Day 4: Pinch of pepper adds punch to classic holiday ginger cookies

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 06/12/2023 (641 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

For Day 4 of our holiday baking series, reader Sarah Phillips submitted her take on ginger cookies, which are given a special heat with the addition of black pepper.

These cookies are a holiday staple for me. Having spent the vast majority of every holiday season apart from my family since I was 17, I had to develop recipes for the winter that would remind me of family and home but were still perfectly my own, and easy enough that I could handle baking them alone rather than in a bustling kitchen full of family as so many other people do that time of year.

My mother made very similar cookies in my childhood, though I haven’t had them in decades.

Having been very self-taught in the kitchen, I learned a few things that make these truly spectacular. The blend of white and brown sugar gives the perfect consistency and allows them to spread just the right amount. Keeping the clove to a minimum lets the other spices shine more, and adding the cracked black pepper adds a cosy warmth that no one can ever place as being pepper. (I do a similar substitution in my pumpkin pies with rave reviews.)

I bake these at the holidays and send them home with in-laws, friends, and colleagues at our annual Christmas Eve drop-in.

Chewy Ginger Molasses Cookies

310 ml (2 1/4) cups all-purpose white flour
7 ml (1 1/2 tsp) baking soda
10 ml (2 tsp) ground ginger
7 ml (1 1/2 tsp) ground cinnamon
2.5 ml (1/2 tsp) fresh ground nutmeg (better), or 1 ml (1/4 tsp) ground nutmeg (fine)
Pinch ground clove (maybe 1/16 tsp)
2.5 ml (1/2 tsp) fresh cracked black pepper
2.5 ml (1/2 tsp) Diamond Crystal salt (better), or 1 ml (1/4 tsp) standard sea salt (fine)
180 ml (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
125 ml (1/2 cup) packed brown sugar (light or dark is fine)
60 ml (1/4 cup) white granulated sugar
80 ml (1/3 cup) Crosby’s fancy molasses
1 large egg at room temperature
10 ml (2 tsp) vanilla extract (Mexican, ideally, but any will do)
80 ml (1/3 cup) granulated sugar, for rolling

Evenly mix the flour with the baking soda, spices and salt until thoroughly combined and evenly dispersed throughout the flour.

In a large bowl or stand mixer with a paddle attachment, cream together the butter and both types of sugar, then add the molasses and vanilla and continue mixing until creamy and evenly combined. Finally add the egg, and mix for another 1-2 minutes until the egg is creamed into it and smooth.

While slowly mixing, add in about 1 cup at a time of the dry ingredients from Step 1, waiting until thoroughly mixed in before adding more. The resulting dough will be a little sticky.

Cover dough tightly to protect from the air, and refrigerate for at least 90 min, or up to 3 days. Optimal cookie dough seems to happen around day 2.

When ready to bake, preheat your oven to 350 C and use parchment or silicone baking mats on your cookie sheets.

While the oven is preheating, pull the dough from the fridge and allow to sit at room temp for 20-30 min.

Once rested, form 15 ml to 22 ml (1 to 1.5 tbsp) sized balls of dough. Roll each ball in the extra granulated sugar before placing on the cookie sheets, leaving about 7.5 cm (3 inches) between each cookie.

Bake for about 11-12 minutes until the edges have set up and the tops look a little cracked.

Allow cookies to rest on the baking sheet for at least 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack for cooling. These cookies are moist and soft and can be easily damaged by handling too soon.

Cookies will stay fresh at room temp for 6-8 days, slightly longer in a good airtight cookie tin.

Submitted by Sarah Phillips

Looking for a cookie recipe from past years of Twelve Days of Christmas Cookies? The Free Press has stored dozens of recipes from past years at wfp.to/cookies.

Eva Wasney
Reporter

Eva Wasney has been a reporter with the Free Press Arts & Life department since 2019. Read more about Eva.

Every piece of reporting Eva produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.