Christmas Cookies and a Snow Day

One of my favorite parts of the holiday season is cookies. Getting snowed in here in Virginia has given me an opportunity to play around a bit more and get excited about some holiday cookies. Today, I decided that we needed some spicy ginger cookies to compliment the cold, snowy weather.

When my husband told me that these cookie tasted like Christmas, I knew I had scored big with my recipe. I must say that I completely agree. These cookies do taste like Christmas. They are strongly flavored, soft, chewy, and they just meet my need for a delicious cookie on a snow day. With a little bit of experimentation, I may even be able to tweak these to make gingerbread cookies and houses.

I made my cookies with essential oils. They have the benefit of being pretty stable and having a long shelf-life. My notes will offer some alternatives for these oils.

Spiced Christmas Cookies

Ingredients

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon cloves

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground pepper

1/4 teaspoon salt

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar

1 large egg yolk

1/2 cup light or dark molasses

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 drops Young Living Cinnamon Bark Vitality essential oil

2 drops Young Living Orange Vitality essential oil

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Prepare two baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Put 1/2 cup granulated sugar into a small, shallow dish and set aside for rolling.
3. Sift together flour, baking soda, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, pepper, and salt.
4. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter, 1/3 cup sugar, and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg yolk, molasses, vanilla, and essential oils.
5. Shape cookie dough into balls, about 2 tablespoons each. Roll balls in sugar and place onto baking tray.
6. Bake cookies 10-12 minutes, rotating halfway through. Edges should be set and centers still soft.
7. Cool on a wire rack.

Recipe notes

All of the spices could be substituted out for essential oils if you’re an EO lover.

1 1/2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon could be substituted for the essential oil.

True cinnamon instead of cassia will have a natural citrus note that complements these cookies very well.

The zest of an orange could be substituted for the orange oil.