Spicy Gingerbread Cookies

I was having a cookie crisis--one week until Christmas, and the gingerbread cookies I had made turned out terribly: they were overly-puffy, undercooked, and breakable, and I was getting frustrated. How would these inferior cookies ever survive in the mail?

The solution to my problem came from an unexpected (and surprising) source--an Amazon recommendation for a book entitled the Cookie Sutra. I was both curious and concerned, so of course I had to take a look at it. While flipping through the preview of the book, I stumbled upon a recipe for gingerbread cookies that claimed to be the "recipe for love, if there is one." I accepted the book's challenge and decided to whip up a batch of these spicy cookies.

I was pleasantly surprised with the ingredients--the recipe called for less butter than my former recipe, in addition to a nice array of spices and beautiful, dark molasses. So, how did these curious cookies turn out?

These cookies were lovely--the dough was a dream to work with and did not need to be chilled. The cookies were quick to make and held up well, and the end result was a flavorful and pungent gingerbread cookie.

I will definitely be making these again!

The Recipe:


1/2 cup molasses (the recipe warned against using blackstrap molasses--the one I bought of course--but I found that it turned out well. Use 3/4 of the recommended amount if you use blackstrap!)
2 tbsps milk
4 tbsps unsalted butter
1/4 cup sugar
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat the oven the 350 degrees F, and lightly grease two cookie sheets. In a small saucepan, boil the molasses and then add the milk. In a separate bowl, combine the sugar and butter and then add the molasses mixture, stirring until smooth.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking soda, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. Add the molasses mixture to the dry ingredients and stir until thoroughly combined. If you find the mixture too dry, feel free to add a tbsp of water (one at a time, mixing thoroughly after each). If it's too sticky, add a tbsp of flour.

On a floured surface, roll out the dough to 1/4" in thickness and cut out shapes with floured cookie-cutters.

Bake the cookies for 6 to 8 minutes or until slightly hard and aromatic. Cool for 10 minutes.