Sunshine Dust Ginger Cookies

Let’s just call these rustic cookies, okay? I simply do not possess the finesse needed to make beautiful desserts. I require years of training. I don’t think I’d last 10 minutes at La Patisserie Chouquette, unless they needed someone to mop or do dishes.

Ginger cookies run in my blood—in fact, my last name, Pernikoff, means gingerbread in Czech. We Pernikovs probably owned the La Patisserie Chouquette of a Slavic shtetl, known for miles as the place to get all things ginger. Hell, maybe one of my ancestors was like Dominique Ansel and was the first to take boring old gingerbread cookies and use them for architecture models. 

When the team behind Big Heart Tea Co. (formerly Retrailer Tea) and I touched base about doing a recipe using their new Cup of Sunshine dust—a finely pulverized version of their Cup of Sunshine tea—a fiery blend of turmeric, ginger, lemongrass, and peppercorn, this is what came to mind. A chewy ginger cookie, chock full of crystalized ginger hunks, finished with a Cup of Sunshine dust glaze. Voila!

Sunshine Dust Ginger Cookies

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YIELD: ABOUT 40 COOKIES

INGREDIENTS

GINGER COOKIES

RECIPE ADAPTED FROM BON APPETIT

2.5 C AP flour
1 C minced crystallized ginger
2 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
1.5 sticks unsalted butter, room temp
1 C brown sugar
1 egg, room temp
1/4 cup light molasses
1.5 t ground ginger
1 t ground cinnamon
1/2 t ground cloves

GLAZE

1 C + 3 T powdered sugar
2 T milk
1/2 t Cup of Sunshine dust

METHOD

You can bake two trays per oven—put one tray towards the top, one towards the bottom. Preheat to 350F. 

Combine flour, crystallized ginger, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. In a mixer, beat butter until creamy; about 2 min. Slowly added the brown sugar and continue mixing until well incorporated; about 3 minutes. Add egg, molasses, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and beat until blended. With mixer on low, slowly add flour mix.

Line trays with parchment. 

Scoop out tablespoon side balls of dough, roll into a ball, then flatten slightly on the parchment. They won’t spread much. Bake for 8 minutes and check doneness—you want them to be slightly firm. Place on a rack to cool.

For the glaze, simply mix together the glaze ingredients in a bowl until well incorporated. Apply glaze to cookies however you see fit. I’m sure you’ll do better than me.