Definitely on the christmas cookie list...

Yesterday I was at my sisters house and  I was in the baking mood, which I've been in for about the past week. So I decided with my sister's encouragement to bake some. So I went on to allrecipes.com, (my default for finding a recipe.) I searched and search until I decided to just take one of the recipes and make it my own, as usual. So this was my take on the Spice Cookies with Crystallized Ginger 

Orange (and next time cranberry) Spiced Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons dark corn syrup
• 3 tablespoons orange zest
• Juice from half an orange
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar for decoration (add some colored sugar to make them prettier)
• 1 cup dried cranberries (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease 2 large cookie sheets.
2. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Add egg, and corn syrup; mix until fluffy. Stir in the orange zest. Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ground ginger, and cloves; stir into the egg mixture. When dough starts to come together, add cranberries, then mix with your hands to form a smooth dough (dough will be very moist)
3. Form dough into 1 inch balls and roll in white sugar. Place balls on a cookie sheet 2 inches apart, and press down with the bottom of a glass dipped in sugar. Bake in the preheated oven for 12 to 15 minutes, cookies should be golden brown. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before Moving to a rack to cool completely.

I completely forgot to add baking soda, but they still came out okay. They were a little to dry, but if you like a crunchy cookie I guess that's good. When we made these yesterday we decided that a few things need to change especially to help with the moister so I marked all the changes that we plan on making next time with gray font. I also think that substituting brown sugar for the white sugar will help with the moister and give it a deeper flavor. These will be a huge hit at Christmas time.

Most Delicious Cookies

If you are an oatmeal raisin cookie fan, you must try this recipe. It is my absolute favorite! It's perfect with all the spices and so chewy and moist!

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups rolled oats
• 1 cup raisins

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, butter flavored shortening, brown sugar, white sugar, eggs, and vanilla until smooth. Combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt; stir into the sugar mixture. Stir in the oats and raisins. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake 9 to 11 minutes until light and golden. Do not over-bake. Let them cool for 2 minutes before removing from cookie sheets to cool completely. Store in airtight container.  (source)