New Years Resolutions--Don't Eat these Ginger Molasses Cookies

Happy New Year Everyone!

For those of you who read this blog regularly, you'll see I've fallen off the blog-wagon for the past couple months.  I'm supposed to move to a new blog on Patheos, but it's just taking time to set up which was the perfect excuse not to write.

But here we are in the first week of 2013, and it's time to make my resolutions, including those around writing. Now I don't know why I make New Years resolutions, because like 92% of other resolution-makers I always eventually fail.  But there's something about a new year, a new opportunity, that always makes me want to try.

Meanwhile, I found this cool website statisticsbrain.com that has all these stats on New Years Resolutions including the Top 10 New Years resolutions for 2012

1.  Lose Weight
2.  Getting Organized
3.  Spend Less, Save More
4.  Enjoy Life to the Fullest
5.  Staying Fit and Healthy
6.  Learn Something Exciting
7.  Quit Smoking
8.  Help Others in Their Dreams
9.  Fall in Love
10.  Spend More Time with Family

The site also cites that 8% are successful in achieving their resolution, 49% have infrequent success and 24% never succeed!

75% are able to maintain their resolution past a week, 71% past 2 weeks, 64% past one month, and 46% past six months.  So as all the women's magazines say, you gotta make the resolution a habit.

Tags:

Here goes:

Resolution 1:   Re-start the Instinct-diet, Diabetic style and lose 8-12 pounds.  Maintain that weight loss throughout the year, with the goal especially of keeping it off for my 30^th Punahou high school reunion in June.  

Note:  As of yesterday, I started weighing myself on the Fitbit scale in the downstairs bathroom which always says I'm at least a pound heavier than the upstairs scale.  I'm going for the most stringent measurement with more accountability because it syncs online and tells me my body fat percentage--an especially depressing fact when I lose weight but gain fat (which means I'm actually losing lean muscle mass).  

Resolution 2:  Exercise 5 hours/week, do 10,000 steps/day 6 days/week with hope of 7 days/week. 

Note:  This is a cheat resolution because I already exercise about that much.  But you got to list something that makes you feel like you're accomplishing something!   And I'm putting numbers on it, and adding the steps piece--very difficult in winter with multiple injuries I must say.

Resolution 3:  Read the Bible in a year.  

Note:  This is actually Ling’s New Year’s Resolution, but I said I would do it with her.  ACK!  I've never been faithful at daily spiritual disciplines and so far we don't have a plan and TWO WHOLE DAYS have already gone by!  We're slipping behind!   So I just sent her 3 links to one year Bible reading plans and hope we'll commit soon.

Resolution 4:  Blog regularly, at least once/week, preferably more.  

Note:  It's time to get back on the proverbial horse.

And on a random other note, as a New Year's present to all of us who won't be able to make these cookies for another 6 months in order to keep our New Years Resolutions, I'm including my Ginger Molasses Cookie recipe.  This has been the most popular cookie of the season and Ling's friends have asked me to post it.   Happy New Years girls!

These are not my cookies, but what my cookies look like
when they're done!

Ginger Molasses Cookies

(adapted from Rosie’s Cookie book)

Mix together in bowl & set aside:

2 c. all purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 Tbs. ground ginger

1 Tbs. ground cinnamon

¾  tsp. ground nutmeg

¾ tsp. ground cloves

½ tsp. ground allspice

¾ tsp. salt

Cream:

12 Tbs. (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter @ room temp.

 ¾ cup white sugar

¼ cup dark brown sugar

Add to butter mixture & mix together until blended:

¼ c. dark molasses

Add & mix until incorporated:

1 large egg

Add flour mixture and blend on low speed for 15 seconds.  Scrape the bowl and blend until the dough is smooth, about 5 seconds more.

Roll a heaping tablespoon of dough into a golfball sized ball, roll in: 

1/2-1 cup turbinado sugar

Bake cookies 2 inches apart @ 375 until they are still slightly soft and cracked on top, 15-16 minutes, a couple minutes more if you’re baking frozen dough.

Note:
I normally make a double recipe and freeze the balls of dough so I can always have fresh cookies on hand.  If you don't have turbinado sugar, you can roll the cookies in regular sugar, but the large crystals of turbinado are attractive, crunchy and tasty!

statistics on new years resolutions? what are the top ten news years resolutions of 2012 ? what is the success rate for new years resolutions ?