1
["In a medium bowl, whisk the flour with the crystallized and ground ginger, baking soda and salt.", "Using a mixer, beat the butter with the sugar at medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.", "Beat in the egg yolk and vanilla, scraping the side and bottom of the bowl.", "Beat in the dry ingredients at medium-low speed.", "Refrigerate the dough for 15 minutes.", "Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.", "Position the racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven.", "On a lightly floured surface, roll out half at a time of the dough to 1/8"" thickness.", "Using a 2"" biscuit cutter, stamp out ronds as close together as possible.", "Arrange the rounds on large baking sheets, about 1 inch apart.", "Gather the scraps and reroll, cutting out more cookies.", "Bake the cookies in batches for about 20 minutes, until golden; shift the pans from top to bottom and front to back halfway through baking.", "Let the cookies cool on the sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to racks to cool completely.", "FOR HAZELNUT-NUTELLA SANDWICH COOKIES: In a food processor, finely grind 2/3 cup roasted and salted hazelnuts.", "Replace both gingers with the ground nuts.", "Sandwich the cookies with Nutella or another chocolate spread.", "FOR COCONUT-RASPBERRY THUMBPRINTS: Replace both gingers with 3/4 cup shredded unsweetened coconut.", "Roll the dough into 1"" balls and bake for 14 minutes.", "Then make a dent in the cookies and fill with raspberry jam (or any jam of your choice - muscadine is great too!).", "Bake for about 10 more minutes.", "FOR COCOA NIB-CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES: Finely chop two 3-ounce milk chocolate bars with cocoa nibs.", "Replace both gingers with the chopped chocolate and nibs, folding them in after beating in the dry ingredients.", "MAKE AHEAD: The cookie dough can be wrapped in plastic and aluminum foil and refrigerated for up to 1 week or frozen for up to 1 month.", "Thaw in the refrigerator before using.", "The baked cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to 1 week or wrapped in plastic and foil and frozen for up to 1 month."]
