Peanut Butter Ginger Cookies (Christmas Cookie, 2025)

Many bakers make a chewy ginger or molasses cookie come December and I’m no exception. This year, I took my go-to recipes (Roscoe Village in Coshocton, Ohio and Nelly’s Needler’s from Woodlawn Plantation) and reworked them into a peanut butter ginger cookie, just for a happy change. While most ginger cookies are shaped into balls and rolled in sugar, I give you the option here of rolling them in crushed or finely-chopped salted, roasted peanuts to reinforce their peanutty goodness. Do underbake these cookies, as directed, or they become very hard like hockey pucks. They should firm up as they cool but remain chewy unlike ginger snaps.

Makes about 3 dozen

Ingredients

2 cups (240 grams) all-purpose, unbleached flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
½ teaspoon EACH: ground cinnamon and ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
½ cup (4 oz or 113 grams) salted butter, at room temperature
¼ cup (68 grams) chunky peanut butter
¼ cup (85 grams) molasses
1 cup (198 grams) granulated white sugar
1 teaspoon finely chopped or grated fresh ginger
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 cup (198 grams)granulated or (210 grams)turbinado sugar OR (135 grams) finely-chopped salted roasted peanuts, in a small bowl

Instructions

PREHEAT OVEN TO 350F (180C). Set rack at center.
In a large bowl, stir together the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and salt. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, beat together the wet ingredients: butter, peanut butter, sugar, molasses, fresh ginger, and egg until fluffy on medium speed—2-3 minutes. This will work fine with either a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or with a large bowl and a hand-held electric mixer.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well.
Shape into 1-inch balls and roll in sugar or nuts. Place two inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake, one sheet at a time, about 8 minutes or until cookies are just dry at edges and cracked but still a bit gooey at the center. Turn cookie sheets around once halfway through baking. Do not overbake.
Remove trays to cooling racks and rest for a minute or two. Remove cookies to racks and cool completely. Store in airtight containers for 3-4 days or freeze for up to 3 months.

Notes

About the cookies cracking on top: These cookies are meant to flatten out and crack on top. I find that if I keep the size of the dough ball to no more than 1-inch, my cookies always crack on top and taste best. When I make them larger, I have puffy ginger cookies that don't taste nearly as good.