The Cookies of My Youth – Spice Cookies
Spice cookies are the cookies of my youth. They taste of cloves, ginger, cinnamon, molasses; spice cookies have always been there. Bake sale, thank you gift, contribution to a meal, something to munch on with a cup of tea or glass of apple cider; nine times out of ten, it was spice cookies.
My father found the recipe in the Settlement Cookbook decades ago and he’s been making them ever since. As a kid I often helped make them. Simple and quick, a single recipe usually takes about a half hour from start to finish. On one occasion, I remember we realized at the last minute that we needed to bring something as a gift or dessert to a dinner or party. My father and I got to work. In about 13 minutes, we prepared a batch of spice cookies, ready to go, despite the fact that they’re in the oven for about 10 of those 13 minutes…and my mother still wasn’t ready to leave the house.
Spice cookies are not for everyone. They’re too sophisticated for most little kids, especially after my father amped up the spice level by about five hundred percent from the original recipe. I once made a batch and when my father-in-law took a bite he exclaimed “there’s something wrong with these cookies!”
But then there’s the crowd that can’t get enough of them; when people love them, they really love them. I had one colleague ask if I would be baking them for this year’s holiday work party, concerned I may have changed my mind. Another colleague expects a special pre-celebration bag on her desk the morning of the party, just to make sure she gets her fill.
My children love them as well, and were always happy to get a few cookies with their lunch when they were younger. Now that they’re in college, we’ll see if they continue the tradition of making spice cookies.
Spice Cookies
Despite that my father’s and my recipes are based on the original from the Settlement Cookbook, they differ significantly in texture. My father uses about half whole wheat flour so that his cookies have a little more heft. In addition, he makes his somewhat bigger and cooks them a little longer so they are crunchier, with more of a snap. I take mine out of the oven just shy of fully browned so they are a little softer, chewy to the bite. No matter the differences between our spice cookies, my father and I both agree that the chocolate chips my wife Marci forces me to include in a few cookies in every batch definitely do not belong.
Modified from the Settlement Cookbook (Ginger Cookies)
makes about 2 dozen cookies, about a half hour
¾ cup (1½ sticks) room temperature butter, plus additional for greasing pan if not using a silicone baking mat or parchment paper
1½ cups sugar, divided
¼ cup dark molasses
1 egg
3 tsp. ground ginger
3 tsp. ground cloves
3 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 tsp. baking soda
2 cups all-purpose flour
- Preheat oven to 350 oF. Place silicone baking mat or parchment paper on two sheet pans. If silicone baking mats or parchment are not available, grease pans with additional butter. If you only have one sheet pan, bake in batches.
- Cream butter and 1 cup sugar with a potato masher or two forks until well combined.
- Add molasses, egg, ginger, cloves, cinnamon, and baking soda, and stir to combine.
- Add flour and mix together until fully incorporated.
- Form dough into balls about 1-inch in diameter, rolling in the palms of both hands. Place additional half cup of sugar in a small bowl. Roll each ball in sugar until well-coated.
- Place dough balls about 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, depending on desired texture. For chewier cookies remove them on the earlier side – even though the center of the cookie may be puffed, remove them and they will collapse when you place the pan on the counter. For crispier cookies, cook for the full 12 minutes. The center of the cookie should collapse while still in the oven.
Max, you read my mind! Just this very morning I was wishing for a ginger cookie recipe (one of my all-time favs) and, voila, here it is! Thank you. I’ll let know you how it turns out.
Lucy
Good timing…let me know how they turn out!
I wrote this right after reading your entry on spice cookies, but forgot to click “post”. Typical mom thing. 1. Your mother found the recipe in The Settlement Cookbook. She baked spice cookies many times even before you were born. 2. I like spice cookies small and crunchy. Dad likes them large and soft. Hope it’s okay for me to lovingly correct the record. You don’t remember me cooking because, by the time you were old enough to remember, Bert was doing most of it. Lucky you!
Thanks for the correction, Mom. I had no idea that you found the recipe. I always assumed it was Dad, because he was the one that always made them as far back as I can remember, and continues to do so to this day. Apparently he also uses all whole wheat flour, not half as I wrote in the blog post. And it doesn’t matter if they are small and crunchy or large and soft. Either way they’re delicious (as long as they don’t have chocolate chips in them)! Thanks to you for finding the recipe, and thanks to Dad for making them all these years.