Soft and Chewy Ginger Cookies
So, yes, it looks like this week has turned into gingerbread week here on Fox and Briar. I was going to hold off and post these next week, so as not to overload you with ginger recipes, but let me explain to you what happened. As I mentioned on Monday, we went and got our Christmas tree this weekend. I was all set to decorate it but soon discovered that one of my light strands was burnt out. Despite both myself and Mr, Briar spending a ridiculous amount of time trying to fix it, it was beyond repair. So I threw in the towel and watched Harry Potter while drinking Baileys, obviously.
On Monday I managed to run to Target and pick up a few new strands of lights – luckily I got four boxes, which seemed like overkill but turned out to be the perfect amount. I wanted to try a new light stringing method, which uses quite a few more lights than my regular old “lasso” method. If you follow me on pinterest you may have noticed that I pinned a bunch of “perfect way to light a tree” pins. Turns out the best way to light a tree is to wrap each branch in lights. I’ve never tried this before, but I thought I would give it a try this year since I am so in love with the shape of our tree.
I am not a patient person, and this turned out to be more time consuming than I was wanting it to be. So while I was doing this, I needed Christmas music in the background and I needed cookies baking in the oven, to give me the holiday feels. After spending what seemed like hours stringing one strand of lights, I took a break and made these cookies. There are three kinds of cookies that I must make every Christmas, and this is one of them. My mom has been making these cookies during the holidays for years, and even though she always sends me some in the mail, I like to have them baking in the oven sometimes as well.
These cookies are packed with gingerbread flavor, but they are soft and chewy, just how I like them. The recipe calls for crystalized ginger chips, which adds a nice extra ginger kick, but if you can’t find them you can leave them out, the cookie itself is still so good. One year I couldn’t find the ginger chips so I just bought regular crystalized ginger and chopped it up into small pieces, that works too. The dough requires an hour of chilling time, which I do really recommend. If the dough is not cold it is stickier, and the cookies have a better texture if the dough has been chilled.
Soft and Chewy Ginger Cookies
Pin
Rate
Ingredients
- 2 ¼ cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar plus extra for rolling cookies in
- 1/4 cup dark molasses
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup crystallized ginger chips optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F
- Whisk together dry ingredients, set aside.
- In another bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and creamy.
- Add molasses and egg, mix until combined.
- Pour in dry ingredients, mix well.
- Stir in ginger chips, if using.
- Chill dough for 1 hour.
- Roll dough into 1 inch balls and roll each ball in extra granulated sugar.
- Place on a lined baking sheet 2 inches apart. Bake for 8-10 minutes, remove from oven while still soft. Allow to cool on the baking sheet.
- Makes about 30 cookies.
Nutritional information is an estimate for your convenience. If you have strict nutritional needs, please do your due diligence to make sure this recipe fits your needs.
Recipe from The Ginger People
While these cookies baked, I continued my quest for the most magical Christmas tree ever. I did the lazy girl’s version of this lighting method – I just don’t have the patience to spend hours putting up Christmas tree lights. Although I probably would not impress Martha Stewart with my tree lighting skills, I think the tree turned out pretty darn magical.
I hope you are enjoying “ginger week” here at Fox and Briar – just wait until you see what I have planned for you on Friday! Oh, and if you are not a fan of gingerbread flavored things, don’t worry, I have good things coming to you next week. But if you DO enjoy gingerbread flavored things, why don’t you whip up a batch of these cookies and then enjoy them with a gingerbread latte in front of your magical tree? That’s what I’m going to be doing.
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you purchase the items I recommend through the links I provide, I get a small commission. For more info, please see my disclosure policy. I only recommend products if I actually love them. Thanks for supporting Fox and Briar!
