- Olive oil provides these thin cookies with an ultra-chewy interior, as well as a fruity, savory complexity. They taste and look like they could be served at a bakery.
- Crystallized ginger is dotted throughout each cookie, adding textural variability to a treat that is often one-note.
- Even though this recipe requires more ingredients than many other ginger molasses cookies, it still only needs about 20 minutes of active prep time.
This is a cookie for ginger fanatics, and one that is especially excellent in the winter when cold season hits. In lieu of butter, olive oil is the cooking fat, giving the cookie a uniquely tender, fudgy interior and a crackly exterior — a winner for both chewy and crunchy cookie lovers.
True to the name, this is a spicy cookie. It is both heavy on the baking spices, like cinnamon and cardamom, and it has an added bite from cayenne and a generous amount of ginger. The brown sugar and molasses give it a warm depth of sweetness; for a bakery-level finishing touch, it’s coated in crunchy turbinado sugar.
But while this cookie sounds and tastes complex, the recipe is fairly simple. The sugar and fat are creamed together, then incorporated with the dry ingredients and chopped crystallized ginger. The dough is refrigerated for at least 30 minutes, then scooped into large, golf ball–size balls and rolled in sugar. When the cookies come out of the oven, their centers will be slightly puffed, but banging your sheet pan on a hard surface will flatten them out so they’re large, flat, and showstopping.
What is crystallized ginger?
Crystallized ginger (also referred to as candied ginger) pieces are made from slices or chunks of ginger that have been cooked in ginger root syrup, then coated in sugar. They have a chewy, sticky interior similar to other dried fruits. The sugar provides a crunch and balances the spiciness of the ginger. The pieces are often used for baking but can also be eaten straight for a snack thought to ease the stomach. You can find crystallized ginger in the baking aisle of your supermarket.
Notes from the Food & Wine Test Kitchen
- Prior to baking, you can chill the dough for 30 minutes, but if you have the time, keep it in your fridge overnight. A longer chill allows the flavors to develop and the flour in the mix to hydrate, resulting in a chewier cookie with a crispier exterior.
- You can also freeze the dough once it’s been shaped into balls. Tanya Bush, author of Will This Make You Happy, loves baking just two at a time to use for an ice cream sandwich.
- If you’re sensitive to spice, you can cut down on or completely nix the cayenne and crystallized ginger from the recipe.
This recipe was developed by Tanya Bush; the text was written by Amelia Schwartz.
