Prudy's Perfect Ginger Cookies

This recipe comes from Prudy, of the blog Prudence Pennywise ("Scandalously good food on a budget"), who recently posted a week-long series called "Cookie Bookie Week." Each day she highlighted a classic book and a complementary cookie recipe. The last day's post featured the book To Kill a Mockingbird and some molasses cookies. Prudy calls them "Spicy and Soft Ginger Cookies" but I call them "Perfect!"

cook's notes:

- You can find the recipe on Prudy's post, linked above.

- This is a one-bowl recipe! Yay!!

- I used Greek yogurt instead of the sour cream.

- I used 3/4 tsp freshly ground pepper

- After I added the baking soda, I realized it was from the "expired baking soda" container that I keep around for scrubbing, etc. (which was quite old and definitely shot). I fished out as much as I could then estimated how much to add of the good baking soda. Luckily, the cookies turned out perfectly. I'm not sure I could duplicate that, however!

- I used 2/3 white whole wheat flour, at 4.7 oz/cup

- The dough was pretty sticky, but I went ahead with the first sheet. By the time I rolled the cookies for the second sheet, the dough had firmed up nicely, and was not very sticky at all.

- I made the cinnamon sugar with demerara sugar + granulated sugar + cinnamon.

- I got 33 cookies out of the dough (Prudy says the yield is 40). The first ones I baked off were too big (but great looking!) so I made the rest a bit smaller. I preferred the bigger ones but I was needing quantity for a church event, so I adjusted smaller.

- At the correct size, the cookies needed 7 minutes to be crunchy on the outside (mmm, cinnamon sugar) and delightfully soft inside. At the bigger size, it was more like 8-9 minutes. They did soften up when they were covered overnight, so I might cook them a bit longer next time, or not wrap them quite so air-tight.

the verdict:

These are perfect ginger/molasses cookies! Here's why:

1. The taste is fantastic. The black pepper + ginger combination is a winner.

2. They are dead easy to make; no chopping, softening, zesting, chilling, or waiting. Just stir the ingredients and you're ready.

3. There's only 1 bowl to clean (and a few measuring spoons and cups)

4. For cookies, these are fairly healthy. I think that next time I'll try the extra light tasting olive oil and boost the monounsaturated fat.

5. The crackly, sugary surface makes for an appealing cookie. I'll bet these disappear quickly from a cookie tray.


Thank you Prudy!! This recipe is a winner.