It’s colder than molasses in February, which triggers a happy cold weather memory for me and these Ginger. Ginger! Ginger!! Cookies with White Chocolate. In college, my friend Molly and I developed an obsession with these soft, chewy cookies that were sold at the sandwich shop across the street from my apartment. They were seasonal and it had to be pretty miserable out before you could buy these cookies. Every now and then, we’d share a cookie (usually we just bought two, but hey, good behavior now and then is important) and Molly was always in charge of dividing it. She’s really precise about food. I’m pretty sure she grew up in one a one kid divides the treat and the other kid picks first families. When we graduated and moved away from Evanston, I missed these cookies almost as much as I missed Molly and her careful division. I’ve made many versions over the years trying to get them just right. Molly, this one’s for you. I think I’ve finally nailed it. It turns out the secret was ginger, ginger, and more ginger for these Ginger. Ginger! Ginger!! Cookies with White Chocolate. While they were giant cookies originally, I make them much smaller generally, so division of these Ginger. Ginger! Ginger!! Cookies with White Chocolate isn’t necessary at all.
Ginger. Ginger! Ginger!! Cookies with White Chocolate
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup dark brown sugar
- ½ cup molasses black strap is best
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- 1 egg
- 2 ¼ cups flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ginger
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon cardamom
- ⅓ cup crystallized ginger
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
- 1 cup white chocolate chips*
- ½ cup large grain sugar raw, white, whatever, it’s about the texture
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375° F.
- Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg. Beat well.
- Add the molasses and vegetable oil.
Mix completely. - Add the salt, soda, cinnamon, cardamom, powdered ginger and grated ginger.
- Chop the crystallized ginger into very small bits.
Add to the batter. - Mix in the flour.
- Stir in the chips. The dough should be firm, not sticky. If it’s sticky, refrigerate it for 15 minutes or so.
- Roll the dough into 1 tablespoon balls. Dip the “top” in the course sugar. Set on tray sugar side up and press down slightly.
- Bake 8-10 minutes. They should have puffed up a bit and the surface should start cracking.
- They’ll be very soft, so they should cool on the cookie sheet for a couple of minutes. If you cook them too long, they won’t be soft and chewy.
- I never run over the 8 minutes side of the time. And I always serve them warm, with milk, which means, I nuke them for about 8 seconds before I serve them if they aren't coming straight from the oven.
I’ve also made ginger/molasses cookies with butterscotch chips and it’s surprisingly delicious! I will have to give white chocolate chips a try next.
Likewise. Next snowday I’ll have to find some butterscotch chips. Good idea.