Ginger Cookie Recipe

Ginger Cookies

Makes about 50 (2 1/4-inch) cookies

With crunchy edges and a chewy center, beautifully crackled on top, spicy, and loaded with diced crystallized ginger, this is my favorite spice cookie. You can tone down the heat by omitting the fresh ginger and cutting down on the crystallized ginger and still end up with a great cookie. They also make an amazing wintry ice cream sandwich when paired with vanilla bean ice cream. Alice Medrich

Ingredients

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1-1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and still warm (1 stick)
1/4 cup dark molasses (mild or robust)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup packed brown sugar or light muscovado sugar
2 tablespoons peeled and finely minced or grated fresh ginger
1 egg
3/4 cup diced (1/4-inch) crystallized ginger (4 ounces)
About 3/4 cup Demerara or turbinado sugar or 1/4 cup granulated sugar, for rolling

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, ground ginger, cinnamon, allspice and salt and mix thoroughly with a whisk or fork.
In a large bowl, combine the warm butter, molasses, granulated sugar, brown sugar, fresh ginger and egg and mix thoroughly. Add the flour mixture and crystallized ginger and stir until incorporated. The dough will be soft.
Form the dough into 1-inch balls. (Refrigerate unrolled dough between batches.) Roll the balls in the Demerara or turbinado sugar and place them 2 inches apart on lined or ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the cookies puff up and crack on the surface and then begin to deflate in the oven. Rotate the sheets from top to bottom and from back to front halfway through the baking time to ensure even baking. For chewier cookies, remove them from the oven when at least half or more of the cookies have begun to deflate; for crunchier edges with chewy centers, bake for a minute or so longer.
For lined pans, set the pans or just the liners on racks to cool; for unlined pans, use a metal spatula to transfer the cookies to racks. Cool the cookies completely before storing. May be kept in an airtight container for several days.
Milder variation: Turn down the heat by omitting the fresh ginger and decreasing the crystallized ginger to 1/2 cup.
Wheat-free variation: These are superb and also gluten-free if you use gluten-free oat flour. Make My Ginger Cookies or milder variation, substituting 2 cups oat flour and 1/2 cup extra-fine white rice flour for the all-purpose flour. Substitute 2 egg whites for the whole egg. After the flour mixture is completely mixed in, stir briskly for another 40 strokes to aerate the dough slightly.

Modified from the Oregon Newspaper