Perfect not-too-sweet molasses cookies

One thing I've noticed about dessert recipes: there's almost always too much sugar. Actually, it's not just in the recipes - even in store-bought cookies and pastries, I always found the sugar overwhelming. No, I'm not a sugar hater. I just believe that we eat too much sugar in general. In fact, the average American consumes more than 20 teaspoons of added sugar each day. That's about half a cup of sugar every day, 3 and 1/2 cups of sugar every week and 15 cups of sugar per month. This means that an average family of four eats (drumroll) a grand total of 60 cups of sugar a month.

That's why, of all my cookie recipes, I especially love this one. It's got just enough sugar, a chewy texture and a delightful hint of ginger. If you actually can stop yourself from eating them right away, I really recommend that you store them in a cupboard overnight, because they're even better the next day.

INGREDIENTS:

• 2/3 cup canola oil
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves

DIRECTIONS:

• Preheat oven to 350° Fahrenheit.
• In a large bowl, combine the oil and the sugar. Mix in the egg and molasses. In a separate bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients. Slowly stir the flour mixture into the oil mixture and mix until well combined.
• Shape dough into 1-inch balls, slightly flatten and place about 1 inch apart on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake for about 12 minutes, until the bottom of the cookie is light brown. Cool on wire rack.