Ginger Cookies with Cinnamon Crunch Topping

I love soft ginger cookies. And how about that crumb topping on cinnamon coffeecake! So why not combine the two?

This recipe is my first attempt at a cookie with a crumble topping. The goal is to get a burst of sweet spicy crunch on a stackable cookie. I wanted another way to add sweetness without a drizzle of royal icing to get cookies that taste amazing. Another goal was to have the crumb topping stay on when stacking the cookies in the cookie jar — and these stack with success! This recipe is based on these two other recipes, for which I thank their authors for sharing:

• The topping is adapted from Gingerbread Muffins with Spiced Crumble Topping from Kathleen on spendwithpennies.com
• The cookie recipe a soft cookie based on Marie Ayers’s Grandma’s Gingersnap Cookies from allrecipes.com

A challenge was finding a way to stick the crumbs to the cookie dough so they baked on a freestanding cookie. With any hand-formed cookie, there are no sides of a pan to keep the crumbs contained, as when you bake coffee cake To assemble this crunch-topped cookie, a tin measuring cup serves as a mold to hold the crumble, so you can press it a blob of dough into it. The result is rather large — about 4″ in diameter. If we’re trying to be “good” we just eat them a half at a time.

If you bake this (or if you’re just having a look) let me know what you think.

I have two reviews so far:

• Daughter #1 – “They look awfully orange. I don’t want to eat them.”
• Daughter #2 – “They’re delicious!”

Print Recipe

Ginger Cookies with Cinnamon Crunch Topping

A large, soft ginger cookie with a cinnamon crumble topping. Think of crumb-topping on coffee cake, but on a gingerbread cookie.

Course

Dessert

Cuisine

For People

Keyword

Gingerbread

Prep Time

30 minutes

Cook Time

12 minutes

Servings

cookies

Ingredients

For the Topping

• 1 c all purpose flour
• 1/2 c brown sugar packed
• 1 tsp dried ginger
• 1 Tbsp fresh ginger peeled and minced
• 1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 c melted butter

For the Ginger Cookie

• 2 c all purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 Tbsp ground ginger
• 1 Tbsp fresh ginger peeled and minced
• 1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 c shortening
• 1 c granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/4 c molasses

Course Dessert Cuisine For People Keyword Gingerbread Prep Time 30 minutes Cook Time 12 minutes Servings cookies Ingredients For the Topping 1 c all purpose flour 1/2 c brown sugar packed 1 tsp dried ginger 1 Tbsp fresh ginger peeled and minced 1 Tbsp ground cinnamon 1/4 tsp salt 1/2 c melted butter For the Ginger Cookie 2 c all purpose flour 2 tsp baking soda 1 Tbsp ground ginger 1 Tbsp fresh ginger peeled and minced 1 Tbsp ground cinnamon 1/4 tsp ground cloves 1/2 tsp salt 3/4 c shortening 1 c granulated sugar 1 egg 1/4 c molasses

Instructions

For the Topping

1. Melt the butter in a mixing bowl.
2. In another bowl, add the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, and salt, and mix well
3. Add the melted butter to the flour mixture and mix well. Set aside.

For the Ginger Cookie

1. Combine the flour, baking soda, salt and spices together in a bowl. Mix well to combine.
2. If you want to follow Marie Ayers's method, mix the shortening until creamy, add the sugar, then the egg and molasses. But I am too impatient for all this. I just put the shortening, egg, and molasses directly into the flour mixture and beat them together well. If there are little lumps of shortening in the batter I just squash them with a spoon. The mixing method is up to you 🙂
3. Mix gently just enough until the dough holds together to form a ball. You may need to mix by hand to incorporate.

To assemble and bake

1. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 decrees C).
2. Spoon a generous 2-3 tablespoons of crumb topping into a 1/2 cup dry measuring cup. A metal cup with a slightly rounded bottom edge works well. Spread the crumbs into an even layer.

   
3. Pinch off a piece of dough and roll to make a 1" ball, then flatten into a disk.

   
4. Press the cookie dough onto the layer of crumbs in the measuring cup. Press firmly to bring the dough up to the sides of the measuring cup, and so the crumbs hold together.

   
5. Invert the pressed cookie onto the parchment -- you may need to knock it firmly to release it.
6. Place cookies about 2" apart on the cookie sheet. About 6 cookies fit at a time. Sprinkle about 1 additional tsp of crumb topping on each cookie.
7. Bake for about 12 minutes, rotating cookie sheet front to back and top to bottom halfway through baking time. Cookies are done when edges just barely begin to brown. Remove and let cookies cool for about 5 minutes before removing them to a cooling rack or sheet.
8. For maximum crunch, store cookies in an airtight cooke jar. Put out a day or two's worth of cookies, and put the rest in the freezer to replenish your cookie jar as needed.

Recipe Notes

Did you bake this? Did you eat this? Let me know what you think!