Apocalyptic Ginger Cookies

After last week’s cookie that needed hours of slaving, this week’s recipe is as simple as it gets. It’s also one of my favorite cookies. I love the taste of ginger, but Ryann doesn’t. So it’s always difficult to finish off a batch of these cookies but recently I learned that Apocalypto_12 loves these so I made him a batch for his birthday. And since this has the most ginger of all the ginger cookies, what better name than Apocalyptic Ginger Cookies!…

Ingredients:
(Do not be discouraged by the long list, they are all easy to find if you don’t already have them in your kitchen. Plus, this batch makes at least 4 dozen cookies, depending on how big you want them. That’s what she said!)

• 2.25 cups (285 grams) all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1.5 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 0.5 cinnamon ground nutmeg (normally freshly ground is best but pre-ground is just fine for this recipe. If you don’t have it, just add more cinnamon)
• 0.25 teaspoon salt
• 0.5 cup (1 stick or 113 grams) unsalted butter, melted
• 0.5 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
• 0.33 cup (66 grams) brown sugar
• 0.25 cup (85 grams) unsulphured mild or full-flavored blackstrap molasses (not blackstrap)
• 2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger (I do this on a microplane and honestly this was the most annoying and time-consuming part of this recipe)
• 1 large egg
• 0.75 cup (113 grams) ginger chips (Trader Joe’s has ginger chips that are perfect for this) or crystallized ginger, cut into small dice and shaken in a coarse strainer (or between your fingers) to remove extra loose sugar
• 0.75 cup (150 grams) Demerara sugar (This is practically my secret baking weapon. If you don’t have any, getting a package is absolutely worth it!)

Directions:

• In a medium bowl, combine all six dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, ground ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt) and mix together thoroughly. No need to sift but you can take a small whisk or fork and stir them together to combine well. Set aside.
• In a mixing bowl, combine the melted butter, both sugars, molasses, fresh ginger, and egg. Using the paddle attachment, beat slowly until combined and then increase the speed to medium. Continue to beat for a few minutes until it forms a thick cohesive liquid.

• Add in the dry ingredients and the chopped ginger chips and mix until just combined. The cookie dough will be quite soft so you will absolutely need to refrigerate before you bake it. You can do this for a few hours but it’s a dough that can last a few days in the fridge and will actually taste better after that period of time.

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• When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350°F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. If you only have one baking sheet, you’ll just have to bake these one sheet pan at a time and that’s totally fine but please make sure you cool down the pan between each batch.

• Form the dough into 1-inch (2.5 cm) balls. Roll them in the Demerara sugar and place them about 2 inches (5 cm) apart on the baking sheets. Flatten them slightly into thick discs, and then bake for 12-14 minutes until they puff up and crack on the surface. These cookies will be very soft when they come out of the oven so be sure to cool them before enjoying because they will set up some more while they cool down. When cooled completely, they will also last at least a few days stored in an airtight container.