It’s the most wonderful time of the year, when we can put away our bikinis, short shorts and other revealing warm-weather clothing and get out our stretch pants and big sweaters to make room for holiday eats. Especially, holiday cookies. The holidays really are my favorite time of year. So much good food, and great times with friends and family. But I always have so many cookie ideas in my head that I want to get out during the holiday season, but never enough time to bake them all. I was thumbing through some of my Grandma’s faded recipe cards and there are lots of delicious holiday treats I hope to recreate this season. And scrolling through the sites of some of my other foodie friends, lots of great cookie inspiration to be found. But I must admit, the inspiration for these newly created Gingerdoodle cookies came to me one morning recently before I had my coffee.

In South Boston we have some great coffee shops that have over 25+ deliciously unique flavors of coffee like White Chocolate Christmas, Thin Mint, Girl Scout Cookie, Gingersnap, Pumpkin Spice, Snickerdoodle and lots more. So the other morning I was standing at my regular go-to the Java House in a caffeine-withdrawal haze staring at the board of flavors. A large Iced Snickerdoodle (pronounced “Lahhg Iced Snick” in Southie) is my year-round go to. But they were also advertising a Gingersnap Latte which also sounded delicious. And when I went to order my coffee I got all tongue tied and accidentally asked for a large iced Gingerdoodle. Eureka! And that’s how the Gingerdoodle cookie was born.

Now if you go on Pinterest you’ll see that I apparently wasn’t the only one who has come up with this perfect holiday cookie flavor combination. But everyone has their own way of combining the cinnamon sugar and ginger flavors to make their version of the Gingerdoodle. For my Gingerdoodle, I decided to take my Snickerdoodle recipe, and add in some maple syrup, ground ginger, and ground cloves.

And as much as I don’t love recipes that require you to chill the dough, because I am the world’s most impatient person, I do really think chilling the dough for even a half-hour helps the consistency of these cookies a lot. Rolling them in the cinnamon sugar before you bake them adds a bit of a caramely crunch on the outside, while keeping the inside of the cookie nice and soft and chewy. 

And as is the case with all cookie experiments, you really have no idea how it’s going to turn out until they come out of the oven and you give them a chance to cool and then you taste test. I wasn’t sure how the maple syrup would do in a cookie recipe but it just seemed like a flavor I really wanted in there. And luckily, I was able to do my endzone touchdown celebratory dance after taking one bite. These are SO good. They have the consistency of the regular snickerdoodle that I love, with the giant cracks in the crunchy top, but the amazing holiday flavor of maple and ginger and cloves that really tastes like a classic molasses filled ginersnap, despite there being no molasses in this recipe. Homerun, touchdown, gooaaaaaaaaal! I bet if you left these out for Santa, you’d get a little something extra in your stocking this year.

And because I am very lucky to have a great network of taste testers on-hand, as soon as I finished photographing these I wrapped them up and shipped them off before I could eat more than one. One of my Boston Blogger friends Allie from AllieWears.com recently moved to California so I shipped this batch off to her. If you’re looking for an easy cookie recipe to add to your holiday repertoire, look no further than these sweet Gingerdoodles.

 

Ingredients

• 1 stick butter, softened
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup light brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup pure maple syrup
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon, for rolling

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 350°F. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugars. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract until smooth.

Step 2: Slowly add in the maple syrup until incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl before adding the dry ingredients.

Step 3: Sift together the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, salt, ground ginger, ground cloves and cinnamon. Slowly add the dry mixture to the wet batter while mixing on a slow speed, just until the dry ingredients are incorporated.

Step 4: Chill the dough in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

Step 5: Stir the half cup of granulated sugar and cinnamon together in a dish for rolling.

Step 6: Use a medium-size cookie scoop to make the cookie dough balls. Roll in between your hands to make them smooth and even, and lightly coat in the cinnamon sugar before placing on a sil-pat or parchment-lined baking sheet at least an inch apart. Press the cookies down lightly with your fingers to gently flatten before baking.

Step 7: Bake at 350°F for 9 to 11 minutes, until lightly golden and let them set on top of the stove for a few minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack.

One bite into these Gingerdoodles and you’re going to send your taste buds into a sweet confusing tizzy. You’ll think they are jam packed with molasses but it’s just the dynamic combo of ginger, cloves and maple syrup that make up this flavorful holiday treat.

The best part is these stay fresh a bit longer since they are just as delicious soft and chewy the first day, or when they become a little more crisp and crunchy a few days down the road … if they last that long. So perfect for your Christmas dessert table or your holiday cookie swap. And because we all know leftovers are the best part of the holidays, I suggest taking two of these cookies, plopping a big ol’ scoop of vanilla bean ice cream in the middle and having yourself a merry little Gingerdoodle ice cream sandwich.