Soft ginger cookies

I want to love Christmas, I really do – the family time, the festive anticipation, the nostalgic songs, the cozy glow. But I want the Little House on the Prairie version, where we make maple candy in fresh snow, and everyone is overjoyed with a peppermint stick and a fresh orange in the toe of their stockings.

What summons my Scrooge is the fairytale spinning that starts the instant Halloween ends, built around the insane idea that our fondest wishes will be magically fulfilled, and we will come together with our loved ones in immaculate joy and harmony. How is that not a set-up for disappointment?

And whose deranged idea was it to make already-stretched parents – mostly moms, let’s be honest – toil in secret for months so that some imaginary bearded guy can look like an effortless gift genius?

A dude invented Santa, no doubt. And surely a beleaguered sister came up with the Christmas cookie tradition as a coping mechanism. Because what better for stress eating than homemade cookies? Amen, girlfriend.

In my kitchen, I want Christmas cookies to relieve anxiety, not create it. These soft ginger cookies check all the boxes for me: comfortingly pliable and buttery, with the festive spices of ginger and cinnamon, they are also easy (obvs), quick (no chilling/rolling/frosting) and long lasting (for sending/gifting).

I crammed in a lot of online holiday shopping before Thanksgiving this year, taking breaks to test batches of these cookies. And honestly the cookies soothed away my holiday grumbles. If I were a country singer, my anthem wouldn’t be about fried chicken and cold beer, it would be about warm cookies and hot tea.

Many variations exist on this excellent basic recipe: shortening vs butter, brown sugar vs white, baking soda/powder variations, different spices, additions of crystallized ginger or a granulated sugar coating. Even the versions we liked less were still pretty great. So I’m giving you the basic recipe as a solid start, but there’s room to play with spices or additions as you like.

In general, shortening makes a thicker cookie, but butter is better for flavor. Crisco weirds me out, so I use all butter, even though it gives a flatter (but still nicely soft) cookie. I don’t find that refrigerating the dough helps the all-butter dough bake up thicker, but I do have a variation with reduced butter and sugar that makes for a chunkier round.

Granulated sugar gives a lighter taste and slightly crispier texture; brown sugar gives a softer texture with a slightly stronger taste. I liked splitting the difference with a mix.

Add egg.

Molasses and a touch of orange juice, which gives extra moistness and flavor.

Mix dry ingredients with a fork (I don’t own a sifter; don’t tell anyone).

Add dry ingredients gradually, stirring until just mixed.

Drop cookie dough in even spoonfuls. Rolling the balls of dough in sugar gives a nice effect, but be warned the dough is sticky. If you have time to chill it first, the dough will handle more easily. But I just drop it and go.

Here’s the regular version.

And this is the chunkier version.

Most cookies get dry after a couple of days, but when stored in an airtight container, these cookies stay perfectly soft and surprisingly fresh for a week or more – which makes them perfect for Christmas gifting. Just take a break to enjoy a few yourself first.

More holiday baking

• 90-minute cinnamon rolls [post] [printable]
• Buttermilk scones with chocolate chips and citrus zest [post] [printable]
• Candied walnuts (or pecans) [post] [printable]
• Chocolate caramel matzoh [post] [printable]
• Cinnamony apple crisp [post] [printable]
• Derby pie [post] [printable]
• Dried fruit cream scones [post 1] [post 2] [printable]
• Flourless oatmeal lace cookies [post] [printable]
• Genius blondies [post] [printable]
• Gingerbread cake [post] [printable]
• Hamantaschen cookies [post] [printable]
• Oatmeal chocolate chip (or cranberry-raisin) cookies [post] [printable]
• Pecan pie (no corn syrup) [post] [printable]
• Persimmon bread [post] [printable]
• Pumpkin applesauce cake [post] [printable]
• Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies [post] [printable]
• S’mores cookies [post] [printable]
• Snowy honey roasted almonds [post] [printable]
• Spiced Mexican wedding cookies [post] [printable]

Soft Ginger Cookies
In my kitchen, I want Christmas cookies to relieve anxiety, not create it. These soft ginger cookies check all the boxes for me: comfortingly pliable and buttery, with the festive spices of ginger and cinnamon, they are also easy (obvs), quick (no chilling/rolling/frosting) and long lasting (for sending/gifting). Adapted from Allrecipes.

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup (12 tablespoons; 1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar (granulated, brown, or a mix – see notes)
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup molasses (light or dark)
• 1 tablespoon orange juice (or water)

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). In a bowl, mix flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves and salt. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, mix together softened butter and sugar. Add an egg and beat well. Mix in molasses and orange juice (or water). Gradually add in flour mixture and stir until just combined.
3. Drop cookies by spoonful onto an ungreased baking sheet, spacing them about 2 inches apart.
4. The cookies are best slightly underbaked, so bake until just done, 8-10 minutes. Tops should no longer look wet, and edges will be starting to brown. (And don’t worry if you overbake; the cookies will just be less soft, more chewy, but still good.)

Makes 24-30 cookies.

Notes

• For a chunkier cookie: use 1/2 cup butter (instead of 3/4) and 3/4 cup sugar (instead of 1 cup).
• Granulated sugar gives a lighter taste and slightly crispier texture; brown sugar gives a softer texture with a slightly stronger taste. Usually I split the difference and use 1/2 granulated, 1/2 brown. And if you want to use a mix of white and brown sugar, that would be 6 tablespoons of each (1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons).
• In general, shortening makes a thicker cookie, but butter is better for flavor. I use all butter, even though it gives a flatter (but still nicely soft) cookie.
• Rolling the balls of dough in sugar gives a nice effect, but be warned the dough is sticky. If you have time to chill it first, the dough will handle more easily.
• I don’t find that refrigerating the dough helps the all-butter dough bake up thicker, but you can certainly refrigerate or freeze the dough ahead and bake it later. It also works well to freeze cookies after they are baked.
• For a stronger ginger flavor, add crystallized ginger, roughly chopped (up to 3/4 cup).
• Stored in an airtight container, these cookies stay perfectly soft and surprisingly fresh for a week or more, which makes them ideal for gifting.

Here’s the link to a printable version.