Spiced Ginger Molasses Cookies with Cream Cheese Icing

I've got the Rain Bang blues.

When I cut bangs at the end of September (read: the beginning of the Northwest's nine month rainy season), it did not once dawn upon me that I was doing so with potentially bad timing. Until the next day, when it rained, and I experienced my first Rain Bang. 

Nevermind that I had been contemplating bangs for over two years, but saved myself until the time was juuust right. Common excuses included (but were not limited to): "My hair is too short for bangs." "I have to keep my hair back at the bakery anyways." And when I accepted my most recent job: "Are bangs professional? They're totally not professional...are they? Aren't they?"




My favorite Rain Bang Incident was the day I decided to walk to work, rain jacket and boots on my person. Despite my well-protected bang situation, by the time I got to work I was rocking a curly, frizzy bang 'fro. And I was working with one bobby pin. Fun day. Decidedly NOT professional.

These spiced ginger molasses cookies have nothing at all to do with my Rain Bangs. I just wanted to vent, to inform, to warn. Actually, these cookies are the exact opposite of Rain Bangs: they're chewy, sweet with a spicy kick, and full of the potential of helping you make many friends and feel professional (at life).

Spiced Ginger Molasses Cookies with Cream Cheese Icing

adapted from Cook's Illustrated

Ingredients

2+1/4 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1+1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1+1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1/4 tsp. ground allspice
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
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3/4 c. (or 12 tbsp.) unsalted butter, softened but still cool
1/3 c. granulated sugar
1/3 c. packed dark brown sugar
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1 egg yolk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 c. molasses

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients (flour through black pepper) and set aside.

In a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugars on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.

Reduce the speed to medium-low and all the egg yolk and vanilla, beating well until incorporated. With the speed still on medium-low, add the molasses and beat until incorporated, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula once.

With the mixer on low, slowly incorporate the flour mixture. Beat until just incorporated. (Overmixing will make the gluten in your flour develop and cause the cookies to be tough. Not bueno.) Stir with a rubber spatula to make sure there are no residual flour clumps. Don't freak out - your dough is supposed to be soft.

Set aside about 1/2 cup of granulated sugar in a large bowl or cake pan. Scoop heaping tablespoons of the dough and roll them into balls with your hands. Coat the balls of dough in the sugar mixture and place on the lined baking sheets (12 cookies per sheet).

Bake one sheet at a time until the cookies have browned and are puffy, about 11 minutes. The edges will have set, there will be large, beautiful cracks in the  cookies, and the centers will still be soft. This is all okay. Your cookies are done and are ready to come out of the oven. Let cookies cool on a sheet for about five minutes and then transfer to a wire rack.

I'm not a particular fan of ginger cookies (where's the chocolate? and more importantly...they do not serve as a vehicle for dough-eating. Near deal-breaker.), but I found myself eating four of these...in a row. I won't comment on how many my sister ate in a two day period (Hi Len!) The addition of the cream cheese icing didn't hurt either.

Cream Cheese Icing (optional)

2 tbsp. cream cheese (or butter)

2+1/2 c. confectioners sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

2 tbsp. + milk (I used 1/4 c.)

In a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment (or the good ol' fashioned way...in a bowl with a whisk and your soon-to-be buff arm), combine all of the ingredients and beat on medium-high speed until thickened, 3-5 minutes. If the icing is too runny for your liking, add more sugar. If it's too thick...more milk.

Wait until the cookies are cool before you frost them. Wait until the mixer is turned off before you stick a spoon in there to taste test the frosting. Don't get bangs before rainy season. Just sayin'. I'm looking out for you.

The cookies will keep in an airtight container for about a week. My batch yielded ~21.