I have been searching for the perfect molasses cookie for a long time. I was looking for a cookie that was chewy and not too soft. Most importantly, I wanted it to have that crackled finish. I think this is pretty darn close to what I had in mind.

Molasses cookies are quite different than ginger cookies. They get most of their sweetness and depth of flavour from molasses, instead of granulated or brown sugar. Molasses cookies, in the most classic sense, are not flavoured with warm spices, like ginger or cinnamon, though some recipes do feature it.

Molasses cookies tend to have a cracked or crinkled appearance on the surface of the cookies, so they may be called molasses crinkles or molasses crackle cookies.

What Molasses Cookies Are Made Of

If you want to make thick and chewy molasses sugar cookies, you will need the following ingredients:

• butter, preferably unsalted butter because you will add salt to the dough, but if you have salted it, it will work. Just adjust the salt in the recipe accordingly, otherwise, your cookies may be too salty
• light brown sugar, which adds to the molasses flavour and also helps make a slightly thicker cookie that has a chewy texture
• molasses, specifically Fancy molasses or baking molasses. Do not use blackstrap molasses, which may be too bitter for this recipe
• large eggs—don't use smaller eggs because your cookie dough may be too dry, leading to cookies that don't spread at all in the oven, and don't use extra large eggs which might make the dough too wet and loose causing the cookies to puff and spread too much
• all-purpose flour is needed to bind all the ingredients together and give the cookies structure, contributing to the chewiness of the cookies as well. If you don't use enough flour, your cookies may spread too much as they bake
• baking soda is a base (alkaline) and contributes to that signature cracked finish that we expect of the best ginger cookies. You need baking soda for the cookies to spread properly and to crack. Do not use baking powder. Read up on baking soda vs baking powder if you are unsure
• salt is really important to balance out the sweet molasses flavour. Please don't skip it. I like to use Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt, but table salt will work, though the cookies will be saltier and you may want to halve the salt in that case.

Please see the recipe card for the exact ingredients and quantities.

Note that we are not baking with ground ginger or cinnamon, or adding any warm spices to the dough. This cookie is all about the flavour of molasses and by eliminating the typical spices that we use in gingerbread cookie cut-outs and crystallized ginger cookies, we are giving the chance for the molasses to shine through.

Substitutions and Variations

• Molasses—use fancy molasses (which you can find on Amazon), which is sometimes called baking molasses or original molasses in the US (available on Amazon) or black treacle, which I used in these soft gingerbread cookies. You can also order black treacle on Amazon. Both are by-products from the sugar refinement process in the transformation of sugar cane). Mild molasses also works.
• Brown sugar—I used light brown sugar, but dark brown sugar also works
• Sugar coating—I love to roll the scoops of cookie dough in turbinado sugar, a coarse crunchy non-melting sugar, but you can also roll the cookie dough in granulated sugar or even icing sugar or both (like for chocolate crinkle cookies and lemon ricotta cookies)

Note: Do not use blackstrap molasses. Blackstrap molasses is very dark and has a more bitter taste, whereas Fancy molasses has a milder taste that is more suited for regular homemade cookies and Christmas cookies.

How To Make Molasses Sugar Cookies

Remember to scrape down the sides of the bowl of your stand mixer after each step to ensure all the ingredients are properly mixed. Otherwise, you will end up with textural defects in your cookies that may show up on the surface of them (like crystallized or shiny patches).

Step 1—Combine the butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (image 1) and mix them until creamy and smooth before adding the molasses (image 2) followed by the egg (image 3).

Step 2—Whisk the dry ingredients in a separate bowl (image 4) and then add them to the mixer (image 5). Stir until you form a thick, sticky dough (image 6). I like to transfer the dough to a smaller bowl or container to chill until firm (image 7)

Step 3—Scoop the dough using a medium cookie scoop (image 8) and then roll each scoop in turbinado sugar to coat it all around (image 9). I like to do all the scooping at once and then all the rolling in sugar at once so that my scoops are ready to bake (image 10).

Step 4—Stagger the cookies on a baking sheet, six per half-sheet pan (image 11) and bake until set and cracked (image 12).

Baking Tips For Thick Chewy Molasses Cookies

To achieve the perfect thick and chewy molasses cookie with a cracked surface:

• chill the cookie dough properly so that the edges will set before the baking soda reacts, which will lead to cracking when the leavening kicks in. Insufficient chilling may lead to thinner cookies
• use the correct type and amount of chemical leavener: in this recipe, we use baking soda, not baking powder, and we use a lot of it to achieve the right flavour, browning, and cracked finish
• roll the cookies in turbinado sugar, which adds a coarse crunch to the outside of the cookie and a little sparkle.

You could also opt to roll in granulated sugar, like for the classic ginger cookies, or icing sugar. You need to make sure to really coat the scoops of cookie dough thickly with sugar to achieve an even crackle finish.

If you want a thicker powdery white crinkle on the outside, you can roll the balls of dough into granulated sugar first before coating them in icing sugar (powdered sugar). The granulated sugar will help absorb the moisture on the surface of the cookies, drying them out and helping the cookies crack in the oven when they are baked. Really coat the cookies generously in a lot of powdered sugar so that they are well covered in a thick layer of icing sugar.

Other Baking Recipes With Molasses

If you love the taste of molasses, here are a few other recipes to try:

• ginger cookies with white chocolate
• moist gingerbread cake topped with white chocolate cream cheese frosting and lemon curd
• gingerbread muffins with cranberries

If you tried this recipe for the best molasses sugar cookies (or any other recipe on my website), please leave a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. I love hearing from you!

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Molasses Sugar Cookies

These sparkly molasses sugar cookies have a bold molasses flavour and a great chewy texture. These cookies are thick with a crunchy exterior because the scoops of cookie dough are coated in turbinado sugar before baking.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 11 minutes minutes

Chill time 1 hour hour

Total Time 26 minutes minutes

Servings 20 cookies

Calories 189kcal

Author Janice Lawandi

Equipment

• 1-⅓oz scoop
• Sheet pan

Ingredients

• 115 grams unsalted butter softened
• 100 grams light brown sugar
• 225 grams Fancy molasses
• 1 large egg(s)
• 345 grams bleached all-purpose flour
• 5 mL baking soda
• 1.25 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
• 150 grams turbinado sugar

Metric - US

Instructions

• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and the brown sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in the molasses, then beat in the egg, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
• In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Add half this dry mixture to the mixer bowl and stir it in on low, then mix in the rest.
• The dough is soft so cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill it in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.
• Preheat the oven to 350 ºF (175 °C). Line a baking sheet with parchment.
• Roll 40 grams of dough into round balls, then roll them in the turbinado to coat them on all sides. Place the cookies on the prepared baking sheet, spacing them about 2 inches apart. Bake the cookies for about 11 minutes or so, the edges will be firm. Let cool 5 minutes on the pan before transferring to a cooling rack.

Notes

• Variations:
  • Molasses—use fancy molasses (which you can find on Amazon), which is sometimes called baking molasses or original molasses in the US (available on Amazon) or black treacle, which I used in these soft gingerbread cookies. You can also order black treacle on Amazon. Both are by-products from the sugar refinement process in the transformation of sugar cane). Mild molasses also works.
  • Brown sugar—I used light brown sugar, but dark brown sugar also works
  • Sugar coating—I love to roll the scoops of cookie dough in turbinado sugar, a coarse crunchy non-melting sugar, but you can also roll the cookie dough in granulated sugar or even icing sugar or both (like for chocolate crinkle cookies and lemon ricotta cookies) 
  • Salt—I bake with Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt. If using table salt, add half the amount or the cookies may be too salty.
• Please note that I bake with uncoated aluminum sheet pans that are light in colour. If you are baking this recipe with darker bakeware, you may have to drop the oven temperature to 325 °F (165 °C) to prevent your baked goods from browning too quickly.

Nutrition

Calories: 189kcal | Carbohydrates: 34g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 5g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 21mg | Sodium: 74mg | Potassium: 196mg | Fiber: 0.5g | Sugar: 21g | Vitamin A: 156IU | Calcium: 33mg | Iron: 1mg

The post Molasses Sugar Cookies appeared first on The Bake School.

I am a big fan of the combination of lemon and gingerbread. It's so unique and surprising to many, but works so incredibly well! My mom used to make a gingerbread and serve it with lemon sauce. This moist gingerbread cake with white chocolate cream cheese frosting is served with dollops of lemon curd, a nod to that flavour combination. These stamped gingerbread cookies are another simple way of approaching those flavours.

What is black treacle?

The original recipe calls for black treacle (or dark treacle), which is a dark molasses-like syrup from Britain. Black treacle is a by-product of the sugar refining process and has a very distinctive, pronounced earthy molasses flavour, on the verge of burnt even.

The only black treacle I've ever found here is from the brand Lyle's (they also make golden syrup, which is another British ingredient used in baking) and it comes in a cute red tin. If you can't find Lyle's Black Treacle in stores near you, you can find it on Amazon. Another option would be to replace the black treacle with blackstrap molasses, which is more readily available in North America. Usually, you can find blackstrap molasses at the grocery store in the baking aisle (should be next to the fancy molasses), or in the organic section. You may also find it in health food stores and organic grocery stores.

Making stamped cookies

There are 2 methods to make stamped cookies:

1. Form balls of cookie dough, then press down with the stamp to stamp out the pattern onto each cookie, using floured cookie stamps. This is the method I used for these stamped chocolate cookies. This method can lead to scraggly, uneven methods, and there's nothing wrong with that, but if you want a clean edge, use the other method.
2. Roll out the cookie dough into a sheet, stamp out the pattern on the sheet of rolled dough as many times as you can, and then take a round cookie cutter that is the same diameter as the stamp and cut out the stamped rounds. Make sure to leave a thin between stamps to allow for space for the cookie cutter. This method is more tedious and takes much longer, but this will lead to the cleanest, most professional look. This is the method I used for these lemon shortbread cookies.

The recipe comes from the book Sweet by Yotam Ottolenghi and Helen Goh. I highly recommend this baking book and you can order it from Amazon.

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Soft Gingerbread Cookies

These soft gingerbread cookies are made using Nordic Ware cookie stamps and then finished with a lemon glaze for a festive holiday treat. Recipe by Yotam Ottolenghi & Helen Goh from the baking book Sweet

Course Dessert

Cuisine British

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes minutes

Total Time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 14

Calories 186kcal

Author Janice Lawandi

Equipment

• 5-quart KitchenAid Artisan mixer
• GIR spatula
• Starry stamps
• Sheet pan

Ingredients

Soft gingerbread cookies

• 85 grams unsalted butter at room temperature
• 90 grams dark brown sugar
• 100 grams Lyle's black treacle
• 1 large egg yolk(s)
• 235 grams bleached all-purpose flour plus extra for pressing
• 1 tablespoon Cacao Barry extra brute cocoa powder
• 2.5 mL baking soda
• 5 mL ground ginger
• 2.5 mL ground cinnamon
• 0.625 mL ground cloves
• 1.25 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
• 1.25 mL freshly ground black pepper

Lemon-Butter Glaze

• 80 grams icing sugar
• 15 grams unsalted butter melted and warm
• 15 mL fresh lemon juice
• 5 mL warm water

Metric - US

Instructions

• Place the butter, sugar, and treacle in the bowl of an electric mixer with the paddle attachment in place. Beat on medium speed until smooth and incorporated. Add the egg yolk and continue to beat until fully combined.
• Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, salt and pepper into a separate bowl. Turn the speed of the mixer to low, and add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture. Once the mix comes together, tip the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knead gently. Refrigerate the dough if it's too soft to roll. Roll out the dough so that it is about ¼ inch/ 0.5 cm thick. Remember, if the dough is very soft, you will need to chill it.
• Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
• Dip the cookie stamps in a small bowl of flour, shake off any excess and then press them firmly into the dough, one at a time, to create a deep imprint. How far you need to press to get an imprint will depend on your stamp; the patterns on some are more deeply cut than others. Bear in mind that the cookies rise a little when cooked, so any soft imprints will disappear. Using a round cookie cutter that is slightly larger than the pattern, cut out the pieces of imprinted gingerbread. Transfer the cookies to the lined baking sheets, spaced about ¾ inch–½ cm apart. Reroll the dough and continue to stamp and cut cookies until all the dough is used up.
• Bake for 9–10 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway through, until firm to the touch. They will continue to firm up as they cool, so don’t be tempted to bake them for any longer.
• To make the lemon-butter glaze while the gingerbreads are in the oven, as the glaze needs to be brushed onto the cookies while they are still warm, sift the confectioners’ sugar into a small bowl. Add the melted butter,  lemon juice, and water, and mix with a spoon until smooth. The glaze will thicken slightly if it sits around, so stir through a little more warm water if you need to—it should be the consistency of runny honey.
• Remove the cookies from the oven, leave them to cool for 5 minutes, then brush the glaze all over with a pastry brush. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Notes

• This recipe calls for Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If using regular table salt, add half the amount or the recipe may be too salty!
• Dark treacle: I used Lyle's black treacle, which comes in a can, but you can use blackstrap molasses if you can't find treacle. Treacle is a British product that is quite similar to molasses. You can order Lyle's black treacle from Amazon.
• Cookie stamps: I like Nordic Ware cookie stamps. They have a wooden handle, are easy to use, and easy to clean. I like to stamp out as many of the designs as possible, then using a round cookie cutter of the same diameter, I cut out the cookies. The Starry Nights Nordic Ware cookie stamps I used for this post are available on Amazon. I also love the All Season stamps available on Amazon. I used those to make these stamped chocolate cookies.
• Glaze: Feel free to replace the lemon juice with some rum to brush these gingerbread cookies with a rum glaze instead. Up to you!
• Make-Ahead: Once the dough is made, it can be covered in plastic wrap and kept in the fridge for up to 2 days before baking.
• Storage: These will keep for several days in an airtight container. The glaze will whiten, and may dry out and crack a little, but the cookies will still taste great!

Nutrition

Calories: 186kcal | Carbohydrates: 30g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 29mg | Sodium: 90mg | Potassium: 139mg | Sugar: 16g | Vitamin A: 195IU | Vitamin C: 0.4mg | Calcium: 48mg | Iron: 2mg

Please note this post contains affiliate links for Amazon. If you buy a product I recommend, I will get a small commission, and the price you have to pay will not change in any way.

The post Soft Glazed Gingerbread Cookies appeared first on The Bake School.

There are so many Christmas cookie recipes that you can bake, and some are more challenging or demanding than others. The trouble is that the holidays are hectic, and you may not have the time, the patience, or the energy for cutout gingerbread cookies made by rolling out disks of dough and cutting it out with cookie cutters before baking and decorating. That's where these slice-and-bake gingerbread cookies can be a real lifesaver!

These slice-and-bake gingerbread cookies have a really festive flavour from the fancy molasses, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. Rolling the logs of cookie dough in turbinado sugar gives a lovely crunch to the edges of each cookie.

Why Slice-and-Bake Gingerbread Cookies?

Slice-and-bake cookies, also known as icebox cookies, allow you to produce hundreds of cookies easily without breaking a sweat. The beauty of this type of cookie is that the recipe is just like rolled-out cookie doughs, but the dough is shaped into logs that are easy to store if wrapped tightly. You can make slice-and-bake cookie dough months ahead and store it in the freezer.

Icebox Gingerbread Cookie Ingredients

If you want to make these easy gingerbread cookies, you will need the following ingredients:

• butter, preferably unsalted butter because you will add salt to the dough, but if you have salted, it will work. Just adjust the salt in the recipe accordingly otherwise your cookies may be too salty
• sugar—this recipe calls for both light brown sugar and granulated sugar. The brown sugar adds flavour and softness, while the granulated sugar will contribute to the crisp edges
• molasses, specifically Fancy molasses or light/baking molasses. Do not use blackstrap molasses, which is too bitter for this recipe
• eggs—use large eggs. Don't use smaller eggs because your cookie dough may be too dry and your cookie dough won't roll out nicely, but don't use extra large eggs because they could cause the cookie dough to puff too much as it bakes, leading to a more cakey cookie or a spread out cookie.
• all-purpose flour is needed to bind all the ingredients together and give the cookies structure. If you don't use enough flour, your cookies may spread too much as they bake
• spices—ground ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves are added to the dough to make these cookies very flavourful. These are the usual spices in gingerbread, though some may add anise or even ground black pepper
• salt is really important to balance out the sweet molasses flavour. Don't skip it. I like to use Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt, but table salt will work, though the cookies will be saltier and you may want to halve the salt in that case.

Substitutions and Variations

• Molasses:
  • In this recipe, we are baking with Fancy molasses (which you can find on Amazon), which is sometimes called baking molasses or original molasses in the US (available on Amazon). Mild molasses also works.
  • Another option worth exploring would be black Treacle, which I used in these soft gingerbread cookies. Lyle's Black Treacle is very popular in Great Britain, and it's used to bake instead of molasses. You can also order it on Amazon.
  • Do not use blackstrap molasses. Blackstrap molasses is very dark and has a more bitter taste, whereas Fancy molasses has a milder taste that is more suited for Christmas cookies.
  • This recipe works with maple syrup but the colour of the cookies will be lighter. Honey could work as well. In both cases, the flavour will be quite different.
• Spices: typical gingerbread spices include ground ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves, but you may also mix and match these with others like allspice, mace, cardamom, and ground black pepper.
• Nuts: you may want to incorporate finely chopped toasted walnuts or hazelnuts in the dough.
• Crystallized ginger: you may enhance the ginger flavour of these cookies by mixing diced crystallized ginger into the dough.

How to Slice-and-Bake Gingerbread Cookies

Just like classic gingerbread cutout cookies, this slice-and-bake cookie dough comes together easily.

Step 1: Whisk the dry ingredients together (flour, salt, and spices) in a medium bowl (image 1) while you cream the butter and the sugars together with your mixer (image 2). Make sure to stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula occasionally so that all the ingredients are properly mixed (image 3).

Step 2: Add the egg and molasses to the mixer bowl (image 4) and beat it in. Then add the dry ingredients (image 5). The gingerbread dough will be quite thick (image 6).

Step 3: Divide the dough into three equal portions using a kitchen scale (image 7), then shape each portion of dough into a log (image 8). Each log will measure about 8 inches (20 cm) (image 9). Wrap the logs of gingerbread cookie dough tightly in plastic wrap before chilling overnight (image 10).

Step 4: Roll the chilled logs in turbinado sugar to coat them all around (imamge 11). The slice into rounds on a cutting board using a Chef's knife (image 12).

Tip: If you find that your turbinado sugar isn't adhering well to the logs of cookie dough, you can brush the log with a little egg white before rolling in coarse sugar. The egg white will help the sugar stick.

Step 5: Space out the rounds of cookie dough on parchment-lined half-sheet pans (image 13). Then bake until set (image 14).

Gingerbread Cookie FAQs

Other Gingerbread Recipes

If you are a fan of gingerbread and molasses-flavoured baked goods, here are some of my favourites to try:

• For roll and cut-out gingerbread people,
  • my fave recipe for classic gingerbread cookie cutouts
  • matcha gingerbread cookie variation
• For muffins, try these gingerbread muffins with cranberries
• For stamped cookies, try these soft gingerbread cookies stamped with fancy and festive cookie stamps and topped with a lemon glaze
• For a soft gingerbread variation, try these German gingerbread cookies
• For drop cookies, these chewy molasses cookies are easy and always a hit, as are these ginger cookies with white chocolate
• For a cake version, try this gingerbread sheet cake topped with white chocolate cream cheese frosting and homemade lemon curd
• For something a little more subtle, simple sugar cookies are also always a hit, whether you feel like decorating or not, and feel free to modify them to make spiced sugar cookies, flavourful but lighter without the earthy molasses!

If you tried this recipe for slice-and-bake gingerbread cookies (or any other recipe on my website), please leave a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. I love hearing from you!

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Easy Gingerbread Cookies (Slice and Bake)

These easy gingerbread cookies are a twist on the classic, but in slice-and-bake format to make your life easier! Make the dough ahead of time, then slice and bake when you are ready for cookies!

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 13 minutes minutes

Chill time 12 hours hours

Total Time 33 minutes minutes

Servings 85 cookies

Calories 30kcal

Author Janice Lawandi

Ingredients

• 250 grams bleached all-purpose flour
• 15 mL ground cinnamon
• 3.75 mL ground ginger
• 2.5 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
• 2.5 mL ground nutmeg
• 0.625 mL ground cloves
• 115 grams unsalted butter room termperature
• 100 grams light brown sugar
• 50 grams granulated sugar
• 30 mL Fancy molasses
• 1 large egg(s)
• 5 mL pure vanilla extract
• Turbinado sugar lots

Metric - US

Instructions

• Whisk together the flour, salt, and spices. Set aside.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and the sugars until light and fluffy. Mix in the molasses, the egg, and the vanilla, and beat everything together for 2 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
• Add the dry ingredients to the mixer bowl, mixing on low until everything is evenly combined and you have a soft dough.
• Divide the dough into three and roll each dough into a log of about 8-inches long. Wrap each log in plastic wrap and chill overnight.
• Preheat the oven to 375ºF (190 °C) and line a couple of baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Just before baking, remove one log of dough from the fridge, unwrap it and roll log into a shallow plate of turbinado to coat sides.
• Slice cookies fairly thin (⅛–¼ inch or 3–6 mm thick) and place them on the prepared baking sheets. Chill in the fridge for 15 minutes if your kitchen is warm.
• Bake until the edges begin to brown slightly, about 13 minutes. Repeat with remaining logs of dough.

Notes

• This recipe calls for Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If using regular table salt, add half the amount or the recipe may be too salty!
• You can replace the fancy molasses with baking molasses, light molasses, Treacle, honey, or even maple syrup.
• For more ginger flavour, you can mix diced crystallized ginger into the cookie dough before dividing and shaping into logs.
• If your turbinado sugar doesn't stick to the edges of the logs of dough, brush on a little egg white to help it adhere better.
• For a softer texture, insert a soaked brown sugar saver (terracotta disk) in the container of cookies. After 24 hours, they will have softened.
• Please note that I bake with uncoated aluminum sheet pans that are light in colour. If you are baking this recipe with darker bakeware, you may have to drop the oven temperature to 350 °F (175 °C) to prevent your baked goods from browning too quickly.

Nutrition

Calories: 30kcal | Carbohydrates: 5g | Protein: 0.4g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.3g | Trans Fat: 0.04g | Cholesterol: 5mg | Sodium: 16mg | Potassium: 15mg | Fiber: 0.2g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 37IU | Vitamin C: 0.01mg | Calcium: 5mg | Iron: 0.2mg

The post Easy Gingerbread Cookies (slice and bake) appeared first on The Bake School.

These coconut shortbread cookies are very buttery with a delightfully crisp texture and a little chew courtesy of the shredded coconut and slightly higher sugar content of traditional shortbread. These butter cookies are a variation of the kitchen sink cookie, which we've also explored in cakes via Christina Tosi's compost pound cake.

Ingredients

The beauty of these buttery coconut shortbread cookies is that they are made from pantry items and butter. These are eggless cookies, which makes them vegetarian-friendly for those who don't eat eggs!

• butter—I tested this recipe with unsalted butter. If using salted butter, you may want to adjust the salt.
• sugar—I've tested this recipe with all granulated sugar and with a combination of granulated and light brown sugar (50/50). It all works, but I like the clean, sweet taste of white granulated sugar here so that the add-ins (coconut, chocolate chips, and toffee bits) can shine
• salt—I bake with Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If using table salt, add half the amount or the cookies may be too salty!
• vanilla—these butter cookies have two full teaspoons of vanilla extract for the most flavour. If using artificial, you may want to use less
• flour—I always bake with bleached all-purpose flour though you may be able to use unbleached
• coconut—use finely shredded coconut, the kind that is great for macaroons (preferably unsweetened)
• chocolate chips—I prefer to bake these with mini chocolate chips so make rolling and cutting the cookies much easier. Big chocolate chips would be too bulky.
• toffee bits—toffee bits are sometimes referred to as Heath bits or Skor bits. They are tiny chopped-up pieces of crunchy toffee bar.

Please see the recipe card for the exact ingredients and quantities.

Variations and Substitutions

With shortbread cookie cutouts, you have to be very careful about making changes because these changes may lead to your cookies spreading as they bake.

• Coconut: If you don't like coconut, you can try to replace it with ground almond. I think this should work though I have not tested this combination
• Chocolate chips: use mini chocolate chips. I love these cookies with dark chocolate chips, but mini white chocolate chips would be very tasty (and quite different)
• Toffee bits: Skor and Heath bars are usually coated in chocolate but these are not. Still, you could finely chop a toffee chocolate bar if you can't find toffee bits.

How to Make Butter Cookies with Coconut and Chocolate Chips

To make these buttery coconut shortbread cookies, you will use the creaming mixing method. I prefer to do this in a stand mixer, which does a better job of creaming the butter until fluffy, especially in the colder winter months, where room temperature tends to be cooler and the butter more firm.

Step 1—Start by making the butter cookie dough by creaming together the butter, sugar and salt (image 1) until fluffy and light before adding the vanilla (image 2), then stir in the flour and coconut (image 3) and finally the toffee bits and chocolate chips (image 4). Let the mixer run on low until the dough comes together and it's evenly mixed, but still a little crumbly.

Step 2—Split the dough into two equal pieces (roughly 365 grams each) and transfer each half to a sheet of plastic wrap (image 5) and use your hands to shape the dough into disks (image 6) before wrapping and refrigerating until firm.

Step 3—Roll out the chilled cookie dough to about ¼ inch thick using a rolling pin on a lightly floured surface (image 7), then cut out into cookies using cookie cutters (image 8). I used snowflake cookie cutters.

Step 4—Transfer the cookies to parchment-lined sheet pans (image 9) spacing them out evenly. I fit 8 to 10 cookies per half-sheet pan. Bake until the edges are golden brown (image 10).

Top Cutout Cookie Tip

To ensure cutout cookies keep their shape when baked. Chill the cutouts before baking them. I like to roll out the two disks of dough and cut out all the cookies at once, placing them on smaller cookie sheets. I chill the cutout cookies for 15 to 30 minutes until very firm, then transfer them to half-sheet pans one batch at a time.

Baking cookies with toffee bits will inevitably lead to some blowouts where the toffee bits on the edge of the cookie melt, distorting the shape a little. You can use the tip of a mini offset spatula to gently push the edges back in, fixing the shape a little when the cookies are still hot and delicate.

More Christmas Baking Ideas

If you tried this recipe for the best coconut butter cookies (or any other recipe on my website), please leave a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. I love hearing from you!

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Toffee Chocolate Coconut Butter Cookies

These cookies are very popular. They are quite like shortbread in texture. They are buttery and flavoured with Skor bits, mini chocolate chips, and coconut

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 25 minutes minutes

Cook Time 12 minutes minutes

Total Time 37 minutes minutes

Servings 36 cookies

Calories 109kcal

Author Janice Lawandi

Equipment

• OXO kitchen scale
• 5-quart KitchenAid Artisan mixer
• Snowflake cookie cutter
• Sheet pan
• Mini offset

Ingredients

• 173 grams unsalted butter room temperature
• 100 grams granulated sugar
• 10 mL pure vanilla extract
• 220 grams bleached all-purpose flour
• 1.25 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
• 90 grams mini chocolate chips
• 90 grams finely shredded unsweetened coconut or regular shredded coconut finely ground in a mini food processor
• 75 grams toffee bits

Metric - US

Instructions

• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter, sugar, and salt. Add the vanilla extract and mix it in, scraping down the sides of the bowl.
• Add the flour and coconut, and mix the dough until it is crumbly.
• Dump in the mini chocolate chips and toffee bits, and mix on low until the dough clumps together.
• Split the dough in two, and flatten each half into a disk. Wrap and chill them for 30 minutes in the refrigerator.
• Preheat the oven to 350 ºF (175 °C). Line half-sheet pans with parchment paper.
• Working with one disk of cookie dough at a time, roll it to about ¼ inch thick (~6.5 mm). If it cracks, just press it back together. Cut with snowflake or star cookie cutters and transfer to the baking sheet.
• Bake the cookies for about 12 minutes, or until the edges begin to turn golden brown. Let cookies cool for 10 minutes on the pan before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Notes

• This recipe calls for Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If using regular table salt, add half the amount or the recipe may be too salty!
• For the best texture and to make cutting out the cookies easier, please use mini chocolate chips and toffee bits if you can. Regular chocolate chips are too bulky.
• Use finely shredded coconut (like for macaroons) for these cookies, again to make cutting out the cookies neater and easier.
• You can replace the mini dark chocolate chips with mini white chocolate chips if you can find them.
• You can try replacing the shredded coconut with ground almond, but this may affect the texture and will require some testing first.
• I have tested this recipe with all granulated sugar and also half granulated, half light brown sugar. Both work great!
• Please note that I bake with uncoated aluminum sheet pans that are light in colour. If you are baking this recipe with darker bakeware, you may have to drop the oven temperature to 325 °F (165 °C) to prevent your baked goods from browning too quickly.
• If the toffee bits melt and spread along the edges, you can gently push them back using a mini offset spatula when the cookies are hot.

Nutrition

Calories: 109kcal | Carbohydrates: 11g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 13mg | Sodium: 23mg | Potassium: 23mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 150IU | Vitamin C: 0.1mg | Calcium: 6mg | Iron: 0.4mg

Hershey's CHIPITS offered me financial compensation to develop a recipe with their line of chocolate & flavoured chips.

The post Toffee Chocolate Coconut Butter Cookies appeared first on The Bake School.

There are two types of sugar cookies that you can make: the drop kind (dough scooped into balls and rolled in sugar before baking) and the cutout kind (dough rolled out into a sheet and cut out with cookie cutters), like these easy cutout sugar cookies.

This drop chocolate sugar cookie recipe makes perfect sugar cookies that are so delicious! If you like the texture and look of these chocolate sugar cookies, you should definitely check out these chocolate snickerdoodle cookies, maple sugar cookies and molasses cookies, which all have a similar texture and appearance.  These are quite different than these chocolate crackle cookies, which are more of a brownie cookie and coated in powdered sugar.

Soft Chocolate Sugar Cookie Ingredients

If you want to make chocolate sugar cookies that are soft and chewy, you will need the following ingredients:

• butter, preferably unsalted butter because you will add salt to the dough, but if you have salted, it will work. Just adjust the salt in the recipe accordingly, otherwise your cookies may be too salty
• granulated sugar is needed to coat the scoops of cookie dough to give these cookies a cracked surface and also in the cookie dough
• dark brown sugar adds flavour but also helps make these cookies soft
• large eggs—don't use smaller eggs because your cookie dough may be too dry and your cookies won't spread enough, but don't use extra large eggs because they could cause the cookie dough to puff too much as it bakes, leading to a more cakey cookie
• all-purpose flour is needed to bind all the ingredients together and give the cookies structure, contributing to the chewiness of the cookies as well. If you don't use enough flour, your cookies may spread too much as they bake
• cocoa powder—this recipe was tested specifically with Dutch-processed cocoa powder, contributing the dark chocolate flavour that you need to balance out the sweet flavour of sugar cookies. I like to use Cacao Barry Extra Brute cocoa powder, which is a dark cocoa powder with a rich flavour.
• baking soda is a base (alkaline) and contributes to that signature cracked finish that we expect of the best chocolate sugar cookies. You need baking soda for the cookies to spread properly and to crack. Do not use baking powder. Read up on baking soda vs baking powder if you are unsure
• salt is really important to balance out the sweet molasses flavour. Don't skip it. I like to use Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt, but table salt will work, though the cookies will be saltier and you may want to halve the salt in that case.

Please refer to the recipe card below for the exact ingredients and quantities.

Substitutions and Variations

• Cocoa powder: You should use dark cocoa powder, like Cacao Barry Extra Brute for this recipe. The cocoa powder should be Dutch-processed, meaning it was treated with a base to raise the pH of the cocoa, leading to a darker colour and a richer flavour.
• Do not use "natural" cocoa powder for this recipe. The pH of natural cocoa powder is lower and this may affect the texture and how the cookies spread in the oven. You may have to do a few tests to see if it works in this recipe.
• Sugar coating—try rolling these in cinnamon sugar to create cinnamon chocolate sugar cookies.

How to Make Drop Chocolate Sugar Cookies

These chocolate sugar cookies are scooped like typical drop cookies. The dough requires little to no chilling (30 minutes or less depending on if your dough is too soft to scoop and roll). You can make the dough and bake it right away! Please note that this is not a chocolate sugar cookie that is rolled out before cutting with cookie cutters.

Here's how to make these:

Step 1: Cream the butter and sugars in a mixer bowl using the paddle attachment (image 1) or using an electric hand mixer until fluffy (image 2) before adding in the egg (image 3).

Step 2: In a separate bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients (flour, cocoa powder, leavening agents and salt) (image 4), then add it to the mixer bowl with the creamed ingredients (image 5). Stir it in to make a thick chocolate sugar cookie dough (image 6).

Step 3: To make perfect sugar cookies with an even size, I highly recommend using a 22 mL (¾ ounce) cookie scoop (also referred to as a disher) to portion out the cookies (image 7). Each scoop of dough should weigh roughly 30 grams. Roll the scoops in a shallow dish of sugar to coat them.

Step 4: Place the coated chocolate sugar cookies on a sheet pan. I can fit eight cookies on one half-sheet pan (image 8). Then, bake them until the surface has cracked and the cookies have spread out nicely (image 9).

Pro Tip

Bake your cookies on light-coloured aluminum pans to help the cookies spread out just enough before the edges set and crack. If you use sheet pans with a darker finish, you may have to drop the oven temperature by 25 ºF so that the cookies bake properly without setting too quickly.

Baking FAQs

Make Ahead Cookie Tips

If you are wondering if you can make this cookie dough a day ahead and refrigerate it overnight to bake the next day. You can! Portion out the dough into scoops and refrigerate them on a parchment-lined sheet pan covered in plastic wrap overnight. While the oven is preheating, take the scoops of dough out of the fridge and roll them in granulated sugar. You may need to add a couple of minutes to the baking time if the scoops of cookie dough are still very cold when they go into the oven.

If you'd like to freeze the chocolate sugar cookie dough, portion it out into balls, then freeze them in a single layer before storing them in a freezer bag. When you want to bake them, I like to defrost the scoops overnight in the refrigerator (or in a pinch, do so at room temperature for 20–30 minutes while the oven preheats), then roll them in sugar before baking.

If you notice your cookies aren't spreading enough, it's likely the dough is too cold and combined with the hot oven, the edges set before they have a chance to spread. To fix this, try dropping the oven temperature to 325 °F (165 °C) when baking cookie dough from frozen, and add a few more minutes to the bake time to promote a little more spreading.

Other Crinkle Cookie Recipes

Crinkle and crackle cookies are completely irresistible! Here's a rundown of other cookie recipes that crack when they bake!

If you tried this recipe for chocolate sugar cookies (or any other recipe on my website), please leave a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. I love hearing from you!

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Chocolate Sugar Cookies

This easy recipe makes the best chocolate sugar cookies with a soft and chewy texture and a cracked surface. These are very popular at Christmas time on Christmas cookie platters and dessert buffets. 

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 12 minutes minutes

Total Time 27 minutes minutes

Servings 24 cookies

Calories 132kcal

Author Janice Lawandi

Equipment

• 5-quart KitchenAid Artisan mixer
• OXO balloon whisk
• ¾ oz scoop
• Sheet pan

Ingredients

• 218 grams bleached all-purpose flour
• 47 grams Cacao Barry extra brute cocoa powder
• 7.5 mL baking soda
• 2.5 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
• 173 grams unsalted butter room temperature
• 150 grams dark brown sugar
• 100 grams granulated sugar plus 50 grams (¼ cup) more for rolling
• 1 large egg(s) room temperature
• 5 mL pure vanilla extract

Metric - US

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350 °F (175 °C). Line large baking sheets with parchment.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the remaining butter the brown sugar, and the 100 grams (½ cup) of granulated sugar until it is light and fluffy (takes at least 3 minutes). Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix again.
• Add the egg and vanilla, and beat them in until the mixture is smooth and light.
• Add the flour mixture slowly, on low speed and mix until the dough is combined.
• Put the remaining 50 grams of sugar in a shallow bowl.
• Roll scoops of cookie dough into balls and then coat them in sugar. Place each sugar-coated scoop of dough on a cookie sheet, spacing them out every 1.5 inches. You should be able to fit 8 per sheet pan.
• Bake the cookies for 12 minutes or so, until they have puffed and cracked and are just beginning to set in the middle. Let cool for 5 minutes to firm up before transferring to a rack to cool completely.

Notes

• Use Dutch-processed cocoa powder, which has a darker colour and richer flavour. Natural cocoa powder is more acidic and may affect the texture and appearance of these cookies.
• If your chocolate cookie dough is too soft, you may chill it briefly for about 30 minutes. I have never needed to, but you may have to especially if your kitchen is warm.
• Use a ¾ ounce scoop to evenly portion out perfect scoops of dough. You can smooth them out by rolling them briefly between your palms.
• Do not overbake these cookies because they will dry out.
• These cookies are best eaten within 2–3 days because they may dry out and become more crispy. 

Nutrition

Calories: 132kcal | Carbohydrates: 18g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 22mg | Sodium: 132mg | Potassium: 53mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 10g | Vitamin A: 190IU | Calcium: 12mg | Iron: 1mg

The post Chocolate Sugar Cookies appeared first on The Bake School.

Ginger Cookies Versus Gingersnaps Versus Gingerbread

What Ginger Cookies Are Made Of

If you want to make ginger cookies, you will need the following ingredients:

• butter, preferably unsalted butter because you will add salt to the dough, but if you have salted it, it will work. Just adjust the salt in the recipe accordingly otherwise, your cookies may be too salty
• sugar, both granulated brown sugar work here and we are using both to add texture and a little molasses flavour. Brown sugar may also lead to a slightly thicker cookie that is softer
• molasses, specifically Fancy molasses or baking molasses. Do not use blackstrap molasses, which is too bitter for this recipe
• large egg, don't use smaller eggs because your cookie dough may be too dry and your cookies won't spread enough but don't use extra large eggs because they could cause the cookie dough to puff too much as it bakes, leading to a more cakey cookie
• all-purpose flour is needed to bind all the ingredients together and give the cookies structure, contributing to the chewiness of the cookies as well. If you don't use enough flour, your cookies may spread too much as they bake
• baking soda is a base (alkaline) and contributes to that signature cracked finish that we expect of the best ginger cookies. You need baking soda for the cookies to spread properly and to crack. Do not use baking powder. Read up on baking soda vs baking powder if you are unsure
• ground ginger and cinnamon are added to the dough to make these cookies very flavourful
• salt is really important to balance out the sweet molasses flavour. Please don't skip it. I like to use Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt, but table salt will work, though the cookies will be saltier and you may want to halve the salt in that case
• crystallized ginger is the secret to the best ginger cookies because they add a ton of potent ginger flavour to really bring it up a notch.

See the recipe card for exact ingredients and quantities.

Substitutions and Variations

• Ginger: To make cookies with the boldest ginger flavour, we are incorporating ground and crystallized ginger in this recipe. Dried ginger gives the dough a mild flavour, while chopped crystallized ginger adds pops of intense ginger flavour. Try it and you'll be amazed at how great the flavour is when you combine both types of ginger. Don't use fresh ginger! It's not the same.
• Molasses: In this recipe, we are baking with Fancy molasses (which you can find on Amazon), which is sometimes called baking molasses or original molasses in the US (available on Amazon). Mild molasses also works. Another option worth exploring would be black Treacle, which I used in these soft gingerbread cookies. Lyle's Black Treacle is very popular in Great Britain and it's used to bake instead of molasses. You can also order it on Amazon.

Do not use blackstrap molasses. Blackstrap molasses is very dark and has a more bitter taste, whereas Fancy molasses has a milder taste that is more suited for Christmas cookies.

Hint: If you've never seen crystallized ginger in your grocery store, you may find it at bulk stores or scoop shops. It's sold sliced or already cubed. You can also order it from Amazon.

How To Make Soft Ginger Cookies

With this recipe, you are making drop cookies. You can make the dough and bake them on the same day!

Step 1: Combine the butter, sugars, and molasses in your mixer bowl (image 1) and cream them together until fluffy before adding the egg (image 2). Mix the ingredients well until smooth and light (image 3).

Step 2: In a separate bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients (image 4), then add them to your mixer bowl (image 5) and mix the dough until thick and the flour has mostly disappeared. Stir in the chopped crystallized ginger (image 6).

Step 3: Portion out the dough into even scoops using a ¾ ounce disher. You may chill the scooped cookie dough for 30 minutes to 1 hour until firm before rolling in granulated sugar (image 7).

Tip: chilling the scoops of dough will not only make them easier to handle, it will also reduce spreading when these cookies are baked!

Step 4: Place the sugar-coated ginger cookie dough balls on a half-sheet pan, spacing them out approximately 8 scoops per sheet, to allow for airflow (image 8). Bake until the edges are set and beginning to brown slightly (image 9).

Baking FAQs

More Drop Cookie Recipes to Try

If you tried this molasses ginger cookie recipe (or any other recipe on my website), please leave a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. I love hearing from you!

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Molasses Ginger Cookies

These molasses ginger cookies are chewy with a soft middle, made with crystallized ginger for the best ginger cookies ever!

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 25 minutes minutes

Cook Time 12 minutes minutes

Total Time 37 minutes minutes

Servings 26 cookies

Calories 118kcal

Author Janice Lawandi

Equipment

• Sheet pan
• OXO balloon whisk
• 5-quart KitchenAid Artisan mixer
• ¾ oz scoop

Ingredients

• 280 grams bleached all-purpose flour
• 10 mL baking soda
• 10 mL ground ginger
• 5 mL ground cinnamon
• 2.5 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
• 170 grams unsalted butter room temperature
• 100 grams granulated sugar plus extra for rolling
• 100 grams light brown sugar
• 60 mL Fancy molasses
• 1 large egg(s) room temperature
• 5 mL pure vanilla extract
• ½ cup chopped crystallized ginger

Metric - US

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 375 °F (190 °C). Prepare a couple of baking sheets by lining them with parchment paper.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, ground ginger, cinnamon, and salt. Set them aside for later.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter, the granulated sugar, and the brown sugar.
• Add the egg, and then the molasses, being sure to scrape down the bowl as needed and mixing well between each addition. Mix in the vanilla.
• With the mixer on low, slowly add the whisked dry ingredients, then the chopped crystallized ginger.
• Form the dough into 1–1.5 inch balls (roughly 26 to 28 equal scoops).
• Place them on the prepared baking sheets and lightly press a few extra pieces of chopped crystallized ginger into each ball (don’t squish too much!). If the dough is too soft to roll into smooth balls, chill the portioned dough on the parchment-lined baking sheets for 30 minutes to an hour (or even overnight if you have time).
• Roll the portioned out cookie dough in granulated sugar to coat it on all sides. Then place 8 scoops per sheet pan.
• Bake the cookies for about 12 minutes or until they just start to crack. Let them cool for a couple minutes before transferring them to a wire rack.

Notes

• These molasses ginger cookies are made with both dried and crystallized ginger to maximize the flavour! 
• Make sure to use baking molasses, light molasses or fancy molasses. Save the blackstrap for another use because it will not work here.
• This recipe calls for Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If using regular table salt, add half the amount or the recipe may be too salty!
• You can chill the dough after portioning it out to help it firm up and prevent the cookies from spreading when they bake. Baking these at a higher temperature (375 °F or 190 °C) also prevents the cookies from spreading.
• I bake on light aluminum half-sheet pans. If you are baking on a sheet pan with a darker finish, you may have to lower the oven temperature to 350 °F (175 °C) to prevent the cookies from browning on the bottom too quickly.  

Nutrition

Calories: 118kcal | Carbohydrates: 17g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 5g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 19mg | Sodium: 137mg | Potassium: 56mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 9g | Vitamin A: 161IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 13mg | Iron: 1mg

The post Ginger Cookies with Molasses appeared first on The Bake School.

White Chocolate Ginger Cookies Ingredients

If you want to make ginger cookies, you will need the following ingredients:

• butter, preferably unsalted butter because you will add salt to the dough, but if you have salted, it will work. Just adjust the salt in the recipe accordingly, otherwise your cookies may be too salty
• granulated sugar though brown sugar would also work here and would add to the molasses flavour. Brown sugar may also lead to a slightly thicker cookie
• molasses, specifically Fancy molasses or baking molasses. Do not use blackstrap molasses, which is too bitter for this recipe
• large eggs, don't use smaller eggs because your cookie dough may be too dry and your cookies won't spread enough, but don't use extra large eggs because they could cause the cookie dough to puff too much as it bakes, leading to a more cakey cookie
• all-purpose flour is needed to bind all the ingredients together and give the cookies structure, contributing to the chewiness of the cookies as well. If you don't use enough flour, your cookies may spread too much as they bake
• baking soda is a base (alkaline) and contributes to that signature cracked finish that we expect of the best ginger cookies. You need baking soda for the cookies to spread properly and to crack. Do not use baking powder. Read up on baking soda vs baking powder if you are unsure
• ground ginger and cinnamon are added to the dough to make these cookies very flavourful.
• salt is really important to balance out the sweet molasses flavour. Don't skip it. I like to use Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt, but table salt will work, though the cookies will be saltier and you may want to halve the salt in that case.
• crystallized ginger is the secret to the best ginger cookies because they add a ton of potent ginger flavour to really bring it up a notch.
• white chocolate chips or chunks are optional in this recipe, but the white chocolate does provide a creamy sweet flavour that pairs really nicely with the spicy ginger, especially the crystallized ginger.

See recipe card for exact quantities and recipe details.

Hint: Do not use blackstrap molasses. Blackstrap molasses is very dark and has a more bitter taste, whereas Fancy molasses has a milder taste that is more suited for baking and Christmas cookies in general.

How to Make White Chocolate Ginger Cookies

This is a drop cookie that is simple to make and the cookie dough doesn't require any chilling because it has slightly more flour than these soft ginger cookies with crystallized ginger.

Step 1: Start by creaming softened butter with the two types of sugar (image 1) until it's well mixed (image 2) before incorporating the egg (image 3) and the molasses (image 4).

Step 2: Whisk together the dry ingredients in a separate bowl (image 6) and when the creamed mixture is smooth (image 5), mix in the dry ingredients (image 7). Add the chopped crystallized ginger and the white chocolate (image 8).

Step 3: I highly recommend portioning out all the dough with a cookie scoop onto a quarter sheet pan (image 9) before chilling it for 30 minutes.

Step 4: Place 8 scoops of cookie dough on a half-sheet pan, evenly spacing them to allow airflow (image 10). Bake until the edges have set (image 11).

Top Tip

Crystallized ginger is the secret ingredient to make the best ginger cookies because it packs a massive amount of flavour in every bite!

Baking FAQs

This recipe yields thick, chewy ginger cookies with white chocolate. They will definitely satisfy the ginger and gingerbread-obsessed who are tight on time. The addition of crystallized ginger adds a punch of flavour to the cookies, and the white chocolate makes them a little decadent.

Other Ginger Cookie and Gingerbread Recipe Variations to Try

Other options if you are in the mood for ginger cookies and gingerbread variations:

• slice-and-bake gingerbread cookies
• crystallized ginger cookies
• glazed soft gingerbread cookies
• german gingerbread cookies
• matcha gingerbread cookies

If you tried this recipe for ginger cookies with white chocolate (or any other recipe on my website), please leave a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. I love hearing from you!

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Ginger Cookies with White Chocolate

These ginger cookies with white chocolate are chewy with a soft middle, made with crystallized ginger and chopped white chocolate or chocolate chips!

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 12 minutes minutes

Total Time 32 minutes minutes

Servings 30 cookies

Calories 131kcal

Author Janice Lawandi

Equipment

• Sheet pan
• OXO balloon whisk
• 5-quart KitchenAid Artisan mixer
• ¾ oz scoop

Ingredients

• 310 grams bleached all-purpose flour
• 10 mL baking soda
• 10 mL ground ginger
• 5 mL ground cinnamon
• 2.5 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
• 170 grams unsalted butter softened
• 100 grams granulated sugar
• 100 grams light brown sugar
• 60 mL Fancy molasses
• 1 large egg(s) room temperature
• 5 mL pure vanilla extract
• ½ cup chopped crystallized ginger
• 150 grams white chocolate chopped or chips, plus more for garnishing

Metric - US

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 375 °F (190 °C). Prepare a couple of baking sheets by lining them with parchment or a silicone liner.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, ground ginger, cinnamon, and salt. Set them aside for later.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter, the granulated sugar, and the brown sugar.
• Add the egg, and then the molasses, being sure to scrape down the bowl as needed and mixing well between each addition. Mix in the vanilla.
• With the mixer on low, slowly add the whisked dry ingredients, then the chopped crystallized ginger and the white chocolate.
• Form the dough into 1–1.5 inch balls.
• Place them on the prepared baking sheets (8 per sheet pan) and lightly press a few extra pieces of white chocolate into each ball (don’t squish too much!).
• Bake the cookies for about 12 minutes or until they just start to crack. Let them cool for a couple minutes before transferring them to a wire rack.

Notes

• This recipe calls for Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If using regular table salt, add half the amount or the recipe may be too salty!
• Feel free to use chopped white chocolate or white chocolate chips in these cookies.
• Make sure to use baking molasses, light molasses, or fancy molasses. Do not use blackstrap molasses, which has a completely different flavour.
• To portion out the dough, I highly recommend using a ¾ ounce disher, which will help you create perfect, even scoops.
• Don't overbake the cookies. Take them out of the oven when the edges have begun to set and the surface is slightly cracked.
• Please note that I bake with uncoated aluminum sheet pans that are light in colour. If you are baking this recipe with darker bakeware, you may have to drop the oven temperature to 325 °F (165 °C) to prevent your baked goods from browning too quickly.

Nutrition

Calories: 131kcal | Carbohydrates: 18g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 18mg | Sodium: 132mg | Potassium: 63mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 10g | Vitamin A: 151IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 20mg | Iron: 1mg

The post Ginger Cookies with White Chocolate appeared first on The Bake School.

The slice-and-bake method is a quick and easy way for you to produce dozens and dozens of cookies in almost no time. It's actually faster to do than scooped cookies, though you do have to factor the time it takes to chill the cookie dough.

Fruitcake Cookie Ingredients

If you want to make fruitcake cookies, you will need the following ingredients:

• butter, preferably unsalted butter. If you have salted butter, it will work. Just adjust the salt in the recipe accordingly, otherwise your cookies may be too salty
• sugar—we use a combination of granulated sugar (helps give a crispy edge) and brown sugar (for flavour and softness). The combination leads to the perfect texture for a slice-and-bake cookie, not too soft, not too crunchy.
• eggs—use large eggs. Smaller eggs may lead to a dryer cookie dough and your cookies won't spread enough. Extra large eggs could cause the cookie dough to puff too much as it bakes, leading to a more cake-y cookie
• all-purpose flour is needed to bind all the ingredients together and give the cookies structure. If you don't use enough flour, your cookies may spread too much as they bake or they may fall apart with all the dried fruit.
• spices—I used a combination of ground cardamom and allspice. Feel free to vary the spices. You can try cinnamon, nutmeg, or cloves too if you prefer. Just remember with some of these warm spices, a little goes a long way!
• salt is really important to balance out the sweet flavour of the candied fruit and dried fruit. Don't skip it. I like to use Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt, but table salt will work, though the cookies will be saltier and you may want to halve the salt in that case.
• candied and/or dried fruit is the secret to the best fruitcake cookies because they add a ton of flavour and sweetness and you can choose your favourites to mix into the cookie dough.
• nuts—I used toasted walnuts. They add both flavour and texture to the cookie.

See recipe card for exact quantities.

Substitutions and Variations

You can get creative with a few of the ingredients:

• Alcohol—I used brandy, but you could also use spiced or dark rum. The flavour is subtle in the final cookie but the alcohol helps hydrate the dried fruit to plump it.
• Spices—instead of ground cardamom and allspice, you can try cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, or ginger.
• Dried/candied fruit—I used a combination of raisins, mixed candied fruit (citrus peel and cherries, diced finely), but you could use dried apricots, dried cranberries, dried dates, diced crystallized ginger, or even chopped dried figs. Use the fruit you like, and keep the total weight of candied/dried fruit the same as in the recipe.
• Nuts—instead of the walnuts, replace them with the same weight of toasted almonds (chopped) and you could even incorporate pure almond extract in the dough to enhance that flavour. You could also try pecans or hazelnuts, if you prefer.

How to Make Slice-and-Bake Fruitcake Cookies

Slice-and-bake cookies are your best bet when it comes to pumping out a large number of cookies in a short amount of time and with less effort. Why? Because slice-and-bake cookie dough can be made ahead and stored in the refrigerator for several days. Or you can freeze it for up to 1 month. When you are ready to bake, try to take the cookie dough out of the freezer the day before. Then all you have to do is slice and bake them!

Step 1: Start by combining the candied/dried fruit in a small saucepan with the brandy (or rum) (image 1). Heat them up for a few minutes, then when the mixture is steamy, take the pan off the heat and let the fruit soak.

Tip: The fruit mixture needs to cool down before you incorporate it into the cookie dough, so sometimes I do this step the day before.

Step 2: Whisk together the dry ingredients (flour, spices, and salt) in a medium bowl (image 2). Set aside for later.

Step 3: Combine the butter and sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle (image 3). Beat the ingredients together until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a spatula every so often (image 4).

Step 4: Add the egg to the mixer bowl (image 5) and stir it until well mixed, then stir in the dry ingredients (image 6). Once the cookie dough has come together, add the toasted walnuts and soaked dried/candied fruit (image 7). Stir the dough until the fruit and nuts are incorporated (image 8).

Step 5: Divide the dough into 4 equal portions using a kitchen scale (image 9). This works out to portions of approximately 365 grams of dough. Shape the dough into logs—I shaped my dough into square logs, flattening it on all sides (image 10). Wrap the logs of dough tightly in plastic wrap (image 11) and refrigerate overnight. The longest part is waiting for the logs of cookie dough to chill before slicing until the butter is hard. This way, the cookies will hold their shape better.

Step 6: Slice the logs of dough into ⅛–¼-inch thick cookies on a cutting board using a large Chef's knife (image 12).

Step 7: Slice-and-bake or icebox cookies don't spread in the oven, so you can place them more tightly on your cookie sheets, allowing you to bake 24 cookies per half-sheet pan (image13)! Bake until the cookies look set and the edges are just beginning to brown (image 14).

Top Tip

Toast your nuts before baking with them whenever you can! They taste so much better this way. I like to use a mini sheet pan for this job and I toast nuts in the oven as it's preheating to 350 °F (175 °C). Just make sure to set a timer when you do this because it's so easy to forget them. It can take 10–15 minutes depending how packed they are on the sheet pan and your oven temperature.

Toasting nuts in the oven is more even than in a skillet on the stove.

Slice-and-Bake Cookie FAQs

How do I stop slice-and-bake cookie dough from flattening on one side?

When you refrigerate a log of cookie dough, initially the dough is soft and pliable. The side resting on your fridge shelf will flatten out a little. To avoid this, rotate the log of dough every 10 minutes to allow it to cool evenly while maintaining the shape of the log. Alternatively, you can try placing the log of dough in a paper towel cardboard roll. Cut it lengthwise and slide your wrapped dough in the tube. The same may happen when you press the log while slicing it into cookies. The trick again is to rotate the log every few slices to maintain the shape.
For these cookies, I avoided the issue by creating a square log!

Why did my icebox cookies spread?

If your cookies spread out, either your oven wasn't hot enough, your dough wasn't chilled properly, or you may have mismeasured the butter, sugar, or flour. Please read about why cookies spread to find out more about this issue.

What if You Hate Fruitcake?

If you don't love fruitcake, I'm not here to judge you. Try these slice-and-bake crystallized ginger cookies and slice-and-bake gingerbread cookies instead. Both are very easy and still quite festive for the holidays. Try the cinnamon rugelach with dried cranberries if you dare to make something more elaborate.

If fruitcake cookies aren't enough to satisfy your craving, try this light fruitcake topped with marzipan and brandy frosting. It's a family favourite, and you can bake it in a couple of loaf pans or muffin tins.

If you tried this recipe for fruitcake cookies (or any other recipe on my website), please leave a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. I love hearing from you!

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Icebox Fruitcake Cookies

Learn how to make delicious icebox fruitcake cookies with this easy recipe, made with candied fruit and walnuts, and flavoured with cardamom and allspice.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 35 minutes minutes

Servings 80 cookies

Calories 77kcal

Author Janice Lawandi

Equipment

• 5-quart KitchenAid Artisan mixer
• GIR spatula
• Sheet pan

Ingredients

• 454 grams chopped candied fruit mix or dried fruit, chopped (see note below recipe)
• 45 mL brandy
• 333 grams bleached all-purpose flour
• 3.75 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
• 3.75 mL ground cardamom
• 1.25 mL ground allspice
• 230 grams unsalted butter room temperature
• 100 grams granulated sugar
• 72 grams light brown sugar
• 1 large egg(s)
• 170 grams chopped walnuts toasted and chopped

Metric - US

Instructions

• In a small saucepan, combine the candied/dried fruits and/or raisins with the brandy. Heat to warm up everything until the mixture is steamy, then remove the saucepan from the heat and let stand.
• Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk together the flour with the spices. Set aside.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and the sugars until light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat well to combine. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
• Add the flour to the mixer bowl in three additions, stirring between each addition and scraping down the bowl as needed. When the last of the flour has almost disappeared into the dough, add the soaked fruit (plus any remaining brandy that didn't get soaked up) and the walnuts. Stir to combine.
• Divide the dough into 4 and roll each piece into a log of about 2-inches diameter. Wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
• When you are ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven at 350ºF (175 °C) . Line a couple half sheet pans with parchment paper.
• Slice each log into about ⅛–¼ inch (3–6 mm) thick cookies and arrange on parchment-lined baking sheets spaced 1 inch apart.
• Bake the cookies until set, about 12–14 minutes. The longer they stay in the oven, the crisper they will be.

Notes

• This recipe calls for Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If using regular table salt, add half the amount or the recipe may be too salty!
• For the candied fruit, you can use any or even dried fruit, diced fairly fine. Use the same total weight of fruit as in the recipe:
  • raisins or dried currants
  • dried cherries or dried cranberries
  • crystallized ginger
  • candied citrus peel (lemon, orange, or citron)
  • glacéed cherries (chop them up in to small pieces!)
  • dried figs, apricots, or dates
• For the nuts, instead of walnuts, you can try toasted almonds, pecans or hazelnuts.
• Instead of brandy, you can use spiced or dark rum.
• You may want to prepare the candied/dried fruit the day before, soaking it in brandy overnight to give the fruit time to absorb the alcohol and also time to cool down before mixing it into the cookie dough.
• Be sure to chill the cookie dough overnight so that it is solid. This way, when you slice and bake the cookies, they will hold their shape quite well.
• If any of the cookies break as you slice through the nuts, simply press them back together.
• Please note that I bake with uncoated aluminum sheet pans that are light in colour. If you are baking this recipe with darker bakeware, you may have to drop the oven temperature to 325 °F (165 °C) to prevent your baked goods from browning too quickly.

Nutrition

Calories: 77kcal | Carbohydrates: 10g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 4g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 8mg | Sodium: 5mg | Potassium: 17mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 80IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 12mg | Iron: 1mg

The post Icebox Fruitcake Cookies appeared first on The Bake School.

These cinnamon rugelach cookies are popular on cookie platters and at cookie exchanges during the holidays. The cream cheese dough is easy to work with and so forgiving. And the filling with cinnamon and dried cranberries is festive without being fussy or overthought.

Rugelach Cookie Ingredients

Rugelach cookies have two key components: an easy cream cheese dough and a filling. The dough is always the same, made of cream cheese, butter, flour, and salt, but the filling varies depending on the recipe.

You will need the following ingredients to make the best rugelach:

• For the cream cheese dough:
  • butter, preferably unsalted butter because you will add a lot of salt to the dough, from both fine kosher salt and cream cheese. If you have salted, it will work. Adjust the salt in the recipe accordingly or your cookies may be too salty...
  • cream cheese, preferably the Philadelphia brand regular cream cheese sold in a block format. This recipe uses the entire block. Do not use the cream cheese in the tub or whipped cream cheese.
  • all-purpose flour is needed to bind all the cream cheese dough ingredients together and give structure to the cookies. If you don't use enough flour, your cookies may spread too much as they bake
  • salt is really important to balance out the sweet filling and enhance the savoury nature of the cream cheese dough. Don't skip it. I like to use Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt, but table salt will work, though the cookies will be saltier and you may want to halve the salt in that case.
• For the rugelach filling:
  • nuts—be sure to toast the nuts in the filling ahead of time
  • dried cranberries—dried cherries or dried apricots will also work
  • granulated sugar is used, though brown sugar would also work here and adding more flavour to the filling.
  • ground cinnamon is added to the filling to make these cookies very flavourful
  • cream is needed to bind the filling together but also to help the tops of the cookies brown and to help glue the cinnamon sugar coating on the surface of the cookies
  • vanilla extract adds a ton of flavour to the filling. Don't skimp on it. If you are using an artificial vanilla extract, that will work too but you may have to use less because it tends to be more potent than the real extract.
• For the topping and to make the cookies sparkle:
  • cinnamon sugar is the secret to making the cookies sparkle on top, adding a little more flavour since the dough is plain and unsweetened. You can buy it or make cinnamon sugar yourself!

Please see the recipe card for the exact ingredients and quantities.

Substitutions and Variations

Rugelach are always made with the same cream cheese dough. It is a savoury dough, made without sugar, that has a slightly tangy flavour from the cream cheese. The dough really helps the filling shine, so I wouldn't modify that part of the recipe.

The filling is where you can get creative. Traditional rugelach cookies are filled with jam, cinnamon sugar, or a filling of cinnamon sugar with ground nuts. You may also see chocolate-filled rugelach. The ingredients are ground together in the bowl of a food processor to make a coarse filling that resembles wet sand.

To modify the filling:

• nut-free rugelach: replace the toasted walnuts with the same amount of pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds
• cranberries: replace the dried cranberries with the same amount of dried cherries, apricots, or your favourite dried fruit

Other fillings you can try:

• chocolate filling made from chopped chocolate, sugar, and cinnamon
• Nutella (or your homemade nutella without hazelnuts)
• jam or homemade preserves, like this plum jam or a classic apricot jam filling would be great here!

How to Make Rugelach

Traditionally, most bakers create crescent-shaped rugelach cookies, rolling triangles of dough and filling like croissants, but I've found the method takes too much time. My results this way weren't always as nice and the cookies tended to vary too much in size and shape, making baking them properly very tricky. This method makes it much easier and faster to make these cookies. And the shape and size are more consistent.

I have made this recipe every Christmas for the last twenty years and tested a few different ways to shape the cookies. Over the years, I've changed many steps to streamline the process and make the recipe more consistent, easier, and faster.

Step 1: Start by making the cream cheese dough. Combine softened butter and cream cheese in the bowl of a stand mixer (image 1) and mix until the two ingredients are well mixed, soft and creamy (image 2). Add flour and salt to the mixer bowl (image 3) and mix to form a shaggy but well-mixed dough (image 4).

Step 2: Once the dough comes together, divide it into 4 equal pieces with the help of a kitchen scale (image 5), shaping each into a square and wrapping in plastic wrap (image 6) to chill in the refrigerator until firm, at least 1 hour (image 7).

Tip: Chilling the dough is important to give the flour time to hydrate, the gluten to relax, and to cool down the butter so that you can roll the dough easily. Cold doughs also help ensure the cookies don't spread.

Step 3: Combine the ingredients for the filling in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal S-blade (image 8) and process into a fairly medium–fine texture (image 9).

Step 4: Roll out each portion of dough to roughly a 7x13 inch (18x33 cm) rectangle (image 10), trimming the edges to straighten them (and patch if necessary). Scatter one-quarter of the filling from edge to edge, pressing it into the dough to anchor all the little bits (image 11). Roll the dough as tightly as possible into a 13-inch (33-cm) log (image 12). Make sure to finish the roll seam-side down so that the seam is under the log of dough.

Tip: These rugelach are rolled and cut the same way you would sticky buns (check out these Crock-Pot cinnamon rolls for more information on cutting rolled doughs like this). The longest part of this recipe is the hands-off time when the dough is chilling and the cookies are in the oven baking.

Step 5: brush the roll of dough with cream and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar, then use a ruler or a measuring tape as your guide to mark the dough evenly. You can cut the log into 12 to 14 equal portions, creating slits every inch or so (~2.5 cm) (image 13). Then, cut the dough into cookies using a large chef's knife or a bench scraper (image 14).

Step 6: Place the rugelach cookies upright on a parchment paper-lined sheet pan (image 15), spacing them out and staggering them to allow for airflow. Bake until golden brown (image 16) and baked through. The center of each cookie should look set and baked.

Baking Tips for Rugelach

The fillings for rugelach tend to be heavy in sugar, dried fruit (or jam), spices, and nuts. The trouble with rugelach is that these tasty fillings can burn in the oven if you aren't careful, while the center of the cookie may remain doughy.

You'll notice from the photos that I bake the rugelach standing upright. I don't lay them on their side. There are a few reasons for this:

1. to ensure the dried cranberries and nuts don't burn
2. to ensure the cookies keep their shape and that the swirl of dough and filling doesn't unravel

If you choose to shape these rugelach cookies the way I've outlined, make sure to bake the cookies standing up, with the seam hidden underneath on the bottom. The weight of the cookie ensures that the seam doesn't unravel. Do not lay the cookies down flat to bake them!

Bake rugelach on light-coloured half-sheet pans (the basic kind used in restaurants) lined with parchment paper. Bake the cookies for 25 to 30 minutes until evenly browned and set in the middle. The bottoms should be a deep golden brown but not burnt.

Rugelach FAQ

Other Cranberry Recipes

Cranberries make such a lovely tart addition to many baking recipes. Here are a few other cranberry recipes to try:

If you tried this rugelach cookie recipe (or any other recipe on my website), please leave a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. I love hearing from you!

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Cinnamon rugelach with dried cranberries and walnots

These cinnamon rugelach are made with a cream cheese dough that is very easy to work with. They are filled with cinnamon, dried cranberry, vanilla, and walnuts. They are very popular on Christmas cookie trays!

Course Dessert

Cuisine Jewish

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 28 minutes minutes

Chill time 1 hour hour

Total Time 1 hour hour 58 minutes minutes

Servings 48 cookies

Calories 137kcal

Author Janice Lawandi

Equipment

• 5-quart KitchenAid Artisan mixer
• Food processor
• Rolling pin

Ingredients

Cream cheese dough

• 230 grams unsalted butter room temperature
• 250 grams Philadelphia cream cheese (full fat, regular) 1 block
• 375 grams bleached all-purpose flour
• 1.25 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt

Cinnamon rugelach filling with dried cranberries

• 170 grams walnuts lightly toasted
• 160 grams dried cranberries
• 200 grams granulated sugar
• 10 mL ground cinnamon
• 20 mL whipping cream (35 % fat)
• 10 mL pure vanilla extract

Cinnamon sugar topping

• 30 mL whipping cream (35 % fat)
• 30 mL cinnamon sugar

Metric - US

Instructions

Cream cheese dough

• In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and cream cheese until smooth.
• Add flour and salt and mix until the dough comes together.
• Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces. Shape each piece of dough into a square. Wrap and chill dough for at least 2 hours.

Cinnamon rugelach filling with dried cranberries

• In the bowl of a food processor, combine walnuts with dried cranberries, sugar, cinnamon, cream, and vanilla extract. Pulse the mixture until it is ground fairly fine and evenly mixed. The filling will resemble coarse, wet sand.

How to shape & bake cinnamon rugelach

• Preheat oven to 350 ℉ (175 ℃). Line a couple of sheet pans with parchment paper.
• Working with one piece of dough at a time, roll the dough into a rectangle that is approximately 7x13 inches (18x33 cm) on a lightly floured surface.
• Sprinkle one quarter of the cranberry filling mixture generously over the surface of the dough and press lightly to anchor the filling. Roll it tightly into a 13-inch (33 cm) log, setting it seam-side down.
• Brush the log with cream and sprinkle the top generously with the cinnamon sugar mixture. Cut into 12 or 13 pieces (roughly cut every 1 inch or 2.5 cm).
• Transfer rugelach to a parchment-lined baking sheet, spacing them about an inch, keeping the seam-side of each cookie down and placing each cookie standing upright on the cookie sheets.
• Bake cookies until they are golden brown (this takes at least 25–30 minutes). You want the cream cheese dough to bake completely, the seam side and tops of the cookies should be golden brown and the center of the cookies completely baked and set.

Notes

• This recipe calls for Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If using regular table salt, add half the amount or the recipe may be too salty!
• Filling substitutions:
  • nut-free rugelach: replace the toasted walnuts with the same amount of pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds
  • cranberries: replace the dried cranberries with the same amount of dried cherries, apricots, or your favourite dried fruit
• Other fillings to try:
  • chocolate filling made from chopped chocolate, sugar, and cinnamon
  • Nutella (or your homemade nutella without hazelnuts)
  • jam or homemade preserves, like this plum jam or a classic apricot jam filling would be great here!
• Time: The longest part of this recipe is the hands-off time when the dough is chilling and the cookies are in the oven baking. Factor that in when you are planning to bake this recipe.
• Chilling: Chilling the dough is important to give the flour time to hydrate, the gluten to relax, and to cool down the butter so that you can roll the dough easily. Cold doughs also help ensure the cookies don't spread.
• Shaping: These rugelach are rolled and cut the same way you would sticky buns (check out these Crock-Pot cinnamon rolls for more information on cutting rolled doughs like this).
• Baking: Bake rugelach on light-coloured half-sheet pans (basic kind used in restaurants) lined with parchment paper. Bake the cookies for 25 to 30 minutes until evenly browned and set in the middle. The bottoms should be a deep golden brown but not burnt.
• Storage: Store rugelach in an air-tight container for up to 1 month in a cool dry place. For longer storage, I recommend freezing them after baking and cooling completely. To freeze rugelach, place them on a parchment paper-lined sheet pan in the freezer until frozen solid, then transfer to a freezer bag (air removed). Defrost rugelach in the refrigerator overnight and then transfer to a container at room temperature. Make sure the cookies stay dry.
  •  

Nutrition

Calories: 137kcal | Carbohydrates: 14g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 17mg | Sodium: 28mg | Potassium: 36mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin A: 206IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 14mg | Iron: 1mg

The post Cinnamon Rugelach with Walnuts and Dried Cranberries appeared first on The Bake School.

Chocolate and vanilla pinwheel and checkerboard cookies are always the most popular. They get eaten the fastest on any cookie tray! Find out how to make these popular icebox cookies below, including step-by-step photos of the process of shaping the layers of dough to make this unique spiral cookie shape.

Ingredients to Make Pinwheel Cookies

Pinwheel cookies combine two cookie doughs, usually of contrasting flavour and colour, which are rolled together to form the swirl pattern they are known for. If you want to make chocolate and vanilla-flavoured pinwheel cookies, you will need the following ingredients:

• butter, preferably unsalted butter because you will add salt to the dough. If you have salted butter, it will work. Just adjust the salt in the recipe accordingly. Otherwise, your cookies may be too salty
• granulated sugar is preferable in this recipe because we don't want the flavour or colour of brown sugar in this recipe
• large eggs—don't use smaller eggs because your cookie dough may be too dry and your cookies won't spread enough, but don't use extra large eggs because they could cause the cookie dough to puff too much as it bakes, leading to a more cakey cookie
• all-purpose flour is needed to bind all the ingredients together and give the cookies structure. If you don't use enough flour, your cookies may spread too much as they bake
• salt is really important to balance out the sweet molasses flavour. Don't skip it. I like to use Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt, but table salt will work, though the cookies will be saltier and you may want to halve the salt in that case.
• vanilla—I use real vanilla extract in this recipe. Artificial can work, but you may want to reduce the quantities as it is more potent.
• cocoa powder, specifically Dutch-processed cocoa powder, contributes the dark chocolate flavour that you need to balance out the sweet flavour of sugar cookies. Don't use natural cocoa powder because the colour of the cookies will be lighter and the flavour won't be as good. I like to use Cacao Barry Extra Brute cocoa powder, which is a dark cocoa powder with a rich flavour.

Please see the recipe card for the exact ingredients and quantities.

Substitutions and Variations

With such a simple list of ingredients, there aren't many substitutions to make in this recipe.

• Cocoa powder: we use cocoa powder, specifically Dutch-processed cocoa powder because it has a rich flavour with a higher fat content and a darker colour necessary to stand out when the chocolate cookie dough is layered with the vanilla dough. You could try a natural or black cocoa powder, but the results may vary. Do a test batch!
• Vanilla: this recipe uses vanilla extract in the base cookie dough. You could also try almond or peppermint extract (use less since they are potent!). Remember, both layers of dough will have the flavour since you add it early in the cookie dough process.
• Colour: some bakers like to use gel food colours to dye the vanilla dough a festive colour, like red or green. This is an option if that interests you. Be sure to use a gel food colour, as opposed to the liquid food colours sold in grocery stores.

Some recipes will call for using melted chocolate instead of cocoa powder, but to do so, it's best to use unsweetened dark chocolate with a high percentage (greater than or equal to 90 %). This type of chocolate is appropriate for imparting a deep chocolate flavour without adding more sugar. If you used semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate in the dough, the chocolate flavour would likely be muted by all the sugar in the recipe.

How They Are Made

Step 1: combine the dry ingredients (except the cocoa powder) in a medium bowl and whisk them together (image 1).

Step 2: combine the butter and sugar in your mixer bowl (image 2) and cream them until light and fluffy before adding the eggs, one at a time, and vanilla (image 3).

Step 3: Add the whisked dry ingredients to the mixer bowl (image 4) and stir them in, forming a slightly sticky vanilla dough (image 5). Weigh out half the vanilla dough on plastic wrap (image 6).

Step 4: Add cocoa powder to the remaining dough in the mixer bowl (image 7) and stir it until the chocolate dough is evenly mixed and uniform in colour (image 8). Shape the two doughs into disks (or flat squares) and wrap them tightly in plastic to chill them in the fridge (image 9).

IMPORTANT TIP: this dough is quite soft, which makes it tricky to work with at times. You must chill it until it is cold and firm before proceeding. When you roll it out, chill it again. Chill it at any point when it is too soft to handle or your pinwheel shape will not be as perfect, especially when you are ready to roll the two doughs together. You may put the two doughs in the freezer for 15 minutes to speed up the chilling process and ensure they are firm enough to work with.

Step 5: Roll out half of the chocolate dough into a 6x7-inch (15x18 cm) rectangle and half the vanilla dough into a 6x6 (15x15 cm) square before stacking the vanilla over the chocolate dough (image 10). Roll the two doughs together tightly to form a log of dough (image 11), trimming the ends with a bench scraper (image 12).

Step 6: When you are ready to bake the cookies, slice the log of pinwheel dough on a cutting board (image 13).

Step 7: Place the pinwheel cookies on a parchment paper-lined sheet pan, spacing them out evenly (image 14). Bake until set and dry (image 15).

Tricks For Perfectly Round Slice-and-Bake Cookies

It can be difficult to bake round slice-and-bake cookies because as the log of cookie dough warms up and with the pressure of the knife as you slice, the round cylinder of dough is compressed, forming oval-shaped cookies. Here are a few tricks for baking perfectly round slice-and-bake cookies:

• Before chilling the dough, make sure the logs of slice-and-bake cookie dough are round. Roll the log back and forth several times to tighten any seams and to smooth any bumps.
• While chilling the dough, take the dough logs out of the fridge and roll them back and forth on the counter to ensure they are still round. If you don't do this, the weight of the dough in the early stages of chilling will cause the log to be flat on one side.
• To chill the rolls of pinwheel cookie dough, store them in empty toilet paper or paper towel rolls, which will help maintain the round shape of the log as the dough chills.
• After chilling the dough and while slicing the cookies, rotate the dough log every few slices so that the pressure is evenly distributed on all sides as you slice it. Otherwise, you will have a flat side from the knife's pressure.

Tips For Sticking Two Layers of Cookie Dough Together

There are some key steps to making sure these two separate layers of dough stick together:

1. When rolling out the dough, minimize the flour you use or, better yet, roll out the dough between sheets of wax or parchment paper. This will make handling the dough easier and ensure the layers stick once stacked.
2. When stacking the layers of dough, brush off any flour from the top and underside of the dough (if you rolled the dough on a floured surface). Otherwise, they will not stick together.
3. When the two doughs are stacked, take the time to press them together using a sheet pan and/or a rolling pin to press the doughs together to fuse them.
4. If all else fails, brush an egg white wash on the doughs before stacking them. The egg white will wet the surface and act as glue to fuse the layers. Sometimes, even water may do the trick.

Once you've made the chocolate and vanilla cookie doughs, you can use them to make many different cookies, including checkerboard cookies, zebra cookies, or even marble cookies. It's just a matter of layering the doughs in different ways to achieve the desired pattern.

Other Slice-and-Bake Cookies To Make

Chocolate and vanilla pinwheels are always impressive on a Christmas cookie platter. They aren't as hard to make as most people would expect but they do take time and patience. All the more reason to practice making them!

Here are some other slice-and-bake cookie recipes to try:

If you tried this pinwheel cookie recipe (or any other recipe on my website), please leave a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. I love hearing from you!

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Chocolate Pinwheel Cookies

Learn how to make chocolate pinwheel cookies with this easy recipe. You only have to make one vanilla dough, which you split into two to flavour half with chocolate!

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 45 minutes minutes

Cook Time 12 minutes minutes

Chill time 12 hours hours

Total Time 12 hours hours 57 minutes minutes

Servings 80 cookies

Calories 50kcal

Author Janice Lawandi

Equipment

• 5-quart KitchenAid Artisan mixer
• Sheet pan
• Bench scraper
• Rolling pin

Ingredients

• 375 grams bleached all-purpose flour
• 2.5 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
• 230 grams unsalted butter room temperature
• 200 grams granulated sugar
• 2 large egg(s)
• 10 mL pure vanilla extract
• 23 grams Cacao Barry extra brute cocoa powder

Metric - US

Instructions

• In a bowl, whisk together the flour and salt. Set aside.
• In the bowl of an electric fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the butter with the sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating between additions and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Mix in the vanilla. The mixture should be smooth and light.
• Add the flour and stir it in on low. Mix until just combined.
• Remove half oof the dough (roughly 450 grams or 1 lb of dough). To the dough left behind in the mixer bowl, add the cocoa powder and stir it in.
• Pat each dough into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap and chill at least 1 hour.
• Divide each disk into four pieces. Store extra pieces of dough in the fridge while you work.
• Roll one piece of chocolate dough to a 6x7-inch (15.3x17.8 cn) rectangle between pieces of wax paper.
• Roll one piece of vanilla dough to a 6x6-inch (15.3.x15.3 cm) square between pieces of wax paper.
• Chill both rolled doughs for 10 minutes in the freezer.
• Remove wax paper from both sheets of dough. Place the vanilla dough over the chocolate dough, leaving a half inch border on top and on bottom. Press together with a cookie sheet to help them adhere (or using a gently using a rolling pin). If the dough feels at all soft, chill it again.
• Roll the dough tightly into a cylinder to form a pinwheel using the paper to help keep the roll tight. Roll the log back and forth to seal the layers together and form a perfect cylinder.
• Repeat with remaining doughs to form 4 logs of pinwheel dough. Wrap the logs in plastic wrap and chill overnight.
• Preheat the oven to 350ºF (175 °C). Line two sheet pans with parchment paper.
• Unwrap a log of pinwheel cookie dough and trim the ends off. Slice cookies to about ⅛–¼ inch (3–6 mm). Place 1 inch apart on parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake one sheet at a time until cookies look set and dry, for approximately 13 minutes.

Notes

• Use Dutch-processed cocoa powder, though natural or black cocoa will also work. The resulting chocolate cookie dough taste, colour, and texture may vary depending on the type and brand of cocoa you use.
• Sift the cocoa powder to remove any lumps.
• The cookie dough becomes very soft if it is warm. Chill the dough thoroughly to be cold and firm before rolling them out. Once rolled, chill them again before layering them. And then chill them again after layering them. The pinwheel spiral may be distorted or deformed if the dough is not cold enough. 
• Roll the dough between layers of parchment paper or wax paper. Don't use flour, as the flour may prevent the chocolate and vanilla dough from adhering together when you create the pinwheel. 
• The thicker you slice the cookies, the fewer you will get and the longer they may take to bake. The thinner you slice the dough, the more cookies you will make, and they will take less time to bake.
• For peppermint-flavoured pinwheel cookies, add 2.5 mL (½ teaspoon) peppermint extract.
• For almond-flavoured pinwheel cookies, add 2.5 mL (½ teaspoon) almond extract.
• If you want to use food colouring, use gel food colours to dye the vanilla dough red or green, for example.
• Please note that I bake with uncoated aluminum sheet pans that are light in colour. If you are baking this recipe with darker bakeware, you may have to drop the oven temperature to 325 °F (165 °C) to prevent your baked goods from browning too quickly.

Nutrition

Calories: 50kcal | Carbohydrates: 6g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 3g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 10mg | Sodium: 14mg | Potassium: 12mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 78IU | Calcium: 2mg | Iron: 1mg

Adapted from the book Great Cookies. This is a fantastic cookie book that we've been baking cookies from for over 10 years.

The post Chocolate Pinwheel Cookies appeared first on The Bake School.