Ginger Cemetery Cookies

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Cemetery cookies are as flavorful and crisp as their story is unique.

Southern Living Ginger Cemetery Cookies on a platter to serve
Photo:

Caitlin Bensel; Food Stylist: Torie Cox

Active Time:
35 mins
Total Time:
3 hrs 49 mins
Yield:
7 to 8 dozen

In her upcoming cookbook Baking in the American South, author Anne Byrn shares the story of ginger cemetery cookies:

Food to Die For, a 2004 cookbook compiled by Jessica Bemis Ward, was part of an ongoing fundraising effort to keep up the Old City Cemetery, in Lynchburg, Virginia, where more than 20,000 people have been buried for the last two centuries. When the ladies of Lynchburg started the ambitious project to restore the twenty-six acre cemetery, it was overgrown and unappreciated. Today, it is a landmark where Civil War soldiers from fourteen states are interred alongside enslaved Black persons.

This ginger cookie recipe submitted to the cookbook by Ann Richards has been served at so many cemetery fundraisers they are called "cemetery cookies." Even if you don’t bake them for a funeral, their bright ginger flavor will please any crowd. Place small balls of dough on the pan because these cookies spread as they bake. How long to bake is up to you. More time in the oven and they are crispy, and less time and they are chewy.

Ingredients

  • 12 Tbsp. (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

  • 1 cup granulated sugar, plus 1/4 cup for rolling

  • 1 large egg

  • 1/4 cup molasses

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour

  • 2 tsp. baking soda

  • 1 tsp. ground cinnamon

  • 1 tsp. ground cloves

  • 1/2 tsp. ground ginger

  • 1/2 tsp. kosher salt

Directions

  1. Place the butter and the 1 cup sugar in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Add the egg and molasses and beat until just combined, 30 seconds. Scrape down the bowl and set aside.

  2. Sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and salt in a medium bowl. Add half of the flour mixture to the butter and sugar mixture, beating on low speed until just combined. Add the remaining flour mixture and beat until just combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and stir until smooth. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill for at least 3 hours or preferably overnight.

  3. When you are ready to bake, heat the oven to 325ºF, with a rack in the middle. Put the 1/4 cup sugar in a small bowl. Roll the dough into 1-inch balls and roll in the sugar. Place 2 to 3 inches apart on 12-by-17-inch ungreased baking sheets and flatten to 1/4-inch thickness with the bottom of a glass.

  4. Bake, one pan at a time, until firm and crisp, 10 to 14 minutes. Immediately remove from the pan to cool on a wire rack. Repeat with the remaining dough, cooling the pan between batches. Let the cookies cool to room temperature, 15 minutes, before serving. Store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

    ginger cemetery cookies - Southern Living

    Caitlin Bensel; Food Stylist: Torie Cox

Recipe Note

Taken from Baking in the American South: 200 Recipes and Their Untold Stories by Anne Byrn. Copyright © 2024 by Anne Byrn. Photographs © 2024 by Rinne Allen. Used by permission of Harper Celebrate.

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