Double Ginger Cookies

     Ginger cookies are my husband's favorite flavor when it comes to cookies whether snaps, marranitos (gingerbread pigs), molasses crinkles, piparkakut (pepper cookies) or Aunt Sally's.  Over our many years together cookies have been a handy food to have on hand when it came to treating his low blood sugar episodes (good old milk and cookies).  But all that white flour and sugar (not to mention molasses!) packed too much of a sugar high.  I had already begun replacing part of the all-purpose flour with whole wheat pastry flour in much of my baking so I decided to do the same for his ginger cookies and while I was at it thought I might as well cut out some of that sugar, too - half of it!  

     A Face Book friend had posted photos of her delicious looking ginger cookies and she passed on her recipe so between her recipe and my Better Homes cookbook I had a good base to start with.  The original recipe was, of course, delicious but I immediately decided to replace some shortening with butter because we love the buttery taste in pepper cookies; so one bad fat for a worse fat (all butter would change the texture too much, though).  My husband's sweet tooth is not as sweet as mine so I knew he would not miss the sugar (the man only uses half of a Splenda in his 16 ounce latte!) but he does loves ginger so I was going to do a double punch with ground ginger along with candied ginger and replace some of the cinnamon with garam masala (a warm blend of cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, cumin, black pepper and coriander).  After plenty of trial and error test runs, we are both pretty pleased with the final result.  

Ground ginger and candied ginger make these double good!

Double Ginger Cookies

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
• 3 teaspoons baking soda
• 4 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1-1/2 teaspoon kosher salt or 1 teaspoon table salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon garam masala
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons Crisco or other shortening
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs (or egg substitute equivalent though the Points value may not be affected)
• 1/2 cup dark molasses
• 30 grams candied ginger, diced (3 Points worth)
• 1/4 cup Turbinado (raw) sugar

Putting It Together:

     In a medium bowl whisk together the first eight dry ingredients and set aside.  In a large mixing bowl (I use my Kitchen Aid - this is a stiff dough) beat Crisco and softened butter on low for a minute or so.  Add white and brown sugars, beating until well combined; scrape down sides as needed.  Beat in eggs and molasses (spray your measuring cup with cooking spray right before measuring the molasses) until combined.  Add the flour mixture, about a third at a time to help prevent "blow out" and mix until incorporated.  A hand mixer may bog down and you may have to finish stirring in the remaining flour.  Lastly add the chopped candied ginger, to prevent it from breaking down too much.

I'm now able to find Bob's Red Mill at most of my regular grocery stores.

     The key to even baking and dividing up the recipe into Points Plus values is a uniform cookie size so I use a cookie scoop.  I use a medium sized one that is 1-1/4 inch across; if you go smaller or bigger you will need to adjust the baking time and the PPs value.  I get approximately the same number of cookies with this recipe (65 to 70) and the PPs remains the same in that range.

     Arrange oven racks so that one is near the top and one nearer the bottom; preheat to 350 degrees F.  Scoop and shape the balls, dip one side into the turbinado sugar and place on an ungreased cookie sheet.  I like the raw sugar for the look and the big crunch but I only press the top into the sugar - I am trying to cut back, after all.  If you use regular white granulated you will need to measure before and after rolling to determine how much additional sugar was used and the PPs value of it - you may be surprised.  I've used the turbinado sugar so many times that I know 1/4 cup is pretty accurate for me.

Crunchy, rustic turbinado sugar is pressed only on the top.

     Bake 2 cookie sheets at a time for 9-12 minutes;  halfway through baking time rotate baking sheets, also changing top of oven sheet with bottom of oven sheet for more even baking.  While the first 2 sheets are baking, roll and prepare the remaining dough and place on foil or additional cookie sheets.  Using the 1-1/2 inch scoop my cookies usually take 11 minutes to bake.  The tops should look puffed and lightly browned.  Overbaking will produce a drier, cakier cookie.  Cookies are soft right out of the oven so either let them set a minute on the sheet or use extra care when transferring cookies to a cooling rack (I actually use a clean paper bag which I've torn open just as my mom used to do.  Whole Foods double bags so I always have a supply of clean brown bags.)

An average-sized cookie for 2 Points with a nice texture and a bit of a bite.

     The total Points Plus value for the recipe as made above is 138 according to Recipe Builder.  I usually end up with 65- 70 cookies which would give each a PPs value of 2 Points.  According to Recipe Builder a range of 56 to 92 cookies from this recipe would still equal 2 Points per cookie; less than 55 cookies would make each cookie 3 PP and 93 or more cookies would make the value of a cookie drop to 1 Point.  Just count up the number of cookies you make and you can estimate the PP value.  Since I am counting both Points and carbs I aim for the same total amount of cookies so that I know the carbs per cookie is 12-14 for my husband and 2 points for me,  a win-win for both of us.