I thought I’d take a little break from our week of giveaways to share a delicious cookie recipe that’s perfect for this time of year. Gingery cookies (sweetened with coconut sugar or rapadura) with warming spices and laced with molasses, served with a nice glass of milk, just about puts me into a holiday cookie seventh heaven. These cookies are dark with the flavor of molasses and spice. It’s a good consolation prize to have if you don’t win the “must read” nourishing book set or the Wondermill. At least I found it so, since I couldn’t win any of my own giveaways.
This recipe uses sprouted flour. I was trying to think of the last time I made cookies. I made Spiced Macaroons and Sweet Almond Cookies, but I hadn’t made cookies using flour since last Christmas, I think! The reason why? I kept forgetting to have sprouted flour on hand. You can make it yourself, buy it, or perhaps win it (you just wait for my next giveaway!). But the great, wonderful, tremendous thing about sprouted flour is that it’s ready to use. No soaking required. That’s why it’s perfect to use in recipes like this one where it would be pretty darn hard to figure out how to soak it overnight. Now that I have it on hand again, I am really enjoying the simplicity of “ready to use” flour.
By the way, this is my homemade sprouted flour that I ground with my own grinder. However my grain mill is having trouble grinding flour fine (it’s a different brand than the one I am giving away), so that’s why the cookies are a bit flatter than yours will probably end up being. Either way, they are delicious.
I adapted this recipe from The Secrets of Baking by Sherry Yard. I learned two things from this book: Add the spices to the butter instead of the flour for more flavor and how to cool cookies without a cooling rack (it’s so much easier!). Read below.
Gingersnaps-Makes Three Dozen Cookies
I used butter in these cookies, but you could try coconut oil for a dairy free version. The molasses flavor is pronounced. If you are a little nervous about that, use the smaller amount.1 1/4 cup of sprouted wheat or spelt flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 pound butter (one stick), cold
1/2 cup of palm/coconut sugar, rapadura, or other whole cane sugar
2 teaspoons ginger
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon unrefined sea salt
1 large egg at room temperature
1/8-1/4 cup of unsulfured blackstrap molasses1/4 cup of coconut sugar
pinch of ginger and cinnamon1-In a small bowl combine the flour and the baking soda. Set aside
2-In a medium size bowl, add the cold butter, cut into 1/2 inch pieces. Cream using a hand mixture, until the butter is starting to fluff up. Then add the sugar, spices and salt and mix until everything is smooth. Scrape down the sides as needed.
3-Add the egg and molasses and beat on low for about 15-30 seconds or until it is incorporated. On low speed add the flour mixture and mix just until everything is combined. Place in the refrigerator and chill for at least thirty minutes.
4- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line cookies sheets with parchment paper. In a small bowl combine the rest of the coconut sugar and the pinch of ginger and cinnamon.
5-Take out the cookie dough. If you used the full amount of molasses it will be still fairly wet. Gently roll one inch balls and roll in the sugar/spice mixture. Place on the cookie sheet two inches apart.
6-Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the cookies look dry and feel firm. Carefully slid the parchment paper with the cookies on it directly onto a work surface. Wait at least five minutes to serve, or 20 minutes before storing.
Enjoy!
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Thanks for the recipe! I happen to have some sprouted flour (purchased) & maybe I will try them. I would like to start making my own as it’s quite expensive.
A while back you mentioned having a Q&A post. Many of my questions surround soaked grain baking. What are the principles you use for converting receipes? Does the temp at which you soak matter? Do you soak w/fat or w/o it mixed in? I’ve seen both ways, but thought I read somewhere (that I can’t find anymore) that soaking w/fat is not as effective.
Also, I’d appreciate knowing about types of wheat? What kind of wheatberry will give you pastry flour? Anything else to know about them in terms of what type of baked good they would produce?
thanks!!!
Good questions, Jessie!
Ginger snaps were one of my favorite treats as a little girl. That recipe looks very user-friendly… if only I had some sprouted flour on hand! Well, maybe it’s for the best, as I can see myself relishing in nostalgia and indulging in a few too many of these. 🙂 What a treat to bring to a Christmas pot-luck, though. Such a nourishing cookie would be well-received I’m sure.
How much cups worth of coconut oil do you think this would be?
1/2 cup 🙂
Would it be possible to make these egg free (and without the use of egg replacer or flax)? My daughter has food allergies. Thanks!
Rachael, I’m sympathetic to adapting due to allergies… I wonder how applesauce would work for this one? Or just skipping the egg altogether? The egg seems like more of a binder/moistener than a leavener in this recipe, so you might just up the molassas or try applesauce?
How about a smashed banana? You can also make a binder with chia seed. 🙂
yuuuuum. These look awesome. Are they crisp, or chewy (they look crisp)? I usually find that when I bake w/ brown sugar (in my recently-departed baking ways 😉 ) that the molassas acted as a humectant, drawing moisture into the cookies and then making them chewy. Which is fine with me! But I’ve never used palm/coconut sugar (don’t even know where I’d buy that? Whole Foods?) and don’t know what real blackstrap molassas is.
More chewy. Mine flattened out a lot because my flour was so coarse, which is why they look crisp. 🙂
I’ve heard that you can get palm or coconut sugar as whole foods, but you can use just a whole cane sugar, like rapadura or sucanat too. You can get balckstrap molasses at most stores.
Wonder if you could make these with almond flour and honey? I’m trying to follow the SCD diet and I have celiac. The cookies look so good on the picture!
These look delicious and perfect for when you want something sweet but don’t want to overdo it.
I am really excited! I just got a vitamix for my birthday and I realize that I can now make my own sprouted flour! I have been soaking flour for months now, so I am looking forward to having “ready to use” flour again! These snaps look great!
Look in your local Indian (South Asian) market for coconut and palm sugar. They also have EXCELLENT prices on unrefined coconut oil.
Just made these – yummo – so moreish. Mine turned out like little cake-like mounds – not crunchy and hard at all, but still delicious. I threw all the ingredients into the food processor, so this could be hwy they turned out differently.
Just made these – yummo – so moreish. Mine turned out like little cake-like mounds – not crunch and hard at all, but still delicious. I threw all the ingredients into the food processor, so this could be hwy they turned out differently.
I made these tonight with a gluten-free flour blend. These cookies are amazing! They are light, crispy and delicious!