I’ve always tried to keep Food Doodles all about the food, but in light of the events of last week I’m finding it so hard even to write about something as simple and light and easy as food. There are no word to express how I feel for those affected by this tragedy and I’ve been holding all my kids, especially my kindergartener a little tighter since then. This last year has been difficult for our family, and now this year has turned into a nightmare for so many other people. As strange as it feels to continue on as “normal” as possible, it’s what gives me a sense of stability and so I will continue on with the posting I already planned for this week even though my thoughts and my heart is with all those affected.
As soon as I saw this recipe for Triple Ginger Cookies from Will Cook for Friends I knew I needed to try it. I adapted it just slightly to use whole wheat flour and I reduced the crystallized ginger just slightly too, because as much as I love it, I thought I might not enjoy the cookies as much with the full amount. Now that I think about it they probably would have been fine with the full amount so I’ll leave that up to you. You must love ginger for these cookies though!
Later in the week I’ll have some tips on converting cookie recipes to use whole grain flours. I’ve learned a lot since starting to use whole grains in everything so I’ll compile everything I wish I had been able to find in one spot when I was first learning. Of course, not all cookie recipes turn out just as well as their white flour versions though, at least for me, so I’d love to hear your tips for substituting whole grains as well.
And then at the end of the week I’ll do a roundup of all the cookies I post during the week, plus some other cookies that I think would be wonderful for this season. For now, enjoy these wonderful cookies!
100% Whole Wheat Chewy Triple Ginger Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 C white whole wheat flour or whole wheat pastry flour
- 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp allspice
- 1/8 tsp cloves
- 1/8 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 C crystallized ginger chopped finely
- 6 tbsp butter
- 1/2 C dark brown sugar or palm sugar/sucanat
- 1/2 C molasses
- 2 tsp fresh ginger grated
- up to 1/2 C coarse raw sugar for rolling
Instructions
- Mix the flour with the baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, cloves and salt. Mix. Finely chop the crystallized ginger and add to the flour mixture. Mix and break up any clumps of ginger.
- In a separate bowl, cream the butter and sugar together. Add the molasses and fresh ginger and mix well.
- Add the dry ingredients to the butter, sugar and molasses mixture and mix well. Cover the dough and refrigerate 1-2 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment or silicone baking mat.
- Divide the dough into 20 equal pieces, roll into round balls and roll in coarse sugar. Place on a 2 parchment lined baking sheets 1.5" apart and return to the fridge until ready to bake.
- Place the prepared and chilled dough in the oven and bake for 10-12 minutes or just until the surface cracks even if the cookies are still puffy and look under baked. Remove from the oven and let cool completely (or at least 10 minutes) on the baking sheet before placing them on a cooling rack. Cool completely and let the cookies rest before transferring them to an airtight container.
Notes
I’m submitting these cookies to the 2nd annual EatInEatOut Christmas in July Cookie Contest!
Comments & Reviews
Mayu says
I just made this but the dough spread way too much and it produced a very thin gooey thing. It was so gingery… also too much taste of molasses. I used blackstrap molasses, so it might have been better if I used lighter molasses!?
How could I make ones like you made, beautiful crack and nice thickness!?
Heidi @ Food Doodles says
Hi Mayu! Thanks for leaving a message! When I made these I used a regular baking molasses which would be a little less powerful. You could even use fancy molasses if you want to make them sweeter and less molassesy. You can always reduce any one of the three kinds of ginger if you want 🙂 The cookies I made were actually quite thin, but if you’d like them thicker you can try adding 2 tbsp of extra flour to the dough.
Mayu says
Thanks for the comment! I will try next time with less powerful molases and a bit more flour 🙂
Charul says
Any substitute for molasses…would honey do?
Erin @ Texanerin Baking says
I LOVE ginger cookies! Especially if they’re chewy. And something that I love about them is that you really can’t tell that they’re whole wheat. They’re amazing for healthifying. 🙂
Yours look fantastic and the pictures are great, too!
Eat Good 4 Life says
How did I miss all the cookies you have bake lately? I don’t thin FB notifications are working at all…oh well. I love ginger cookies. I made a batch the other day with a total 3/4 cup of sugar and 1/4 cup of molasses. Lately I am finding my baking too sweet, maybe because I am trying to decrease my sugar consumption 🙂 Your cookies look really good.
tessa says
The Sandy Hook incident was an absolute tragedy, there’s no way to justify it…I hope you find peace in your own little ones. This sort of thing should never happen.
I just wanted to drop a small note of appreciation for the thoughtful way in which you write, as well as for your recipes. Your blog is among my favorites and your kids are lucky to have such a devoted parent.
Heather says
I loved Willows Ginger Cookie Recipe I actually printed a copy out to make this weekend – Love your version with whole wheat!!
Willow says
I’m so glad you liked these cookies enough to post about them! They look perfect, and it’s good to know they work so well with whole wheat flour – how great is that?
I did notice, though, that it doesn’t say where the recipe came from within the recipe box. For proper attribution, since only one ingredient was altered, it should say within the recipe itself where it originated. Thanks! 🙂
Heidi @ Food Doodles says
Thanks Willow! I had to change the amount of butter as well because they would have spread way too much(whole wheat flour is so bad for that!). They were just perfect. I also reduced the amount of crystallized ginger but I’m not sure if it made that big of a difference. I’m always a little afraid of the spiciness of ginger but I love it 😀
I’m sorry! You’re right, I should have included a link within the recipe box. I’m having a problem with my EasyRecipe plugin that wont let me add links(or any of the other formatting) in my recipes. I’ve contacted their support already so I’ll change the note to a link when the problem is resolved.
Willow says
Thanks, Heidi! And no worries… weird that the plugin doesn’t allow links, though. I’ve been curious to try something like EasyRecipe, because as of now none of my recipes are ‘printable’, but I just haven’t gotten around to it yet. One of these days… 😛
Heidi @ Food Doodles says
It does usually allow links but there’s something wrong with the formatting buttons. They worked when I first got it so I’m not sure what’s wrong. I tried using regular html to add a link but that didn’t work either. I’ve only been using it a couple weeks but I like it so far, besides this little glitch! I’m not liking having to go back and change all my past recipes over to using it though! 🙂
Kiersten @ Oh My Veggies says
I’ll chime in with the “these look perfect” comments–they are also perfectly round! Makes me embarrassed to post the cookies I’m planning for later this week. 😉
Ari @ Ari's Menu says
These look so gooey and perfect! I agree with Gina about the crinkles too–they really are perfect!
Gina @ Running to the Kitchen says
This is a weird thing to obsess about when it comes to a cookie, but the crinkles on top of these are like perfect! haha They look so perfectly chewy. I’m buying crystallized ginger for another cookie recipe this week and so I might just have to try these. Darn. 😉
sally @ sallys baking addiction says
triple ginger? that puts these cookies over the roof. I am a huge fan of molasses/ginger cookies, especially this time of year. I can never pass one up and these look right up my alley. 🙂