Double Ginger Soft Molasses Cookies

Double Ginger Soft Molasses Cookies :: These Double Ginger Soft Molasses Cookies are absolutely incredible – and every ingredient listed here simply cannot be left out. There are several spices I call for – cloves, ground ginger, cinnamon, allspice, crystalized ginger – and the cookies wouldn’t be so “wow” without each one. Now, if I was going to be super strict and do it in 10 ingredients or less, I’d just call for 2.5 TBSP of pumpkin pie spice – replacing the ground spices – and that would work okay. But, this recipe is too good to mess around with that way, and I say it’s a wonderful way to flex your spice drawer, you know?

One of the things I love most about this time of year, is how loud it gets. Not literally, though. Here, I’m referring to the figurative amplification of so many aspects of life that really matter. During the holidays, we turn the volume up on the good stuff.

Gratitude and thanks-giving. Generosity and support. Music and caroling. Baking and breaking bread. Friendships, families, communities – all benefitting from a strengthening of bonds during this special pocket of the year. The abundant and conspicuous presence of each of those things overshadows any bow-tied and paper-wrapped presents, I think. The intangibles. It’s my favorite aspect of the holidays – that universally felt turning up of the dial on the things that really and truly bring us joy. 

“What are you missing in life right now?” My good friend, Lauren, asked me over coffee last week. I quickly and sort of sheepishly blurted out, “time with my husband!” Knowingly, she nodded as if she’d expected me to say that. Our roles as married people have taken a bit of a hit this year, a casualty of Lucas’ current job, and we have very little time to spend together at the moment. 

Lauren immediately prescribed for us a night off – on her and HER husband – who were kind enough to offer to watch our two little ones while we sneak away for the evening, a break from the hustle and bustle that this time of year always brings. And I had the same offer from another girlfriend recently as well. The generosity, thoughtfulness, and empathy of friends who really see you is the most humbling and wonderful thing, and it fills me to the brim with gratitude, no matter the time of year. But the holiday season does have a way of bringing it all to the surface, so you can revel in your good fortune a little more than normal. It’s just a little bit louder. 

I made a batch of these ** amazing ** double ginger molasses cookies last week, and delivered a big stack to several friends as a thank-you for the aforementioned thoughtfulness. They’re not particularly showy, these cookies. There’s no icing, glaze or frosting … no sprinkles, jams, or fillings to speak of. They’re very, well, brown … and unassuming. But they are so unbelievably  delicious that they simply do not require any dressing up, perhaps with the exception of the glistening turbinado crust that enshrines each cookie; an understated cloak of sweetness. Just the right amount of glitz and crunch. 

My recipe is a riff on the famous molasses cookies from the Red Truck Bakery – America’s beloved rural bakery in Marshall, VA. Their recipe is solid gold, and I’ve simply adjusted a few things to make it a bit faster and more accessible (for example, I’ve switched their call for Demerara sugar to turbinado, as the former is very difficult for most to find). But the bones of this recipe are theirs, and I am just so looking forward to the day when I get to visit their quaint and lovely bakery in person. Until then, I will keep diving into the pages of their new cookbook, getting myself lost in its sweetly Southern eats and treats.

INGREDIENT SPOTLIGHT: GINGER

In this post, we’re highlighting the gorgeous, sweet and spicy flavor of ginger, and we’re doing so by employing one of my favorite Kitchen Little tricks – using two different forms of the same ingredient. Today, that ingredient happens to be ginger. To literally double-down on the warm, gingery flavor that is so wonderful in a classic molasses cookie, I am going to add some candied, crystalized ginger to the dough. This is an ingredient that is typically available in just about every grocery store or supermarket out there, but you can very easily snag some online to help give a wonderful boost to much of your holiday baking.

Today, in these Double Ginger Soft Molasses Cookies, we’re using both ground ginger as well as wonderful candied ginger. Each ingredient is essentially just ginger, but what is so cool about the effects of using both, is that you end up with a really deep ginger flavor in your cookies – your cookie will be better than the other cookies, you know what I mean? That’s never not a good thing.

What is Candied Ginger?

I am gearing up to launch a huge spice series on this site, in which I will deep dive into the particulars of so many of the things we all have in our spice drawers, as I think learning a little bit about where these spices come from, why they’re used and by whom, along with some great ways to use them in your own kitchen is very valuable to a home cook. Plus, it’s interesting to me, so there’s that.

So for today, the quick-take on candied ginger is this:

Also referred to as crystalized ginger, candied ginger is simply ginger that has been cooked slowly and gently in a sugar syrup, until it softens dramatically and takes on the sweetness of the granulated sugar in the syrup. It’s easy to find in stores, but also really terrific when made at home (stay tuned for my easy tutorial on candied ginger making). In today’s Double Ginger Soft Molasses Cookies, the candied ginger adds the extra “special” to the dough that is requisite, in my opinion, in a top-notch holiday cookie.

How Do you Make Molasses Cookies?

The hallmark of a great molasses cookie is the warm, spicy deep flavor that is coaxed out of a classic squad of cool-weathered ingredients. Cinnamon. Cloves. Allspice (my favorite). Two kinds of ginger. Smoky molasses. The cast of characters in this recipe is familiar, yes, but I’d like to think that the addition of that candied ginger is really what sets this molasses cookie apart form the rest of the holiday cookie pack.

Also, you’ll notice that I call for vegetable shortening in this recipe, and it serves a great purpose – the shortening is what really gives these cookies that old-timey softness – that fluff and puff – that you really can’t quite get from butter alone. The two ingredients – slated butter and vegetable shortening, really work in tandem to deliver a consistent and texture to these cookies that is out-of-this-world delicious.

Here is a ready-made pin for you! Simply save it to your “holiday baking” or “Cookies” or “Sweet Treats,” boards and you’ll be all set when the craving strikes.

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