I have to admit that I’m not a huge fan of gingerbread. I don’t know if it’s because my mom never baked it growing up or my general aversion to ginger, but I’ve never really liked it. This being said, I don’t think I’ll be sharing any gingerbread recipes anytime soon. These sugar and spice drop cookies are probably as close as I’ll get this season. Filled with cinnamon, allspice, ginger, and molasses (classic gingerbread ingredients), these cookies taste festive and give a wink to gingerbread without being overly ginger-y.
I love the way turbinado sugar looks sprinkled on these cookies. They were almost too pretty to bake, but not baking them would be ridiculous, so in the oven they went.
The best part about these cookies (besides the fact that they are totally delicious) is that they make your house smell like the holidays. It’s pretty wonderful. They also give you an excuse to pull out your holiday cookies tins. I actually use mine to store cookies all year round, but I love them even more in December.
Sugar and Spice Drop Cookies
Adapted from King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking
My version of this cookie differs slightly from the original. I use blackstrap molasses instead of regular molasses and add turbinado sugar on top of my cookies to make them prettier and to add extra crunch. These cookies should be crunchy around the edges and chewy in the center when they’ve cooled.
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 cup blackstrap molasses
1 large egg, room temperature
2 cups whole wheat flour
Turbinado sugar, for sprinkling tops
In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or you can use a hand mixer), beat the butter, sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, allspice and ginger until smooth. Then beat in the molasses and then the egg until combined, making sure to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl so that everything is mixed evenly. Add in the flour and beat until just combined. Cover and refrigerate the dough for at least 1 hour (or up to a day) before baking.
When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Drop the refrigerated dough onto the prepared baking sheets with a teaspoon or a small cookie scoop, and then sprinkle the tops with turbinado sugar. Bake the cookies for 11 to 12 minutes (rotating the sheets halfway through), until the cookies have flattened out and have started to brown. Once out of the oven, transfer cookies to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Makes 5 dozen cookies.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Connie-You photos are Ah-maZING! I can’t wait to try some of your recipes, & I am your newest follower!
These are my absolute, all-time, hands down favorite spiced cookie. No lie. Pure magic! And everyone absolutely loves them. Scratch that – more than loves them! They devoured them!
Listen to this – I made these cookies during last year’s Christmas season, and they were divine! At the time, I was bookmarking blogs that I love (yours being one of them), but for some reason did not bookmark this specific recipe. Now that the season of all things spiced is here, I went scrounging through every personal recipe book, every blog, Google, etc. to find these cookies. After so much searching and finding nothing but overly-gingered cookie wannabe’s, I finally decided to just move on since I couldn’t find it. I would just have to start all over looking for my perfect spiced molasses cookie. (Not too gingery!)
Then, I was on your site looking at the quinoa patties and something lead me to click “Cookies.” And there … in all their glory … was your beautiful recipe for Sugar and Spice Drop Cookies. I just about fell over! With their sparkly tops and their perfectly spiced chewiness … eeek! Like seeing an old friend.
I can’t even tell you how relieved I am to have found this gem all over again. Thank you for sharing such a lovely recipe! One that everyone loves (ginger lovers and haters alike.)
These will be gracing my kitchen in no time, I’m sure of it. <3
Hi Krystina, I’m so glad you loved these cookies and that you came across the recipe again! I have totally done that before–made something, loved it, and then misplaced the recipe. It is like “seeing an old friend” when you find it again :) I’m looking forward to making these again this year as well! Happy baking!