CINNAMOONS

Makes 28 Cinnamoons Supplies: 2 baking sheets, parchment paper, bowls, sifter, measuring cups, measuring spoons, baking spatula, wooden spoon, dinner knife 11/4 cups (310 mL) all-purpose flour (spoon in, level) 2 tsp (10 mL) ground cinnamon 1/2 tsp (2.5 mL) baking soda 1/2 tsp (2.5 mL) ground ginger 1/4 tsp (1 mL) ground nutmeg 1/8 tsp (0.5 mL) salt 1/2 cup (125 mL) soft unsalted butter 1/3 cup (80 mL) packed brown sugar 1/3 cup (80 mL) white sugar 1/4 cup (60 mL) molasses (any type you have) 1 egg yolk 1/2 tsp (2.5 mL) vanilla extract 2 tbsp (30 mL) unsweetened cocoa powder Preheat the oven to 350 F (175 C). Line the baking sheets with parchment paper. (If you have only one baking sheet, this recipe will still work fine, but after baking the first batch, you will need to let the sheet cool before refilling it with the second batch of cookie dough.) Into a large bowl, sift the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, ginger, nutmeg and salt. Mix well with a baking spatula. In another large bowl, use a wooden spoon to cream together the butter and the brown and white sugars. Mix in the molasses, egg yolk, and vanilla. Do not add the cocoa powder yet. To make the cinnamon-ginger dough, add half the flour mixture to all of the butter mixture and stir until most of the flour is blended in. Then stir in the rest of the flour mixture. Mix well. Use a dinner knife to scrape sticky ingredients from the wooden spoon. For plain cinnamon-ginger cookies, you can use the dough (as it is now) and skip to step 9. But to make Cinnamoons, spoon out about half the dough into another bowl. Sift 2 tbsp (30 mL) cocoa powder into one of the bowls. Mix well into the dough. Now you will have one bowl of cinnamon-ginger dough and a second bowl with spicy cocoa dough. Use 1 tbsp (15 mL) to scoop into the cocoa dough; fill the spoon about halfway, then scoop the same half-filled spoon into the cinnamon-ginger dough and fill the spoon to the top (level, not mounded). Each cookie will have a slightly different-looking swirl of the two doughs. Drop the dough in one lump onto the parchment-lined baking sheet, using your finger to gently pull the lump of dough out of the spoon; it’s easiest if you pull at the edges and not the middle of the dough. Continue scooping the two kinds of dough into one spoon and dropping the mounds onto the parchment. Drop the mounds of dough 2 inches (5 cm) apart. Don’t flatten the dough. The cookies spread as they bake. Fill up two baking sheets with 28 mounds of dough. Bake, one sheet at a time, on the middle rack of the oven for 11 to 12 minutes, or until the cookies have spread out, puffed up and settled back down again. Cool on baking sheets until firm before eating.