(Beware: Objects appear smaller than they are.)
It seems like I haven't made some new desserts in a while. The truth is I have, I just haven't posted my articles as often as I would like. It's time to start enjoying the desserts AND sharing the recipes with my wonderful friends and followers.
I have been looking at quite a few cookie recipes lately with the holidays creeping up on us. I will be having a new list of the 12 Cookies for Christmas and I know that they will never replace the original list from 2009 The 12 Cookies of Christmas. I like to offer new cookie recipes each season so that you can find your family's favorites. I'm also thinking of doing a cookie swap which could get me some great family favorites from my friends.
When I started, I was looking for a good hermit cookie recipe. The results weren't great so I think I need to go digging into some old recipe books. I was looking for a hermit recipe with coffee as one of the ingredients. I came across a few, but not exactly what I was looking for.
I did come across this ginger cookie recipe on Martha Stewart's website and thought this could be fun since these cookies were about 5 inches in diameter when they were finished baking. I don't normally make large cookies like these but truthfully, this is where you get a different flavor and texture. I also liked that there was pepper in the recipe. I love ginger, but the thought of additional heat to the cookie using pepper was interesting.
I adapted Martha's Giant Ginger Cookies by adding a bit more ginger and molasses and changed up the salt and sugar. I like the saltiness of kosher salt (vs. table salt) because when you bite into something sweet, you get that salty-sweet flavor. I love to use demerara sugar for rolling cookies. It is raw sugar which has larger, light brown crystals. It looks great and gives the cookies an extra crunchiness.
I mixed the batter and placed the dough in the freezer. It gave me enough time to make a batch of my favorite cookies, Andria's Chocolate Chip Cookie. I cut the dough into 16ths and they were rolled and in the oven with four cookies per cookie sheet.
Some friends and family tried them and absolutely loved them. They were chewy and crispy. The best was after they ate the cookie and said, "I can still taste the spiciness of the ginger", which was probably helped by the pepper. We enjoyed them as a mid-morning snack with pumpkin spiced coffee. What better way to enjoy a giant cookie that was just DELICIOUS!
Think warm, think GIANT ginger cookies!
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
2 1/4 teaspoons of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt
1 rounded tablespoon of ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon of ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon of ground white pepper
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) of butter, room temperature
1/2 cup of packed light-brown sugar
1/2 cup of granulated white sugar, plus 1/3 cup of demerara sugar for coating
1/3 cup of molasses
1 large egg
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
1. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, allspice, and pepper.
2. With an electric mixer, cream butter, brown sugar, and 1/2 cup granulated sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in molasses and egg. With mixer on low, gradually beat in flour mixture until just combined. Flatten into a round disk, wrap in plastic, and freeze for 20 minutes.
3. Cut disc to create quarters, cut quarters in half, cut eighths in half (you will have a perfectly cut pie shape with 16 pieces.). Roll into 16 balls.
4. Place remaining 1/3 cup granulated sugar in a bowl. Roll balls in sugar to coat; place at least 4 inches apart on prepared baking sheets. Flatten into 3-inch rounds. Sprinkle with sugar remaining in bowl.
5. Bake until brown, rotating sheets halfway through, 12 to 15 minutes. Cool cookies on a wire rack. Makes 16 large cookies.