Organic Valley, a farmer owned organic dairy cooperative.
1834 Owners Strong
Ginger Molasses Cookies
- Prep time
- 25-35 min
- Total Time
- 45-55 min
- Servings
- 18 large cookies
Organic farmer Beverley Thurber shares her snappy-tasting ginger cookies.
Ingredients
- 4 1⁄2 cups flour
- 4 teaspoons ground ginger
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 1⁄2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1⁄4 teaspoon salt
- 1 1⁄2 cups shortening, at room temperature
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 Organic Valley Large Brown Eggs
- 1⁄2 cup molasses
- large, decorative sugar crystals or additional regular sugar
Directions
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line two heavy baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Use a whisk to combine flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and salt in a medium bowl.
3. Place shortening in a large bowl. Cream the shortening with electric beaters at medium speed for 1-2 minutes. Continue beating as you slowly and gradually add the sugar, scraping down the sides of the bowl occasionally. After all the sugar is added, keep beating for other minutes or two.
4. Add eggs and molasses; beat well.
5. Reduce speed to low and beat in the flour mixture until just combined. Use a spatula to stir and “smooth out” the cookie dough.
6. Use a 2-inch-wide ice-cream scoop to make scoops of dough. You can scoop them directly onto the baking pans or roll the scoops into smooth balls first. Place them two inches apart on the baking pans. Sprinkle each mound with sugar crystals or regular sugar.
7. Bake until light brown and puffed, about 15-17 minutes.
8. Cool cookies in the pan on wire racks.
Comments
As Angie mentioned, substituting butter will give more chewiness, but it will also be flatter. You will of course get better flavor with butter, but cookies with shortening will be lighter, crisper on the outside, and will bake up higher. They will look better to some cookie-lovers and have a more, well, cookie-like texture. It's all a matter of preference, I suppose. Both types are classics in the cookie kitchen.
I confess I've never substituted oil measure for measure for solid shortening in cookies, because this can make the cookies denser, flatter and, well, oily. You could try using LESS oil than shortening (maybe 1 1/8 cups of oil instead of the 1 1/2 cups shortening called for here). I'd probably also add 1 more egg to return some of the richness that will be lost by using canola oil instead of shortening, and would also consider adding a bit more flour and/or sugar to maintain "body."
In fact, next time I make these cookies, I'm going to try these ideas out. Thanks for the inspiration.
Hi Dawn, I'm checking with Terese Allen, our food editor, for her suggestions. Butter is delicious in the cookie, but will change the texture. Butter makes for a chewy cookie, and shortening makes it crunchy. So, it depends on what texture you desire. I hope this helps!
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