Healthier Ginger Molasses Cookies

Half the Sugar Baker

These healthier ginger molasses cookies are warmly spiced and reminds me of sitting by a warm fireplace. They are so soft and chewy even though they are made with part almond and whole wheat flour.

My first experience with these wonderful cookies was at my friend’s house in 4th grade. A group of my friends and I were participating in the school talent show (although we didn’t have much talent) and we went to one of their houses to practice. Her mom was in the middle of making ginger molasses cookies for us and I can vividly remember sitting outside in my friend’s driveway when her mom came and brought us all huge cups of raw ginger molasses cookie dough. From the first spoonful, I fell in love with the dough. Before that day, I hadn’t even known that these cookies existed! So a big thank you to my friend’s mom because these cookies are so amazing!

Ingredients

Let’s be honest for a second, cookies aren’t exactly a health food but if I can make some substitutions to give them a little more nutrition, I’ll definitely give it a try. That’s why these cookies are made with almond flour, and whole wheat flour along with all purpose flour.

The almond flour makes these cookies very tender but the cookies also spread a little more than traditional cut-out cookies because there is less gluten. I did a batch of drop cookies and also a batch of cut-out cookies to test them out and I found that the cut-out cookies held some of their shape (as you can see in the photos) but if you are looking for perfect or intricate cookies, I recommend these shortbread cookies. For the record: the drop cookies came out amazing!

If you don’t have whole wheat flour or almond flour on hand, you can substitute all purpose flour in their place and leave out the 2 tablespoons of milk.

Method

The first time I made these cookies, I made a couple of mistakes. The first one is that I beat the butter and sugar together for too long. This added too much air to the cookie dough and resulted in cookies that were too puffed up. I would recommend beating the butter and sugar together so that they are well combined but stop after the mixture changes to a lighter color.

The next mistake I made was not letting the cookies cool in the fridge for long enough before baking. I got a little impatient (it’s hard to wait!) so I didn’t wait long enough for the dough to chill before rolling and cutting out my cookies. Then, I popped those cookies right into the oven without letting them chill again. This resulted in thinner, more spread out cookies. They still tasted great but I lost some of the shape from the cookie cutters. I would definitely recommend letting the dough chill in the fridge for at least 3 hours before shaping the cookies and then letting them chill for at least another 20 minutes before baking them. This could help reduce the spreading, especially if you are making cut-out cookies (the drop cookies probably only need 10 minutes in the fridge after shaping into balls).

Healthier Ginger Molasses Cookies

Prep time: 25 minutes plus chilling Cook time: 10 minutes Servings: 48 cookies

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups almond flour*
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground cloves
18 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
3/4 cup molasses (not blackstrap)
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 teaspoon fresh grated ginger, optional but strongly recommended
2 tablespoons milk
1/4 granulated sugar for rolling

Preparation

In a medium bowl, whisk together the almond flour, all purpose flour, whole wheat flour, baking soda, salt, ground ginger, cinnamon, and cloves. Set aside.
In a large bowl, beat together the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until fluffy and light in color. Beat in the eggs one at a time until well combined. Beat in the molasses until well combined. Then add the unsweetened applesauce and beat together. Beat in the fresh grated ginger.
Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and beat on low speed until just combined. Then use a spatula or spoon to finish mixing. If the dough seems too dry, add the milk one tablespoon at a time. Then cover the dough and chill in the fridge for at least 3 hours.
After chilling, remove the dough from the fridge and for cut-out cookies, roll the dough out to 1/4 inch thick on a lightly floured work surface and cut out cookies using cookie cutter. Then transfer cookies to parchment lined baking sheets. For drop cookies: take around two tablespoons of dough and roll into a ball. Then roll the ball in 1/4 cup of granulated sugar before putting on parchment lined baking sheets. Lightly press on the balls to flatten slightly using the bottom of a cup.
Preheat the oven to 350º F and transfer the baking sheets to the fridge to let the cookies chill again for at least 20 minutes while the oven preheats.
When done chilling, bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes. The cookies should be soft when you remove them from the oven. Let them rest on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling.