Saturday, December 3, 2011

Spice Cookies

I've tweaked and re-tweaked this recipe over and over. They started as a type of lighter gingerbread cookies, perfect for the holiday. They were a gingery cookie that people who didn't like gingerbread still enjoyed.

Since then, they've turned into a spice cookie that's not overwhelmed by ginger. The flavors are well balanced. You don't bite into one and say "Oh, that's cinnamon!" you bite into one and the flavors tease and tangle without one being too prominent.

These cookies use a lot of different spices, and yes, I suggest you use them all. However, if you don't happen to have all of them, it's not a disaster. You don't absolutely need to buy a jar of spice to use just a quarter-teaspoon for this recipe. On the other hand, these are all pretty common, so you might have them on hand.

These are the type of cookies that you roll out and cut with cookie cutters. They don't spread or puff a lot, so your designs will come out of the oven looking close to what they looked like going in. If you don't have cookie cutters, you could them in rounds with a biscuit cutter or even a glass. Or cut them into squares with a pizza cutter or a knife. Shape doesn't matter that much - these are all about the flavor.

Spice Cookies

2 cups (9 ounces) all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground dried ginger
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground mace
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 stick (1/4 pound) unsalted butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon almond extract

In a medium bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients. Whisk to combine and set aside.

In a separate bowl, cream together the butter and brown sugar until it is light. Add the egg, vanilla, and almond extract, and beat until combined. Add the dry ingredients and mix just until well combined.

Refrigerate the dough until well-chilled - at least a few hours or over night.

The next day, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Flour your work surface lightly, and roll the dough out to about 1/4 inch thick. Cut with your cookie cutter and place on the prepared baking sheet. leaving a little room between them to spread a little bit. Save the scrap to re-roll.

Bake the cookies at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes until the cookies are barely browned. Let them cool for a minute or two on the baking sheet before moving them to a rack to cool completely.
Yum

12 comments:

30AEATS said...

I love your post and cookies! How delightful!

Anonymous said...

Yum!

Anonymous said...

Love these! Nice internal crumb structure ;) -Nelly

Yuri - Chef Pandita said...

Making a batch of these right now! My bf hates gingerbread but adores ginger and cinnamon. Will tweet you a pic tomorrow, today I'm making cookie dough and will let it rest overnight :)

Miss @ Miss in the Kitchen said...

Sounds like my kind ofcookie!

Samantha said...

These sound great. Will definitely give them a try.

FoodEpix said...

Looks delicious. Would love for you to share this with us over at foodepix.com.

Samantha @ Ferraro Kitchen said...

I love spices to much! I also have that leaf cookie cutter lol...I think this will be on my holiday cookie menu!

Anonymous said...

Your spice and sugar cookies look absolutely wonderful. Can't wait to try them. I am from Wisconsin, but my daughter now lives in Longmont. I visit there on occasion. Best wishes for a happy and healthy holiday season to you and yours

Hanaâ said...

These look great. I love spices in baked goods! And I'm glad it has butter in it (most spice cookies have shortening in them).

Linda said...

I'm so definitely excited to try these!! I love a good spiced cookie!!

urj said...

i have googled for that kind of cookie, and luckily found THIS recipe, it has a light hand on the ingrediants since it doesn't require mollasses etc. Well i tried this recipe and it is just WOWW. i love the taste.. thank you very much for sharing ths recipe

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