Thursday, August 16, 2012

Molasses cookies with lemon glaze



I've been baking a lot lately. Not sure why. Partly it's to use up some stuff in my pantry, but partly it's because suddenly I feel like baking. I don't normally have much of a sweet tooth, so maybe it's some sort of prolonged sugar craving.

Regardless, I currently have five different types of cookies in my house, plus banana bread. Here's today's batch, which utilizes my supply of molasses, brown sugar, and crystallized ginger. These taste kind of like pumpkin pie.

1/2 cup unsalted butter, soft
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup dark molasses
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1 2-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated
4 tablespoons crystallized ginger (optional)
2 1/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
granulated sugar

Whip the butter with the olive oil, molasses, and brown sugar. When fluffy, add the egg and whip til smooth. Whip in the grated ginger and its juice.

Add the flour, salt, baking soda, spices and crystallized ginger. Stir until thoroughly combined. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap (it will be very soft) and refrigerate until firm.

Pour about 1/2 cup granulated sugar into a bowl. Form walnut-sized balls of dough, and roll them in the sugar. Place onto cookie sheets that have been covered with parchment paper.

Bake at 350 for 12 minutes, switching the pans from bottom to top at 6 minutes. The cookies will have a cake-like texture when done.

For the lemon glaze:
2 lemons, juiced
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 cup powdered sugar

Whisk together, pour over the cookies while they're cooling.


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