Chewy Ginger Molasses and Pepita Seed Cookies

 

Molasses cookies in the summer.

What was I thinking?

When a dear friend of mine from San Diego came to visit me in nyc, there was this one particular day of walking in the city that we managed to to get ourselves into.

It was a gorgeous summer day of shopping, iced coffees, and strolling around the west village. As the late afternoon started to roll in and our feet started to really hate us, let’s just say we were shot. We definitely did some walking and in heels, I might add.

Though, we were on a mission and that mission failed.

So terribly.

But not completely, and only for one reason.

The reason is the inspiration for this cookie.

 

 

In the middle of our fun little journey we had a craving.

A craving for something sweet to bring us back to life.

We came across this little shop called Sweet Revenge. Thinking of it, the name Sweet Revenge was so appropriate for us at that moment.

This shop specializes in cupcakes and beer and wine pairings with those cupcakes. My fiance D. and I have been in there once before where we shared and indulged in some of the owners signature pairings. They were pretty great.

M. and I walked in and gave a look at some of the cupcakes but it wasn’t the time for a cupcake and we knew that, so we looked on and couldn’t keep our eyes off this glass pedestal just sitting at the bar stacked with these perfect looking ginger cookies.

It was that instant signal between your eyes and your brain when you’ve seen something you know is going to taste amazing.

These cookies sent that signal so intensely.

 

 

My vision of a perfect cookie is chewy, fairly thin, a little crispy on the edges, and soft on the inside. :)

 

 

 

My friend M. and I fell in love with the ginger cookies at Sweet Revenge. They were incredible and all the walking was well worth the fluffy, chewy, soft, and savored bites we slowly made. It was a very special cookie and recipe that inspired me.

As soon as I had the time to bake, I knew I had to try and achieve that same consistency I experienced at Sweet Revenge. I made a gluten free ginger molasses cookie with pepita seeds. Twelve beautifully round and enormous cookies came out of this recipe. I even made them knowing I had no one to share them with because my fiance doesn’t like ginger.

I was going into this on my own and it was definitely dangerous, but I took the risk.
What else did I do? I froze them! Then continued to keep defrosting them throughout the week.

In regards to whether they were great or not, I will say this.

“I would walk 500 miles, and I would walk 500 more”

For these cookies, that is.

 

Thank you for a wonderful day M.

 

 

Chewy Ginger Molasses and Pepita Seed Cookies

Makes one dozen large cookies

 

1/2 cup butter

1/4 cup vegetable oil

3/4 cup light brown sugar

3 tablespoon unsulphered organic molasses

1 large egg

1 1/4 cup gluten free all purpose flour

1/2 cup millet flour

1/4 cup hazelnut meal

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1 pinch fleur de sel

1/4 cup white sugar for dusting

1/4 cup pepita seeds

 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a stand mixer or bowl, cream the butter, oil, brown sugar, and molasses together. While mixing on low, add one large egg until smooth.

In a bowl, combine the all purpose and millet flours, hazelnut meal, baking soda, spices, and salt. With the mixer on low, slowly add the dry ingredients to the molasses mixture until incorporated.

To ensure evenly sized cookies, divide the cookie batter in half to bake cookies in two separate batches. With a large ice cream scoop, drop 6 cookie dough balls evenly spaced onto the lined baking sheet. With the palm of your hand, flatten each ball to half of it’s height to achieve an evenly round and flat cookie. Sprinkle the top of each cookie with white sugar and some pepita seeds. Gently press each seed into a snug place to be able to bake onto and with the dough.

Bake for 8-10 minutes until the edges are set and the centers still look slightly under baked. Let cool and store in an airtight container. Bake off the next half of a dozen and repeat.