Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Cake of the Week: Molasses Ginger Cookies


If, for some incredibly bizarre hypothetical reason, I was only allowed to make one cookie recipe for the rest of my life, it would be these Molasses Ginger Cookies. Am I sure? Absolutely. Regular chocolate chip cookies are great, oatmeal cookies of course are delicious, but there’s something dangerously addicting about these – they’re chewy, with chunks of ginger and chocolate, and covered in a crunchy crystallized sugar crust – trust me when I tell you: add this recipe to your regular repertoire STAT. 


The original recipe is from a Martha Steward Living magazine from 1998, meaning that I've been making and loving these cookies on a regular basis for literally 56% of my life. It should come as no surprise that I come from a cookie-loving family. My sisters and I used to make huge batches of cookies (they freeze really well) for any and all-times consumption. Visiting friends knew that our cookie jar was rarely empty (my high school cross country team may have run to my house, eaten cookies, then continued on our run. Not saying we did…not saying we didn’t.) (We did.) And breakfast cookies (i.e. a cookie first thing in the morning with your coffee) are par for the course in my home kitchen.


I first blogged about these Molasses Ginger Cookies way back in 2009, but that was long before anyone other than my parents read Eat Run Read -- this recipe is definitely worth a re-post!

I made them Friday night for my friends to enjoy while we watched the Olympics (there's something to be said for eating cookies while screaming at athletes to run faster), and to bring rock climbing on Saturday. Cookies = fuel of champions, right?


A few notes:
  • The original recipe has no chocolate chips or candied ginger. I’ll leave the decision to include them up to you. (You should include them.)
  • Over time I have also modified the quantity of butter. The recipe (below) is what I do…the original had 2 sticks plus 2 tablespoons butter and no water.
  • White pepper is a bit obscure and not 100% necessary. If you have it, use it. If not, no big deal. 
  • Be warned: there’s at least an hour of refrigeration time involved! 

Molasses Ginger Cookies

Ingredients:
  • 2 ½ cups flour
  • 2 ¼ teaspoons baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon ground ginger
  • ½ teaspoon allspice
  • ½ teaspoon white pepper (optional)
  • ¾ cup butter (1 ½ sticks) at room temperature
  • ½ cup brown sugar
  • ½ cup white sugar
  • 6 tablespoons molasses
  • ¼ cup water
  • 1 egg
  • 1 cup chocolate chips (optional)
  • ¼ cup finely chopped candied ginger (optional)
  • *additional 1/2 white sugar for rolling
Directions:
  1. Beat together butter, sugars, molasses, egg, and water. 
  2. Mix in dry ingredients and chocolate chips and candied ginger. 
  3. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour (best if refrigerated overnight).
  4. Preheat oven to 350*.
  5. Use your hands to roll tablespoon-sized balls (or as big as you like!) and then roll cookie balls in granulated sugar.
  6. Place cookie balls on a baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Use the ball of your hand or a cup to squash them to ¼ inch thickness.
  7. Bake for 8-10 minutes – depending on how gooey you like your cookies. Remove from the baking sheet and finish cooling on wire racks.