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One of my all time favorite flavors is ginger, I love it’s aromatic and explosively spicy flavor. One of my favorite holiday cookies is Big Soft Ginger Cookies, they have all of the gingery flavor I love without all the crunch gingersnaps, I think I have already established my love of big soft cookies in multiple posts here. 🙂

I actually came across this recipe for Big Soft Ginger Cookies a few years ago when I was looking for a quick and easy ginger cookie to use in place of gingerbread men on my holiday cookie trays. The recipe evolved for over the course of a couple of adaptations, the original recipe calls for margarine, I substituted butter for better flavor, and the cookies where awesome but flattened while they cooled. The addition of shortening helps the cookies keep their shape, which made a bigger softer cookie which was exactly what I was looking for.

Big soft ginger cookies are actually better the next day when the spices have had a chance to hang out together and do their thing. But they are great for longer term storage too. I like to make them well in advance and store them in the freezer.  I usually start my holiday baking right after Thanksgiving, I just stack my cookies in layers separated by wax paper in an airtight container and keep them in the freezer to pull out as needed.

Big Soft Ginger Cookies

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

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Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup butter flavored shortening
• 1/2 cup butter softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 egg1 tablespoon water
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 2 tablespoons white sugar

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Sift together the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and shortening with 1 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, then the water and molasses.
3. Gradually stir the sifted ingredients into the molasses mixture. Shape dough into walnut-sized balls, and roll them in the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar. Place the cookies 2 inches apart onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, and flatten slightly.
4. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
5. Store in an airtight container.

Recipe adapted from: Allrecipes