Chewy Oatmeal Cookies

These chewy oatmeal cookies,
with a hint of whole wheat and lots of flavor,
are easy to roll and cut out
with your favorite shaped cutter.

Ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks, 8 ounces) unsalted butter
3/4 cup (5 5/8 ounces) packed light or dark brown sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
2 cups (8 ounces) Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1/2 cup (2 ounces) whole wheat flour, traditional or white wheat
1 cup (3 1/2 ounces) old-fashioned rolled oats
cinnamon sugar (optional)

Directions: To prepare the dough:
In a medium-sized bowl, beat together the butter and sugar, then add the egg, vanilla, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, and ginger, beating until smooth. Beat in the flours and oats; the mixture may look dry at first, but don’t worry, it’ll come together. Divide the dough into two pieces, wrap each piece in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Lightly grease (or line with parchment) two baking sheets.
To shape the cookies: Working with one piece of dough at a time, roll it into a circle about 14" in diameter. Use your favorite cutters to cut out cookies, re-rolling and cutting the scraps. Place the cutout cookies on lightly greased or parchment-lined cookie sheets; set them fairly close together, as they don’t spread.
To bake the cookies: Bake the cookies for about 9 to 10 minutes: the shorter amount of time will make softer cookies, the longer amount of time, crisper cookies. Remove the cookies from the oven, sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar, if desired, and transfer to a rack to cool. Repeat with the remaining dough. Decorate as desired.