One of our friends, baker, author, and influencer Michelle Lopez @hummingbirdhigh, shared her Ginger Crinkle Cookies with us. Instead of rolling the dough in granulated sugar like traditional molasses cookies, this recipe uses powdered sugar to give the cookies the snow-covered look of chocolate crinkle cookies.

Ingredients

For the Ginger Crinkle Cookie dough

• 2 ¼ cups (10.15 ounces or 288 grams) all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon ground allspice
• ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• ½ cup (1 stick or 4 ounces or 113 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup (7 ounces or 198 grams) granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• ½ cup (6 ounces or 170 grams) unsulphured blackstrap molasses

Assembly

• ¾ cup (3 ounces or 85 grams) confectioners’ sugar

Instructions

1. First, whisk together the dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, and salt.
2. Cream the butter and sugar. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter and sugar. Beat on medium-high until light, fluffy, and doubled in volume, 2 to 3 minutes, using a rubber spatula to scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl as necessary.
3. Add the eggs, molasses, and dry ingredients. Reduce the mixer to low and add the eggs one at a time, adding the next egg only after the previous one has been fully incorporated. Slowly pour in molasses and beat until just combined. Scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl.
   With the mixer on low, gradually add the dry ingredients and beat until just combined. Scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl once more and beat on low for an additional 30 seconds.
4. Chill the cookie dough. Cover the bowl of cookie dough with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 1 hour, or up to 3 days.
5. When ready to assemble and bake the cookie dough, prep your oven and pans. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 375°F. Line two half sheet pans with parchment paper.
6. Coat the cookies. Place the confectioners’ sugar for assembly in a medium, shallow bowl. Use a 3-Tablespoon cookie dough scoop to portion the cookie dough into balls, dropping them directly into the bowl with confectioners’ sugar.
   Toss until the cookie dough balls are completely and generously coated. Place the cookie dough balls at least 3 inches apart on the prepared sheet pans.
7. Bake the cookies. Bake one pan at a time for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the edges have set but the centers are still soft.
8. Serve and store. Serve warm, or at room temperature. The cookies can be stored in an airtight container or zip-top bag at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Notes from Michelle:

• I recommend using a 3-tablespoon cookie dough scoop for this recipe; doing so will result in 19 cookies!
• Most baking recipes instruct you to sift confectioners’ sugar before using in the recipe. Confectioners’ sugar tends to clump when stored; sifting removes these lumps. However, you don’t need to sift the confectioners’ sugar for these ginger crinkle cookies. Why? I find that the lumps in the confectioners’ sugar help coat the cookies more thoroughly. The lumps also break up into interesting crinkles when baked!
• In the recipe, I instruct you to scoop the cookie dough with a cookie dough scoop. I then instruct you to drop the dough balls directly into the confectioners’ sugar and toss to coat. Don’t skip this step! If you drop the dough onto a sheet pan without coating them first, it’s likely that they’ll stick to the sheet pan.
• Coat the cookies generously with confectioners’ sugar. I mean it. Ideally, you don’t want any uncoated spots showing on the cookie dough balls. These show up as “bald spots” on the cookies, ruining their crinkle effect. Additionally, the cookies will absorb some of the confectioners’ sugar as they bake. So, err on the side of caution and cover them with a THICK layer of confectioners’ sugar!

Get baking! And share your baking photos with us @MoreToSugar on social media, tagging #MadeWithRealSugar. We’d love to see them.