My mother-in-law introduced me to this ginger cookie recipe and it's a keeper! She got the recipe from a friend and neighbor of hers - an emergency room physician who has a hobby of making cookies. It just so happens he blogs about his adventures! He's got a pretty fun and interesting blog- BadTad MD. Thanks Tad for this great recipe!
If you don't have any fresh ginger on hand, I've listed a couple alternatives. I'm sure there are some who like to have fresh ginger on hand, but I'm not one of them! Don't let all the spices scare you- these cookies are so good and my kids even adore them! They just smell like Christmas too- yum!
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 1 ¾ cups sugar
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1/3 cup molasses
- 2 ¾ cups flour
- 1 ¼ teaspoons soda
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, peeled and grated {or 2 tsp ground ginger, or 1 tsp ground ginger and 2 TBSP crystallized ginger}
- 1 teaspoon ground cloves
- 2 teaspoons nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon salt
- raw sugar- for coating outside of cookies
I layered a cookie sheet with parchment paper. These cookies are super soft and you coat them in sugar so if you don't use parchment to prevent stickage, you might have a frustrating cookie mess on your hands.
Cream the butter and sugars. Add in the egg and molasses.
Combine dry ingredients and stir into wet ingredients to mix well. I use a Kitchenaid. Nellie has a Bosch. Amanda has one of each on her Amazon wish list. {get a Kitchenaid Amanda!}
I used my small 1 TBSP cookie scoop for these and they turned out good sized. {Probably because it was more of a rounded scoop, as opposed to a level scoop!} If you like smaller cookies, aim to use 1 level TBSP of dough. The dough is soft but manageable, so scoop it out, then gently roll it into a ball in your hands and dunk it in the raw sugar to coat.
Cook for 10-12 minutes at 350 degrees. I don't like hard cookies, so I tend to cook them for less time and let them sit on a cooling rack to harden up a bit more. The outsides of these cookies are a bit crispy but the insides are soft and chewy.
Chopped up crystallized ginger. You can buy it in the spice section of any grocery store. I got mine as a gift- fresh, along with other dried fruits.
Chopped up crystallized ginger. You can buy it in the spice section of any grocery store. I got mine as a gift- fresh, along with other dried fruits.
ENJOY!
