No long, drawn out descriptions from me today. All you need to know is that you need to make this gingerbread cake with coffee icing. Why? Because it’s easy and delicious and I loved it even though I don’t particularly like gingerbread. With loads of spices, dark beer, coffee, cocoa powder and molasses, how could I not love it?

The recipe is from The Craft of Baking by Karen Demasco and Mindy Fox (which is a pretty cool cookbook that I’ll purchase someday soon). The actual recipe is for 18 cupcakes. I made a bundt cake instead because I currently don’t own any muffin tins for making cupcakes (that’s a long story for some other day). I didn’t alter the size of the recipe at all. Batter for 18 cupcakes is apparently exactly the right amount of batter for a bundt cake.

Other than making cake instead of cupcakes, the only change I really made was the use of porter instead of stout. Yes, I live on the edge when it comes to recipe alterations. I also skipped the candied ginger on top as I truly believe that would have been weird on a cake.

Since this is a lazy post and since NPR was kind enough to post the recipe on their website, I’m not posting it here.

P.S. If you’ve read this far and care, I have no wedding plans to blab about at the moment. We’re still figuring out the when and where.

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These molasses spice cookies are a favorite here. They’re also very popular with almost everyone else I’ve let have them. One of my old coworkers is pretty much obsessed with them. I made her a batch because she helped us move. Somehow or another, she made the batch of cookies last for more than a week. She loves them so much that she didn’t want her supply to run out.

Just last night, we were visiting some of the boyfriend’s family and the first thing his uncle asked was “Did you bring any of those cookies?” He tried some at Christmas and found out that 2 of his children had some last week. I must remember to bring him some the next time we visit. If I don’t, I might not be welcome back.

The recipe for these cookies is from Baking Illustrated and I really didn’t change a thing. They’re spicy but not too spicy. They’re chewy and gingery and wonderful. While I do like regular crunchy gingersnaps, I much prefer this chewy version.

The only thing you need to be careful of with these cookies is that you don’t overbake them. They should still look a little raw in the cracks that form while they bake. If you’re in doubt, take them out. They’re way better underbaked than they are overbaked. Trust me on this…I learned it the hard way. The hard, dry cookie way.

Molasses Spice Cookies

Recipe from Baking Illustrated

Preparation time: 30 minutes. Makes 18 large cookies.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Line cookies sheets with parchment paper (or grease lightly).
2. Mix together flour, baking soda, salt, and spices together in a bowl and set aside.
3. Using a mixer, cream the butter on medium speed for 2 minutes.
4. Add the brown sugar and 1/3 cup granulated sugar. Beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes with mixer set at medium speed.
5. Add egg, vanilla extract, and molasses. Beat until combined, about 30 seconds. Scrape down sides of bowl with a rubber spatula.
6. Add dry ingredients and beat at low speed until just combined, about 30 seconds.
7. Place remaining 1/3 cup of granulated sugar in a shallow bowl. Working with 2 Tbsp of dough each time, roll dough into 1 3/4 inch balls. Roll balls in sugar and place on ungreased cookie sheets, spacing them 1 1/2 to 2 inches apart.
8. Bake until the outer edges of the cookies begin to set and centers are soft and puffy, about 10 minutes. Cool cookies on sheets for 2 to 3 minutes before transferring them to cooling racks .

Note: do not overcook. The centers of the cookies should be somewhat soft and spongy when you take them out of the oven, otherwise they will end up hard and dry.

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