A simple spiced ginger cookies recipe inspired by a popular food shop favourite. Made at home these are a plastic free treat with extra warmth from ground and crystalised ginger.
These ginger cookies were inspired by a cookie that my sister likes from a food shop. They are the ones that crisp and far too easy to eat straight from the packet. The only downside is that they’re sold in single use plastic, which feels unnecessary for something so easy to recreate at home. When baking cookies at home, it not only means less packaging, but you also get to control what goes in to them. Plus, your kitchen ends up smelling so good when you are baking them.
When looking at the ingredients of the original, I was surprised to see that it was only ground ginger providing the spice in them. While ground ginger gives a gentle warmth, I wanted my version to be more rounded and bigger in ginger flavour. Ginger cookies should live up to their name, and I saw an opportunity to spiced things up more without overwhelming your taste buds.
Rather than relying on just one type of spice, I wanted to give these spiced ginger cookies a bit more depth. Using both ground ginger and crystalised ginger allows the flavour to feel warmer and more layered. It’s a simple way to make a homemade version feel more generous on flavour, while still keeping the recipe easy to bake.
Star Ingredient
What else could it be with these being ginger cookies. Using 2 types of ginger help round out the overall flavour that these cookies provide. Ground ginger gives an overall taste of ginger to these cookies. Then the crystalised ginger creates extra pops of ginger heat when you get a bite with a piece in. I recommend keeping the crystalised ginger small when chopping, so that you can more throughout all the cookies.
How to Purchase Ingredients to be Conscious to the Planet
For cookies, the additional flavours you add are great places to make swaps to reduce plastic waste coming into your kitchen. In baking aisles in supermarkets, all the extras coming plastic bags and they tend to be on the small size. That means if you need a larger amount you have to buy more packets.
Refill shops therefore make it easy for you to get as much or as little as you want without the waste. Fudge, chocolate and crystalised ginger are easy to pick up using your own jars or tins. If you are popping in on a more spontaneous trip, there are paper bags available to use.
Spices are another favourite of mine to refill. Reusing the spice jar you already have is perfect. If you have a particular spice which is your favourite you can utilise a bigger jar like a pesto or jam one to ensure you always have plenty on hand.
Ingredients you can buy Plastic Free
- Light Brown Sugar
- Dark Brown Sugar
- Egg
- Plain Flour
- Baking Powder
- Bicarbonate of Soda
- Ground Ginger
- White Chocolate Chips
- Fudge Pieces
- Crystalised Ginger
Equipment You Will Need
- Freestanding Mixer or Bowl with Handheld Mixer
- Baking Sheets
- Silicone Baking Mat or Baking Parchment Paper
- Scales
- Measuring Spoons
- Rolling Pin
- Cooling Rack
Tips and Tricks when Making Ginger Cookies
White Chocolate for your Ginger Cookies
As I tend to say about any chocolate within my recipes, you can use different forms. Chocolate can always be chopped up to make it smaller. If you can’t find chocolate chips, use buttons or a bar and chop.
Buttons or bars I tend to find as the more common forms to find in the zero waste shops. If you need help finding refill shops that stock any form of chocolate, you can use my A-Z guide of zero waste baking ingredients. I cover shops that also do national delivery if you don’t have a local one.
Fudge Pieces
There are a few things to think about when it comes to the fudge within these ginger cookies.
You don’t have to buy fudge pieces that are already an easy size to just throw into your recipe. You can chop up large pieces of fudge to create them, if it is easier to find. A lot of refill shops have some kind of fudge available. You may also want to consider the flavour of fudge. I have used a classic fudge. However, you could always experiment with a ginger flavoured fudge.
They second thing to think about is where the fudge pieces end up when you roll you balls. If you have fudge pieces that are exposed especially on the bottom or sides. These will melt and leak out when baked. They do set up when cooled. I don’t necessarily mind if this happens, but they definitely look homemade. So it depends on how professional you want your finished cookies to look.
Ginger Cookies
Equipment
- Freestanding Mixer or Bowl with Handheld mixer
- Baking Sheets
- Silicone Baking Mat
- Scales
- Measuring Spoons
- Cooling rack
Ingredients
- 125 g Butter / Plant Butter / Margarine
- 100 g Light Brown Sugar
- 75 g Dark Brown Sugar
- 1 Large Egg
- 300 g Plain Flour
- 1 ½ Teaspoon of Baking Powder
- ½ Teaspoon Bicarbonate of Soda
- 1 Tablespoon Ground Ginger
- Pinch of Salt
- 100 g White Choc Chips / White Chocolate Buttons chopped
- 100 g Fudge Pieces
- 75 g Crystalised Ginger chopped finely
Instructions
- Cream together the butter and sugars until pale and fluffy.
- Add in the egg and beat well.
- Sift in the flour, salt, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and ginger then beat until a dough forms.
- Add the white chocolate chips, fudge pieces and crystalised ginger, and mix to incorporate.
- Using an electronic scale weigh out 16 portions of about 58g of the dough and roll into balls before place either on the baking sheets lined with silicone baking sheets (if they will fit in your fridge) or in a baking dish.
- Pop the baking sheets/baking dish into the fridge to chill the cookie dough for at least 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven 180 degrees.
- Remove the cookie dough from the fridge and pop onto the baking sheets if not refrigerated on them – make sure they are spaced out as the cookies will spread slightly.
- Bake for about 12 -14 minutes until golden on the edges.
- Remove from the oven and leave to cool for about 30 minutes on the baking sheets before transferring to a cool rack.
- Bake the second batch as required.
Other Recipe that Uses Ginger you May be Interested in
- Pear and Ginger Energy Balls
- Rhubarb and Ginger Energy Balls
- Ginger Beer Loaf Cake
- Gingerbread Granola
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