The one thing I crave more than any other sweet during the holidays is a plate of ginger cookies (*turns, cradling plate in arms* Yeah, the whole plate, get your own). Gingerbread, in all its forms is so warming in cold weather.
Put ground ginger, fresh ginger or crystalized ginger into anything and you’ve got something special. Add cinnamon, a dash of cloves and cardamom, and it’s off-the-charts delicious. Here is one of my favorite ginger cookie recipes, from Ellen King’s Heritage Baking book.
Ingredients
- 150g (3/4 cup) non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening
- 56g (1/4) cup unsalted butter at room temperature
- 275g (1 1/2 cups) lightly packed brown sugar (we used coconut sugar)
- 100g (2 large) eggs
- 120g (1/2 cup) molasses (we use half the amount + water for a better flavor balance)
- 30g (3 TBS) grated fresh ginger with the juice
- 400g (2 3/4 cups) heritage whole-grain flour such as Turkey Red (we mill our own and don’t sift – for texture)
- 6g (1 1/4 tsp) baking soda
- 6g (2 tsp) ground cinnamon
- 4g (2 tsp) ground cloves (we use half the amount – too over powering otherwise)
- 4g (2 tsp) ground ginger
- 6g (1 tsp) salt
Method
Beat shortening and butter in a standard mixer (or large bowl) 2-3 minutes until creamy, then add in brown sugar and mix until combined.
In a smaller bowl, mix eggs, molasses, grated ginger and juice together. Then add this to the butter/shortening mixture and combine gently.
Next, mix in another bowl (medium) the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, ground ginger and salt. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix on low speed until you see no traces of flour.
Put the bowl in the fridge to chill for an hour minimum.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175C), and line baking sheets with parchment paper.
Use an ice cream scoop to dump blobs of dough onto the parchment covered baking sheets 2″ apart.
Bake 12 minutes, rotate the baking sheet halfway through. Bake until golden brown.
Let cool on a rack for 10 minutes and then gobble them up. You can store them for 5 days in an airtight container or freeze them for up to 2 months.
Note: This recipe makes 15 cookies. I made them slightly smaller and got 20. Reduce the baking time if you go that route.
