Baked Sunday Mornings: Chocolate Ginger Molasses Cookies

I am generally not a fan of making roll and cut cookies. I find them to be time-consuming and a hassle in general. I also had a specific reason for being pessimistic about making the Chocolate Ginger Molasses Cookie recipe from Baked Explorations; something went wrong with my Ginger Rum Molasses Cookies from the same cookbook and I had to resort to scooping out the dough -- even though those cookies were also supposed to be rolled and cut.

The dough for the cookies is easy to make; beat softened butter and shortening, add dark brown sugar and beat until fluffy, add an egg, molasses, and melted bittersweet chocolate, and then add the dry ingredients (flour, cocoa powder, powdered ginger, cinnamon, cloves, baking powder, baking soda, salt) in three additions. You divide the dough into three parts, form each one into a disk, and wrap and refrigerate for at least two hours.

I couldn't believe how quickly and easily this dough rolled out, without any cracking, stretching or sticking. I rolled it out between sheets of parchment and needed only a small amount of flour; the scraps were also a breeze to re-roll. The recipe instructs you to use a 4- to 5-inch cookie cutter, which seemed ginormous, so I used a butterfly cutter that was 3.25 inches across at the widest part. I got 27 cookies from the recipe.

The Baked boys included a royal frosting recipe, and while I am terrible at any sort of decorating work that requires actual artistic skills, I did manage to pipe out solid shapes to make butterfly wings. I had to mix two batches of frosting to decorate all of the cookies.

I was very pleasantly surprised at how much I liked these cookies. To me, they tasted like chocolate gingerbread. The cookies were soft and moist, but sturdy enough to store and transport without any problems. I think chocolate and ginger is a wonderful combination that is woefully underutilized (this double-ginger chocolate chunk cookie is one of my absolute favorites), and this cookie nicely showcases both flavors. Plus, I have to love a roll and cut cookie that is so easy to make. I will definitely be making these again!

Recipe: "Chocolate Ginger Molasses Cookies" from Baked Explorations: Classic American Desserts Reinvented, by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito. Recipe available here at Baked Sunday Mornings.

Previous Post: "Baked Sunday Mornings: Joe Froggers," October 21, 2012.

Comments

Louise said…
Your butterflies are so darn cute. Makes me want to start a batch right now.
Unknown said…
Love your butterflies! I agree, the cookies were delicious!
Kris' Kitchen said…
Wow...extra mile on the decorating! Looks like you had lots of fun with these cookies...look perfect!
Adorable! So glad yours turned out. Loving the butterflies. I will have to try this again, as I loved the flavour. Perhaps I'll wait until the warmer months, when it isn't so dry in the house. Great job!!
Anonymous said…
Oh, my goodness! So cute! I have to try your other ginger chocolate recipe, because I *LOVE* these. Seriously can't stay out of them...
Anonymous said…
I passed on this one, but now I wish I had made them! They look so delicious!
Anonymous said…
Those are really beautiful! :)
Anonymous said…
I generally prefer drop cookies too, something about the added step of rolling and cutting can seem tedious, when I really just want to skip ahead to the part where I can actually eat the cookie. I didn't like the Joe Froggers either, but loved these chocolate cookies. Your butterflies look great!
Susan said…
These are so cute! Glad you had fun with this one.
Anonymous said…
Hello!

Love your blog! This comment isn't related to this particular post, hope that is ok. I actually found your blog while doing a Google search for the Bananas Cake on page 198 in Baked Elements. I believe it is also the cake on the cover of the book too.

I'm going to be making this cake for an upcoming special occasion. Have you made this particular cake? If so, was it as awesome as it sounds?

Thanks for your time!
@Anonymous -- thanks for stopping by! Yes, I did make the bananas cake a few weeks ago, although I didn't post about it because the cake met a tragic fate. I drove it to work and put the cake on the floor of the car -- in front of a heating vent, as it turns out. But the time I got to the office, the frosting had melted on one side and the top two layers had fallen off. That said, the cake was very tasty. It's not my favorite from the guys at Baked, but certainly it would be wonderful for a special occasion. Happy Baking!