Part One of my great Christmas Baking Extravaganza – these gorgeous chewy little ginger cookies. This recipe is from Baking Sheet, and they turned out really well (I made a couple of small substitutions). They were gorgeous five minutes out of the oven – a crisp crunch of sugar on the outside, warm chewy ginger goodness on the inside, and the perfect size for popping straight into your mouth. They’re made with oil, not butter, which means it’s an extremely easy mixture to whip up. I’m packaging them up with a few other biscuits for a Christmas gift, so hopefully they’ll still be as nice a day or two after baking.

2 cups plain flour
1 tablespoon ground ginger
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon each ground cardamom (I used allspice) and black pepper
1 cup raw sugar
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1/4 cup golden syrup
1/2 cup chopped crystallised ginger
1/4 cup coarse sugar, for rolling

Preheat the oven to 180C, and line a tray with baking paper.

In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, spices, baking soda and salt.
In a large bowl, beat together sugar and vegetable oil. Beat in the egg and golden syrup until smooth. Stir in flour mixture until well combined, then add in crystallised ginger.
Shape dough into 3 centimetre balls, roll in coarse sugar and squash down onto the baking. Bake for 7-8 minutes until very lightly browned.

Let cookies cool for 3-5 minutes on cookie sheet, then remove to a wire rack until cool.