I’ve been thinking about these sparking, chewy ginger cookies since I made them last week, and I knew I couldn’t let this week pass by without posting them. It seems that cookies have been on my mind a lot. Since I arrived in Ohio this past weekend, I’ve been craving cookies big-time. Everywhere I go, they seem to be calling me. From behind glass-counters, plates, holiday-themed boxes. And I’m a sucker for ginger and molasses–the most brilliant cookie/cake/ice cream combination.
There’s something about the spiciness of molasses and ginger cookies that immediately transports me to Christmas-time and makes me feel all warm and cozy inside. I could eat a plateful of these cookies, with a hot latte, curled up in bed any day. But they feel particularly appropriate to eat when it’s really chilly out, and besides meat, I crave few things other than baked goods. This is probably the only time of year that I could do without fruits and veggies. Just gimme these cookies, and keep the supply coming!
I’ve adapted this recipe, slightly, from Joy the Baker, one of the freshest and warmest voices out there in the food blogging world. Everything that Joy posts makes me want to run to my yellow Kitchenaid.
These chewies are delicious straight out of the oven (when they’re more tender than chewy) and even better then next day, when they settle into their chewiness, and offer a crunchy sugar crisp at the end. I imagine you might be baked out at this point, but if you’re not, or if you think you’re missing that traditional molasses cookie, give this recipe a go. It’s a pinch–and so worth the extra 30 minutes in the kitchen.
Happy holidays to you and your family from ours 🙂
Sparkling Ginger Chewies
adapted from Joy the Baker
2 1/4 cups of all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons of baking soda
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1 1/2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon of ground ginger
pinch of nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon of ground cloves
1 1/2 sticks of unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup of brown sugar
1 large egg
1/4 cup of molasses
raw/ turbinado sugar for coating
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line a baking sheet with either parchment paper or a Silpat.
2. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt into a bowl.
3. In a stand mixer, beat together the butter, sugar and spices at medium speed for a few minutes, until smooth.
4. Beat in the egg and molasses for about a minute (until light in color).
5. At low speed, beat in the dry ingredients until just combined.
6. Pour the raw sugar into a small bowl and use a cookie scoop to measure out roughly 2 tablespoons of dough into your hands. Roll into a uniform ball and then roll the ball of dough in the raw sugar, until covered evenly.
7. Place the balls of dough on the cookie sheet, about 2 inches apart.
8. Bake the cookies for about 13 minutes, until the tops begin to form cracks, and feel set, but slightly soft to the touch.
9. Cool, then repeat with the next batch of cookies.
Store the cookies in a tightly sealed container for no more than a week (they’ll lose their chewiness).
Musical Pairings: Sufjan Stevens – Ding! Dong! Songs For Christmas, Vol. III + Sparkling Ginger Chewies
Happy Holidays! Kasey and I wanted to leave you with one last post before Christmas. Kasey saved her delicious sparkling, ginger chewies recipe for the occasion, and I pulled out Sufjan Steven’s Ding! Dong! Songs for Christmas album. Of course, these Sufjan albums are widely posted across the blog-o-sphere every Christmas, but with good reason, I think. The entry point into the albums are the fun takes on original Christmas tunes, in part because they represent a somewhat contemporary approach to those classic, well-known songs. And although I’m eagerly waiting for the Sufjan-take on “Rocking Around the Christmas Tree” and “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer,” these EPs are fantastic in part because they include a number of fantastic original songs. Check out musicalpairings.com for the rest of the review. –Matthew
