brown butter ginger molasses cookies
Back in June, I participated in a worldwide bake sale organized by Bakers Against Racism, and boy was it a success! People got innovative amid covid times and I was among those folks. Instead of selling in person, I made cookie boxes and shipped nationwide- all the way to Cali! I prepped and baked off over 100 cookies in my slanted, lop sided kitchen and it was a joy. My days at Sandpiper Bakery definitely came in handy as I managed to arrange and rearrange my tiny freezer with layers upon layers of scooped cookie dough. Frozen cookies are a girl’s best friend any time of year, but especially when she’s doing a bake sale.
I asked many of you that participated what your favorite cookie was, and it was a close call, but my brown butter ginger molasses came out ahead. They check every box: crunchy, chewy, spicy, enrobed in sugar. They also look beautiful, glistening with sugary goodness. I thought I would share the recipe so you can have them all to yourself!
brown butter ginger molasses cookies
yield: 15 large cookies
2 sticks (1 cup/227 g) unsalted butter, cold is fine
1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
¼ cup (80 g) unsulphured molasses
1 egg
2 cups (240 g) all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground ginger
½ tsp ground cinnamon
dash of ground clove
10 grinds of freshly ground black pepper
heaping ½ tsp kosher salt
turbinado or granulated sugar, for coating
Do ahead: In a medium saucepan, heat 2 sticks of butter over medium-low heat. Butter will melt, then boil and look yellowish-white. Continue to let the water cook out of the butter until it starts to foam. This is when you’ll want to keep an eye on it. Continue to cook, swirling the pan occasionally to check the bottom of the pan. You should be able to smell the beginning of the browning process: the butter will start to smell nutty. Keep watching it until the specks in the pan start to look golden brown. When it looks like a deep or reddish brown, remove it from the heat. Scrape any bits stuck to the bottom of the pan while the butter is hot. Pour into your large mixing bowl, being sure to scrape every bit of butter out of the pan. Allow the butter to cool in the bowl until room temperature and opaque, at least 1 hour.
Once the butter is solid again, add the sugar to the bowl and mix with a paddle attachment. Mix on low speed for 3-4 minutes, until well combined. Be sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl- all of the browned bits will have settled to the bottom. Add the molasses and egg and beat until the mixture looks smooth. Turn off the mixer and add the flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, clove, pepper and salt all at once. Turn your mixer back on low and mix just until the dough is homogenous. Give the bottom of the bowl another good scrape to make sure everything is mixed well.
On a greased quarter sheet pan (9x13), take a ¼ cup cookie scoop and portion out the dough, being sure to pack the scoop tightly and level off each scoop against the flat side of the bowl. Line up your balls of dough- you should get about 15 cookies. Cover the pan with plastic and set in your refrigerator to chill for at least 4 hours or overnight. This allows the flour to absorb the moisture of the dough, creating a lovely chewiness when baked.
After your dough has chilled, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line an 11x17” baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Take 6 balls of dough and roll in your the sugar of choice, as noted above, coating all sides. Store your remaining cookie dough in the fridge. Place the dough balls onto your baking sheet and bake on the middle rack of your oven for 15 minutes, until the cookies are crackly on top and a little firm to the touch. You may want to check them around 12 minutes to be sure they don’t over bake- every oven is different! Allow them to cool on the baking sheet for 5-10 minutes, then transfer each cookie to a rack to finish cooling. Repeat with remaining dough, or freeze in an airtight container or plastic bag. If baking from frozen, add 2-3 minutes onto your bake time. Store baked cookies airtight for a few days.
