Mmmmolasses Cookies

J is quite the ice cream maker. What does this have to do with molasses cookies, you ask? Well, you'll see. He started making ice cream back in June, for my birthday. My mom bought an ice cream maker last year, so he has been using that. He has made it a few times since, and this latest one was inspired by a specialty flavor at Kimball's (only the best ice cream ever). The flavor? Gingersnap molasses. We all went crazy over it, going back for more repeatedly. I nearly cried about the fact that it is a specialty flavor, because that means we will likely never see it again. R.I.P. dark chocolate mint cookie...

So J decided to try making it himself. And let me tell you - it was soooo good! However, he had plenty of leftover fresh ginger when he was done, so he asked me to make some chewy ginger cookies. Which, in all of my searching, seems to be the same as thing molasses cookies. I found this recipe, with only about a billion good reviews, so I decided to give it a shot.

These were very easy to make. Mix dough in stand mixer, sit for an hour, roll into balls, roll in sugar, and bake.

(For a second I thought the above picture showed sugar spilled all over the stove, then realized it was dust. Note to self: clean computer screen.)

Look at my perfectly cracked molasses cookies! They were so so good. The timing on the recipe is perfect - we thought at first they needed longer, but the second tray proved that wrong, so stick with the short time.

Now of course, I had to find a way to combine these cookies with the last of the ice cream J made. So I made the last bit of dough into two extra large cookies, and dug out my ice cream sandwich maker. That's right, I have an ice cream sandwich maker. It was a fun looking thing we registered for, not really expecting to get. And I finally got to use it! (Only two and a half years after recieving it...) The thing actually works quite well, though I would never call it a kitchen necessity.

Stick in a cookie, some ice cream, and another cookie, then flip it over and press down. Voila! The perfect ice cream sandwich!

And let me tell you - that thing was tasty!

Now here's the kicker - remember the reason for making these cookies in the first place? To use the fresh ginger? Well, if you clicked on that recipe link you will realize that it doesn't call for fresh ginger. I couldn't find a single good recipe that did. So, anyone know any other uses for the stuff? Because we still have some left over..