Paired with a classic cup of black tea and a Graham Green novel

King Arthur Flour is wonderful because it is an employee-owned business. They treat their employees well and the profit they make is distributed equally.

Wholesome Sweeteners is also a wonderful company to support because their products are organic and fair trade. That means they are treating - the land, your body, and the many people who help to make the product - well. Always nice.

Mix these two wonderful, ethical foods with some vegetarian fed organic cage-free eggs, sugar and spice, and you have a scrumptious guilt-free (in the responsible consumer sense of the phrase) soft gingerbread cookie to nibble with your fair-trade tea.

SOFT GINGERBREAD COOKIES

(recipe from King Arthur's amazing collection)

• 1 cup ( 2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup molasses
• 2 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 1/4 teaspoons ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 2 large eggs
• 3 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose FlourSugar
• sugar for coating
  
• Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease two baking sheets.
• In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until they’re light and fluffy. Beat in the molasses, baking soda, salt, and spices. Add the eggs, beating well and scraping down the sides of the bowl to make sure everything is incorporated. Stir in the flour.
• Scoop the soft dough into 1 ½" balls; a tablespoon cookie scoop works well here. Roll them in granulated sugar. Space the cookies on the prepared baking sheets, leaving about 2 ½" between them. Bake them for 10 minutes. The centers will look soft and puffy; that’s OK. Remove the cookies from the oven, and cool thems on the pan for 10 minutes before transferring them to a rack to cool completely.