Servings 75 cookies
Calories 55
Author John Kanell
Ingredients
½ cup unsalted butter (113g)
½ cup firmly packed dark brown sugar (110g)
¼ cup unsulphured molasses (80mL)
¼ cup honey (80mL)
2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 teaspoon anise extract
¾ teaspoon ground cloves
¾ teaspoon ground pepper
½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
½ teaspoon salt
1 large egg
3 cups all-purpose flour (360g)
½ teaspoon baking soda
2 cups confectioners’ sugar (240g)
Instructions
In a small saucepan, combine butter, sugar, molasses, and honey over medium heat. Cook, stirring frequently until the mixture just starts to bubble. Remove from the heat. Stir in the ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, anise extract, cloves, pepper, nutmeg, and salt. Transfer to a large bowl, and let cool for 20 minutes or until barely warm to the touch.
Once cooled, whisk in the egg until well combined. Fold in the flour and baking soda until all of the flour is incorporated. Transfer the dough to a sheet of plastic wrap, cover and press into a 1-inch-thick square. Refrigerate for 2 hours or up to 3 days. (The dough gets more flavorful as it rests, so this is a great step to make ahead.)
When ready to bake, position oven racks towards the center of the oven, and preheat the oven to 350F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Unwrap the cookie dough and cut into ¾-inch wide strips. Cut again making ¾-inch-wide strips running perpendicular to the first set, creating cubes. Roll each cube of dough between your palms to create a ball. Place on the lined baking sheets 1 1/2 inches apart. If you can’t fit all of the dough on two sheets, rewrap and chill the remaining dough to roll and bake after the first batch.
Bake one sheet at a time for 10 to 12 minutes or until cookies are firm to the touch and just starting to crack on top. Let cookies cool for a few minutes. Toss cooled cookies in confectioners’ sugar until well coated. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Toss again in confectioners’ sugar once cooled.
Measure your flour correctly! Adding too much flour to the recipe is the most common mistake and will yield a dry and dense cookie. The best and easiest way to measure flour is by using a scale. If you don’t have one, then fluff your flour with a spoon, sprinkle it into your measuring cup, and use a knife to level it off. If you scoop the flour straight from the bag, you overpack the measuring cup.
It’s essential to roll these German cookies in powdered sugar twice. The powdered sugar may melt onto the cookies upon the first roll. The second coat makes sure the cookies are fully coated.
Do not skip chilling the cookie dough as you don’t want them to spread into a flat cookie upon baking.
Always keep the unrolled dough covered in the fridge. As you’ll have to bake these German cookies in batches, you don’t want the dough to come to room temperature or dry out between batches.
The easiest way to measure molasses and honey is to spray your measuring spoon with non-stick spray or grease it with a bit of butter. This way, the molasses and honey slides out of the measuring spoon.
Always line the sheet pan with parchment. The parchment help cookies bake more evenly and prevent them from cracking or breaking when lifting them.
If you don’t have anise extract, you can use ½ teaspoon ground anise seed or sub for vanilla or almond extract.