When I was young I could polish off one of those packages of Archway Molasses cookies all by myself. I love, love, love molasses cookies with ginger. Especially if they're soft and chewy. I like the flavor of gingersnaps, but I don't like that they're hard as rocks. I don't enjoy eating things that make me feel like my teeth are going to break off. Maybe that's why we used to call them dangersnaps?
I have had an old standby molasses cookie recipe that I've been using for the last few years and they were good, but not anything special. And they didn't really taste like the Archway ones that I love so much. They needed something else...something extra.
Yesterday I played around with the recipe a little bit and now I think these are my new favorite cookies. They're wonderfully soft and spicy and just completely perfect. I think the key ingredient here is the fresh ginger. It's the first cookie I've made in a long time that's made me say "Wow!" I've added a vegan option as well for people who don't want to use animal products.
An extra added bonus feature is that they taste even better the next day. Enjoy!
(BTW, aren't my vintage 1960's tea service plates fab? Thanks Mom and Dad!)
Chewy Double Ginger Molasses Cookies
(with Vegan version!)
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup shortening
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 large egg
1/2 cup molasses
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, minced (don't leave this out!!)
2 and 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon nutmeg
white sugar, demerara sugar (for rolling)
Vegan version:
Replace the butter and shortening with 3/4 cup margarine and replace the egg with 1/4 cup water.
-Cream together the butter, shortening and brown sugar.
-Stir in the egg, molasses and fresh ginger. Mix well.
-In a seperate bowl mix together the remaining ingredients with a fork until well blended.
-Stir the dry ingredients into the butter mixture until well blended.
-Cover and chill until firm, 1-2 hours or longer.
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
-Roll dough into walnut size balls (rounded tablespoons...a cookie scoop will help make portioning the dough faster).
-Roll the balls in sugar. I put the sugar in a mug and shake them around until they're coated.
-For sparkly tops I dipped the top half of the cookie in demerara sugar first (so it will stick better) and then rolled them in regular white sugar.
-Place the cookies on a cookie sheet at least 2 inches apart and flatten slightly.
-Bake for 9-10 minutes. Cookies should look slightly underdone.
-Leave on the cookie sheet one minute to set. Finish cooling on a rack. Store in an airtight container.
Makes about 40 cookies
------------------------------------
Tips:
An easy way to peel fresh ginger is to use a regular teaspoon and scrape the skin off with the tip of the spoon. Easy peasy!
