Spiced Up Ginger Cookies

Good things come from liquor stores. Besides the liquor, I mean.
The Liquor Control Board of Ontario, LCBO, regulates the sale of alcoholic beverages in Ontario, Canada. Here in California, unlike many other places, all you need is a permit to sell liquor and you can purchase it just about any time at the market or corner store. But corner store does not have a wonderful publication put out several times a year by the LCBO. A very good (Canadian) friend of mine first turned me on to Food&Drink, which is filled with amazing photographs, wonderful recipes and very useful drink pairing suggestions. This is far and away the best marketing plan they could have devised, in my estimation. If I picked out a recipe, I would be likely to purchase whatever they recommended to accompany it. And how else would I know what pairs well with these cookies?
The answer is more cookies.
These Spiced Up Ginger Cookies are really good. Certainly the best in recent memory, if not the best chewy ginger cookies I've ever had. They have a lot of spice. They have nice crispy edges when they're freshly baked. They use oil instead of butter so they remain very chewy, even after a few days!
I'm reprinting the recipe here. I added a pinch of salt and rolled the cookies in sugar before baking. The rolling could certainly be omitted, but I love the way it looks.

Spiced Up Ginger Cookies

2 cups ap flour

1 tbsp ground ginger

2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp each ground cardamom and black pepper

1 cup granulated sugar

2/3 cup vegetable oil

1 egg

1/4 cup molasses

1/2 cup chopped candied ginger

1/4 cup coarse sugar, for rolling

Preheat oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, spices, baking soda and salt.

In a large bowl, beat together sugar and vegetable oil. Beat in egg and molasses until smooth. Stir in flour mixture until well combined, then add in candied ginger.

Shape dough into 1 inch balls, roll in coarse sugar and place on baking sheet. Bake 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.

Makes 3 dozen.