Magical Ginger Cookies

Holiday baking has begun! I'm starting with a recipe from the Daily Garnish, which is one of my very favorite favorite food blogs. The author, Emily, is truly inspiring! Her blogging about her running journey is one of the biggest reasons I started running last June. And her recipes always look beautiful, so it's very exciting to finally try one in "public."

These cookies are adapted from Emily's recipe for Crystallized Ginger-Spice Cookies. The recipe is vegan, which is great, but I just bought a bunch of butter and have some eggs to use up, so my version is not vegan. For the vegan version, refer to Emily's recipe here.

Ingredients

• 1 c white whole wheat flour (or regular whole wheat)
• 1 c all-purpose flour
• 2 t ground ginger
• heaping 1/2 t ground cinnamon
• 1/4 t ground cloves
• dash of ground nutmeg
• 1/2 t salt
• 1 t baking soda
• 1/2 c butter
• 1/2 c sugar (plus more for rolling cookies)
• heaping 1/4 c brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 t vanilla almond milk
• 1/4 c molasses
• 1/2 c minced crystallized ginger

Mix dry ingredients in a mixing bowl until combined. In a stand mixer (or hand mixer), cream together butter and sugars until light and fluffy. While this is creaming, mince the crystallized ginger (about 1/2 c). It was much easier than I thought it was going to be. I thought it would be really soft and sticky. Wrong. The texture was a little more solid than a gum drop. It went quickly, but I got a little lazy and was a little shy of the 1/2 cup.

Minced Crystallized Ginger

Add egg, milk, molasses and mix briefly.

In the original recipe, it says to add dry ingredients first, then wet ingredients. I goofed. Worked out just fine though! So in whichever order you please, wet ingredients followed by dry (or vice versa).

The last thing to add is the minced ginger. Stir until combined.

Roll dough (about a tablespoon) into a round ball, then flatten. Coat both sides in a shallow bowl of white, granulated sugar. Place about 2" apart on baking sheet. 

Bake 10-12 minutes. My little convection oven took only 9, so keep an eye on them. Remove from sheet and cool on rack. Store in airtight container, or in your belly.

The Verdict:

from Thyme Natural Market

These cookies are off the hook! The texture (at least just out of the oven) is wonderful. The sugar coating gives it a great, sweet crunch which contrasts beautifully with the little bit of ginger and the molasses. I was a little uncertain about using the crystallized ginger. This was a brand new ingredient for me, and I had some trouble tracking it down. The big chain grocery store did not have it (boo!), but I knew that our local natural market (Thyme! If you are in Queens, come check out Thyme Natural Market in Kew Gardens) would have it. Score! As I was mincing, I tried a tiny bit. Wow, does it have a kick. Very spicy and in your face. And addictive. It turned out amazing in these cookies. When I had my first bite, the tiny piece of minced ginger just melted in my mouth - flavor explosion. I'm a fan. A great addition to the holiday cookie repertoire!