Grammy’s Spice Cookies
Updated Dec. 18, 2020
- Total Time
- 1 hour
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 1cup/225 grams unsalted butter (2 sticks), softened
- 1cup/200 grams granulated sugar
- ¼cup/60 milliliters molasses
- 1large egg
- 1¾cups plus 2 tablespoons/240 grams all-purpose flour
- 2teaspoons baking soda
- 1teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¾teaspoon ground ginger
- ¾teaspoon ground cloves
- ½teaspoon fine sea salt
- 3¾cups/460 grams confectioners’ sugar
- 1teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3tablespoons heavy cream or milk, more as needed
- 1 to 2tablespoons Irish whiskey, optional
Nutritional analysis per serving (36 servings)
178 calories; 6 grams fat; 4 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 2 grams monounsaturated fat; 0 grams polyunsaturated fat; 30 grams carbohydrates; 0 grams dietary fiber; 20 grams sugars; 2 grams protein; 101 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
Heat oven to 375 degrees. Line several baking sheets with parchment paper or nonstick liners.
- Step 2
Using an electric mixer, beat 12 tablespoons butter with the granulated sugar, molasses and egg until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Slowly beat in flour, baking soda, spices and salt.
- Step 3
Shape dough into walnut-size balls and place 2 inches apart on baking sheets. Bake until firm, about 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool on wire racks.
- Step 4
To make the icing, beat remaining 4 tablespoons butter with the confectioners’ sugar until smooth. (Go slowly so you don’t create a sugar storm.) Beat in the vanilla and enough cream or milk, and whiskey (if using), to make a spreadable frosting. Slather on fully cooled cookies.
Private Notes
Comments
These are Swedish pepparkakor with icing. Here are a few great tips for making them (passed along from my Swedish kin): 1)Make the dough ahead of time and let it sit on the counter for several hours to blend the spices. 2) Roll into a tube and freeze until you need them -- just slice and bake (don't need to thaw) 3) Forego the icing and, instead, roll dough into balls and smash with a glass you've dipped in white sugar (great job for kids!). God Jul everyone
These are easy to overtake and if you are a spice nut, an addition of cinnamon and cloves and a 1/2 teaspoon more molasses would crack open that pall surrounding you tastebuds. I'll make these again; the grandkids devoured them. For us foggies, no icing needed. (I did add a sprinkle of lemon zest to the icing...good.)
Loved, but needs some tweaks. 1 -- NYT should update the recipe to indicate that the butter needs to be separated; I used all of it in the batter (as have others!). Resulted in half of them burning quickly. 2 -- def. up all the spices up to a teaspoon; even slightly more if you want. 3. -- halve the confectioners sugar and the dairy in the frosting recipe; keep other ingredients the same. A challenge -- shape/size. Couldn't get mine to look like full cookies. Only tea/macaron size. Thoughts?
Up the spice to 1tsp for everything (honestly could maybe do more); only 14 tbsp of butter; no frosting, chill for at least 30 minutes and roll in cinnamon sugar like a snickerdoodle, gets chewy.
IF YOU ADDED ALL THE BUTTER BUT NOTICED BEFORE YOU BAKED: - add 8 extra tablespoons of flour (2tbsp/extra tbsp of butter as a general rule) - add 1/4 more of each spice - chill dough 20-30 mins in the fridge - roll into balls and bake for 8 mins the cookies will be even better than the original recipe and soft for days :)
Please please include in the ingredients list if an item is to be separated, i.e. “butter, 2 sticks, separated”. It’s my fault for scanning instructions, 100%. this girl got to the last step and read “remaining butter” and welp, all the sticks are in the batter! I’ll work to slow my roll but if you think this suggestion is appropriate, it would help this scanner a ton if it’s indicated only a portion of an ingredient is in the batter. Thank you!