. I miss her being little and doing things together but man is it nice that she can bake cookies on her own hahah! First she was practically gagging when adding the molasses, said it smelled nasty. And we shouldn't add nutmeg 'cuz it'll wreck the cookies. 'Just follow the directions B'. The dough was very crumbly but held together when she scooped it out, later I read the directions and realized she added the 1/4 cup sugar to the dough instead of putting it in a small dish to roll the cookie dough balls in! But they turned out great anyway. After they were baked and she tried a bite she said 'they're pretty good'. Then after she finished the cookie she amended 'ok, these are great!'. 

This recipe came out of a Meijer | Holiday 2020 flyer I got in the mail