Ginger Creams

Ginger creams are soft, pillowy molasses cookies loaded with warm spices and topped with a slick of frosting. They’re old-fashioned holiday cookie tin material, and this recipe makes a serious batch: six dozen from a single round of dough.

Four spices work together here: ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Combined with a full cup of dark molasses, they give each cookie a deep, warming flavor that fills the kitchen while they bake. The hot water in the batter activates the baking soda and keeps the dough soft enough to drop by teaspoonfuls.

Chill the dough for at least 30 minutes before baking. It’s quite wet and sticky at first. The chilling time firms it up so you can scoop and drop without the cookies spreading into flat discs. Pull them at 9 minutes for softer cookies, 12 for slightly firmer ones.

Pro Tips

• Add the dry ingredients and wet ingredients (molasses + hot water) in alternating additions. This prevents the batter from breaking or becoming lumpy.
• Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls, not tablespoons. These are meant to be small, tender, two-bite cookies.
• Let them cool 1 minute on the sheet before removing. They’re very fragile when hot.
• Frost after they’ve cooled completely. Vanilla frosting is classic, but orange frosting plays beautifully against the spice.

Variations

• Orange frosting: Mix powdered sugar with orange juice and a pinch of zest for a citrus topping that brightens the spice.
• Cream cheese frosting: Beat cream cheese with powdered sugar for a tangier, richer topping.
• Crystallized ginger: Fold ¼ cup minced crystallized ginger into the dough for an extra ginger punch.