For me, the secret to an exceptional ginger molasses cookie is real crystallized ginger bits. It just takes them to a whole new level. I've really been looking high and low for a great recipe because this is my favorite cookie. I finally just went straight to the source--a restaurant here called Miso Hungry had the best ginger molasses cookies ever and I got them to give me the recipe. And you, you lucky dogs, now you get it, too.
GINGER MOLASSES COOKIES
3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted & cooled
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 egg
3/4 cup molasses
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
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1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tbsp coarsely chopped crystallized ginger
In a medium bowl, wisk together the melted butter and brown sugar. Wisk in the egg and molasses. Blend it all well. It will be very dark and creamy.
In a big mixing bowl, wisk together all the dry ingredients--except for the sugar & crystallized ginger.
Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until you have a nice thick ginger bread dough. Cover and refrigerate the dough for 1 hour.
Meanwhile, place sugar and crystallized ginger in a food processor or mini-prep and grind. Pour mixture into a small bowl.
Preheat oven to 375F and line cookie sheets with parchment.
Take half the dough out of the fridge, leave the other half in there while you work. roll the dough into 1 1/2 inch balls. Lightly roll each ball in the sugar mixture and put on cookie sheet, 3 inches apart.
Bake for 12 minutes or until starting to get golden brown around the edges. Immediately slide parchment onto cooling racks.
This recipe made 27 cookies. I baked 18 of them in 2 batches and put the other 9 balls in the freezer. I omitted rolling the 9 I froze in the ginger sugar. But there's enough ginger sugar left over that I put it in a small glass jar for next time. All I have to do is thaw them, roll them in the ginger sugar and I'm ready to go.
NOTE: I didn't think the ginger was quite enough in the coating, so next time I'll up this to 3-4 Tbsps. And they weren't quite as large or as chewy as the ones I've had in the restaurant. The 1 1/2 inch balls made a 3-3 1/2 inch cookie. At that size, I'd cook a little shorter for a chewier cookie. But I think I'll make a 2-2 1/2 inch dough ball next time and keep the cooking time roughly the same.
I'm planning to make big batches of this dough to put in the freezer in the next few weeks, and then make up the cookies for my neighbors right around Christmas--hopefully before I give birth. I've still got to figure out a cheap, green & attractive way to package them though. Maybe just stacked and wrapped in plain old wax paper and tied with string. Simple.
Hope you like this cookie. The flavor is outstanding but you might need to work with the size and baking time to get the texture just the way you like it. Then again, they might turn out just right for you. Baking at 7000 feet above sea level is always a little tricky.
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And if you like this recipe, take a look at my other tummy warming dishes on my Comfort Foods page. It's that time of year!
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