Bready or Not Original: Chai Crinkle Cookies
These Chai Crinkle Cookies are a fantastically fresh take on spice cookies. They are like pudgy soft pillows with gentle spice flavor.
This recipe is an easy one to break into sections to make for faster baking. There are a lot of ingredients–tiny amounts of flavorful spices–and those can be mixed with the flour hours or days in advance. The dough itself needs to chill for at least a few hours. I kept it in the fridge a full day.
These are great cookies to make year-round, but there’s something extra special about a warmly-spiced treat at this time of year!
Bready or Not Original: Chai Crinkle Cookies
Equipment
- plastic wrap
- parchment paper
- cookie scoop or spoon
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick) softened
- 1/4 cup vegetable shortening
- 1 cup brown sugar firmly packed
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 1/4 cup molasses
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/3 cup white sugar for topping
Instructions
- In a large bowl, beat together butter, shortening, and brown sugar, until fluffy, scraping the bottom of the bowl on occasion. Add egg, molasses, and vanilla.
- In another bowl, stir together flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, ginger, cardamom, cloves, and pepper. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet.
- Cover dough with plastic wrap and chill for at least two hours, or up to a day.
- Preheat oven at 350 degrees. Line a baking pan with parchment paper. Measure out topping sugar into a bowl.
- Use a scoop or spoon to form walnut-sized balls. Roll dough balls in sugar. Place them slightly spaced on pan and then compress each one; they will not spread much while baking.
- Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until puffed and set. Let cool on pan a few minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
- Store them in a sealed container at room temperature up to 3 days.
OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not: Small Sourdough Boule
Begin the year as you intend to go, that’s what I have often heard. Therefore, we’re kicking off 2025 with a small bread round that entirely relies on sourdough starter as the rising agent. This Small Sourdough Boule begins a series of sourdough recipes that will continue into the fall, building up to the release of my new fantasy book from 47North, A House Between Sea and Sky.
One of my characters is a sentient sourdough starter by the name of Mother. Yes, I said “character.” Mother does not speak, but her feelings are still made known. I had early readers say that it was a testament to my writing that they came to deeply care for a sourdough starter.
Sourdough has a life cycle. It requires consistent maintenance to stay active. For this recipe, use a mature starter (at least a few days old) and feed it a half day before commending this recipe. Meaning, if the last feeding was in the evening, start making the dough the next morning. Because this bread relies entirely on the starter for leavening, the dough needs to be begun about a day and a half in advance of baking.
Bready or Not: Small Sourdough Boule
Equipment
- nonstick spray or oil
- parchment paper
- plastic wrap or towel
- small cast iron skillet or baking pan.
Ingredients
- 3 2/3 cups bread flour or all-purpose flour
- 1 3/4 teaspoons salt
- 1 1/2 cups water room temperature
- 1/3 cup mature sourdough starter (83 grams)
Instructions
- Mix flour and salt in a large mixing bowl. In another bowl, whisk together the starter and water. Pour wet ingredients into the dry, mixing until the dough looks smooth and is no longer tacky. In a stand mixer with bread hook, this will be about 10 minutes.
- Turn the dough onto the counter and form it into a ball by tucking dough underneath the tighten the top. Apply nonstick spray or oil to the bowl. Place dough back inside and turn it to coat the surface with oil.
- Line another large bowl with parchment paper. Place dough inside, seam side down. Cover with a towel or plastic wrap and allow dough to rise for about 12 hours at room temperature.
- Transfer bowl to fridge to continue its fermenting overnight. Keep there until baking time at some point the next day.
- Preheat oven at 500 degrees. Place the small cast iron skillet or baking pan inside to heat up as well. Once the oven and pan are at full heat, CAREFULLY remove pan from inside.
- Pull dough from fridge. Set aside the towel or plastic wrap. Use the parchment as a sling to transfer dough to the hot pan. Use a knife or French lame to score the top so that carbon dioxide can escape the bread as it bakes.
- Place pan in oven. After closing the door, change the heat to 475 degrees.
- Bake for 20 minutes. Lower the temperature to 350 and bake for another 20 minutes.
- When done, the loaf should sound hollow when thumped. A digital thermometer plunged into the center should read over 190 degrees.
- Let cool for at least 20 minutes before slicing in. Enjoy hot or at room temperature. Fresh bread can also be frozen for later enjoyment.
OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not Original: Raspberry-Almond-Chocolate-Oatmeal Cookies
Merry Christmas to those of you who celebrate, and warm wishes to visitors of any or no faith!
The name for these cookies is a mouthful, but that list of ingredients lets everyone know that these aren’t standard Oatmeal Cookies. No, these Raspberry-Almond-Chocolate-Oatmeal Cookies are loaded with flavors and textures with nary a raisin in sight.
The chocolate is optional here, but I really do love that chocolate-raspberry combo. It adds some oomph (and results in a few more cookies). Only use mini chips, though, or you’ll likely have cohesion issues.
Bready or Not Original: Raspberry-Almond-Chocolate-Oatmeal Cookies
Equipment
- parchment paper
- kitchen shears
- small cookie scoop or teaspoon
Ingredients
- 3/4 cups frozen raspberries unthawed
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 1/4 cup almond butter room temperature
- 1/2 cup brown sugar packed
- 1/4 cup white sugar
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cups old fashioned rolled oats
- 1/4 cup pepitas
- 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips optional but awesome
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Use kitchen shears to gently shatter apart the frozen raspberries into a measuring cup. Set cup in freezer again as the rest of the dough is formed.
- In a large bowl, beat together butter, almond butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until light and fluffy. Add in eggs, vanilla, and almond extract. Follow up with flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Stir in oats and pepitas until combined.
- If using, fold in the mini chocolate chips. Gently fold in frozen raspberries until evenly dispersed in the dough. Note that if an excess of raspberry bits are left until the end, the dough will be especially wet and harder to work with.
- Use a small cookie scoop or teaspoon to form balls about 1 inch apart onto the prepared baking sheet. Bake until cookies are set, 9 to 10 minutes. Chill remaining dough while a batch bakes.
- Allow cookies to cool 5 minutes on the baking sheet before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in a sealed container at room temperature.
OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not: Gingerbread Cookie Cheesecake Bars
If you love both gingerbread cookies and cheesecake, oh boy, do I have the recipe for you. These Gingerbread Cookie Cheesecake Bars are dense, rich, and outright divine.
The creation process also dirties a lot of dishes, but hey, sometimes that’s what is required to make something that truly comes across as special. This recipe makes a 9×13 pan of thick bars, so bake this to feed a crowd!
Modified from Holiday Cookies magazine 2019.
Bready or Not: Gingerbread Cookie Cheesecake Bars
Equipment
- 9×13 pan
- aluminum foil
- nonstick spray
- uneven spatula
Ingredients
Gingerbread
- 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter (3 sticks) softened
- 1 1/4 cups white sugar
- 3/4 cup brown sugar packed
- 1/2 cup molasses
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/8 teaspoon allspice
- 1/8 teaspoon cloves
- 3 Tablespoons minced candied ginger
Cheesecake
- 16 ounces cream cheese (2 blocks) softened
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 Tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven at 350 degrees. Line a 13×9-inch pan with aluminum foil. Apply nonstick spray.
- In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugars until fluffy. Add the molasses, mixing until no streaks remain. Add eggs, one at a time, scraping the bottom of the bowl on occasion.
- In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, ground ginger, salt, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, allspice, and cloves. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet. Fold in the candied ginger.
- Measure out 2 cups of the dough and set it aside.
- Press the remainder of the dough into the pan, forming an even layer.
- Time to make the cheesecake layer. Beat the cream cheese until creamy. Add the sugar and flour. Add the eggs one at a time, followed by the vanilla. The mixture should be fairly consistent in color and texture, but it’s okay if there are some small lumps.
- Use an uneven spatula to spread the cheesecake into an even layer. Crumble the reserved topping over it.
- Bake for 50 to 60 minutes; the middle should not look jiggly and should pass the toothpick test. If the top is browning too much, cover with foil.
- Cool at room temperature for about an hour, then place in fridge to completely chill for a few hours. Use foil to lift onto cutting board to slice into small pieces. Store in fridge in a sealed container.
