alpharaposa | Adventures in Cooking: Spicy Ginger cookies

My mom brought this recipe home, and I had to try it. Made these today and loved them, but keep milk or something similar on standby!

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 to 1 tsp cayenne pepper (to taste)
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine
1 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1/4 cup molasses
1/3 cup (or so) of Demerara sugar (also called "turbinado")

Preheat oven to 350
Combine all dry ingredients and set aside
Beat butter and granulated sugar with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in egg. Stir in molasses. Stir in flour mixture until just blended. Roll into 1 inch balls (you may need to chill briefly if the weather is warm), then roll in the Demerara sugar.

Place on ungreased baking sheets 2 inches apart (parchment paper makes it take longer to bake, but makes them less brown and more chewy).

Bake 8-10 minutes until edges are firm. Cool on sheet 2 minutes, then move to rack to cool completely. Makes 50-60 cookies if you roll them properly. (Ours got a little big.)

We used a slightly generous 1/2 tsp of cayenne, and that was just enough heat for us. (I like jalapeno poppers and spicy chicken sandwiches, but not much more than that.) The other spices don't stand out very much, but they're a great back up choir to the pepper's lead. And I love the slight sparkle and crunch from the Demerara.

These wild cookies have capsaicin and protective scales, but this proves ineffective at deterring local predators. pic.twitter.com/jcRaP0Bf8o
— April Fool Raposa (@AlphaRaposa) April 30, 2016