Spicy Gingerbread Cookies

1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup dark-brown sugar, packed
2 large eggs
1 cup unsulfured molasses
6 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
4 teaspoons ground ginger
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1-1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon finely ground black pepper
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
Raisins, dragées, and/or red hot candies for decoration (optional)
Royal Icing for decoration (optional)

In a large bowl, beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and molasses. In another bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, spices and salt. Stir flour mixture into butter mixture. Divide dough into thirds and wrap each third in plastic wrap. Chill for about 1 hour. Preheat oven to 350 F. Roll dough 1/8 inch thick between two pieces of waxed paper. Cut into shapes with cookie cutters. Transfer shapes to ungreased cookie sheets. If desired, decorate with raisins, dragées, and/or red hot candies. Refrigerate about 15 minutes. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until crisp but not dark. Allow to cool on the cookie sheet for 1 minute, then remove to wire racks to cool completely. If desired, decorate with Royal Icing.

Note: If you are going to use the cookies for decorations, make a hole for the cord or hook by poking the cookies with a toothpick or skewer as soon as they come out of the oven. Source: based on a recipe from Martha Stewart. We just toned down the black pepper a little bit. Martha uses 1 teaspoon of black pepper but we found it was a little bit too much for the kids. Some kids, however, really prefer Martha's original, so to each his own! If you'd like to kick it up, add the whole teaspoon of black pepper.

Reviews of Spicy Gingerbread Cookies:

1-5 of 70 reviews Next >>

A cookie baker in maryland Dec 24, 2007
Would make this again.
I love thease cookies five stars

Caroline H in New York Dec 21, 2007
Would make this again.
Nice and crisp. Great for decorating the tree. I think I'll be baking the last batch a bit shorter in time to see if i can get a nice soft cookie for the kids. I had no issue with saltiness, as I used 1 tsp. I used this same recipe last year for my tree ornaments and loved them then too! five stars

David & Kyeung-Hee in Philadelphia & Korea Dec 18, 2007
Would make this again.
This was an excellent base recipe for my gingerbread demon cookies. (I call them demon rather than men, because in addition to the ingredients in the recipe, I also added several extremely hot additions, including Blair's Possible Side Effects sauce, Sweet Death sauce, Jersey Death sauce, and Death Rain Nitro spice.) I also included about 1/4 cup spiced ginger preserves, and slightly more of all of the spices than listed. I put foil over the baking sheet, and there was no problem with sticking at all. The taste and texture are both excellent! Two thumbs up! (Well, four, actually, since there are two of us!) five stars

A cookie baker in Virginia Dec 17, 2007
Would make this again.
These were very good. I only added 1 tsp of salt, but other wise followed the recipe. I measured out the flour and set 1 cup aside then mixed the remaining 5 cups of flour with the other ingredients.

I used the extra cup to work with the dough until it was the perfect texture. These cookies are very flavorful! five stars

Dec 15, 2007
Would not make this again.
Wonderful tasting!!!! I would definately make them again if it wasn't such a difficulty to get them off the cookie sheet. Any suggestions? three stars

Recipe Info

four point seven stars
94% would make this again

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