Gingerbread Cookies are spiced, soft and firm cookies made with whole wheat flour, ginger powder, spices and kakvi (a molasses like syrup made from sugar cane juice). These cookies can also be made with molasses or brown sugar or jaggery.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 15 minutes
  • Cook time: 20 minutes
  • Total time: 35 minutes
  • Yield: 500 · 500 grams
  • Category: Desserts
  • Cuisine: American, World

Ingredients

  • ½ cup molasses (or kakvi or ½ cup jaggery dissolved in 3 to 4 tablespoon hot water *check notes for brown sugar)
  • ½ cup softened butter (- 100 grams, salted or unsalted)
  • 2 cups whole wheat flour (- 240 grams whole wheat flour + 2 to 3 tablespoon if required)
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 teaspoon ginger powder ((ground ginger))
  • ¼ teaspoon cinnamon powder ((ground cinnamon))
  • ¼ teaspoon clove powder ((ground cloves))
  • ¼ teaspoon nutmeg powder ((ground nutmeg) or grated nutmeg)
  • 1 pinch salt (- skip if using salted butter)
  • ¼ cup hot water (or add as needed)

Method

Prep and making cookie dough

  1. First grease the baking tray with some butter and set aside.
  2. Now take the softened butter in a mixing bowl.
  3. Add the molasses or kakvi. If using jaggery, then add the jaggery powder in 3 to 4 tablespoons hot water. Mix well till the jaggery melts. If impurities are there, then filter the jaggery syrup. Then add it to the butter.
  4. Begin to mix and beat this mixture.
  5. I have used wired whisk to mix the butter with the kakvi. You can also use an electric beater.
  6. Mix and lightly beat this mixture. Keep aside.
  7. In a separate bowl or plate, sift whole wheat flour, baking soda, ginger powder, cinnamon powder, clove powder and nutmeg powder.
  8. Now add the entire sifted dry ingredients to the lightly beaten butter+molasses mixture.
  9. Gently and lightly fold or mix.
  10. Then add hot water. Mix everything together and gather to form a dough. Do not knead. Just gently mix or fold.
  11. If the mixture is loose or sticky, then add 2 to 3 tablespoons more of the flour. If the mixture looks dry and crumbly, then add 1 to 3 tbsp of hot water and mix again.
  12. Cover and place the dough in the refrigerator for 30 to 45 minutes.

Baking gingerbread cookies

  1. Later, remove and pinch small balls from the cookie dough. Gently roll to a neat ball. Then press and flatten them.
  2. Place the cookies with an inch space between them on the baking tray. Preheat oven at 180 degrees C/356 degrees F for 15 minutes before you begin to bake the cookies.
  3. Sprinkle some sugar granules on the cookies. Lightly press the sugar granules on the cookies. You can also use brown sugar to sprinkle on the cookies.
  4. Bake the cookies at 180 degrees C/356 degrees F for 20 to 25 minutes or till the cookies appear light golden. Do not over bake the cookies. I baked in two batches.
  5. Wait for one minute after removing the cookies from the oven. With a spatula remove each cookie and place on a wired tray to let them cool.
  6. Once cooled at room temperature, store them in an airtight jar. The recipe yields about 500 grams of cookies.
  7. Serve Gingerbread Cookies as a sweet snack or a tea time snack.

Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note

Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.