Made with Louisiana’s own Steen’s cane syrup and lots of ginger, these cookies are wonderfully crisp if baked for 15 minutes.  Take them out of the oven a little earlier and they’ll remain soft enough for killer ice cream sandwiches (butter pecan is an especially inspired combination).  Another plus:  the dough requires chilling, but it keeps for several days in the fridge–make the dough in the afternoon and wait until the temperature cools before baking.  It is August, after all, even if these cookies do taste like the first cool weather of fall, with smoke from a canefield fire hanging in the air.  The recipe below is a tweaked version of Dorie Greenspan’s “Molasses Spice Cookies” from her excellent book “Baking From My Home to Yours” (page 77, if you want to compare).

• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour (King Arthur rocks)
• 2 T baking soda
• 2-3 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp allspice
• 1 1/2 sticks salted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar (cane sugar, of course)
• 1/2 cup Steen’s cane syrup
• 1 egg
• extra white sugar for coating

Beat together softened butter & brown & white sugars until light and fluffy.  Pour in the cane syrup and continue beating until completely combined, then add the egg and beat until mixture is uniformly textured.  Next, stir the spices, flour, and baking soda together in a separate bowl.  Stir these dry ingredients into the butter/sugar mixture, just until completely combined.  Divide the soft dough into two on separate pieces of plastic wrap; cover the dough with wrap and flatten into a smooth-sided square 1″ thick.  Chill for 1 hour.  Remove dough from fridge, heat oven to 350 degrees, and unwrap dough.  Using a sharp knife, cut the dough into 1″ squares.  Pinch off one square at a time; roll into a ball, then roll the cookie balls in the reserved white sugar.  Place balls 2-3″ apart on cookie sheets.  Flatten the balls into 1/4″ thick rounds with a smooth-bottomed glass dipped in the reserved sugar.  Bake for 11-15 minutes, depending on whether you’d like a softer or crispier cookie.