Mustard Spice Cookies

Mustard spice cookies seem like an odd idea and I was a little worried about how they would received by my coworkers. I thought these might be a little too outside the box as far as desserts in New Jersey go. But I was wrong – people loved these cookies. Ovenly's mustard spice cookies were one of the crowd favorites during my first twelve days of Christmas and I've made them several times since. They are excellent representatives of Ovenly's sweet/savory baking style: not too sweet and ridiculously addictive.

The authors make a point of stressing that the dough should not rest in the fridge more than 3 hours before baking, but they don't really explain why. Always curious when I’m told not to do something (and never having enough time to do everything), I did let my dough sit overnight, and I didn’t notice any flavor difference, for whatever that single data point is worth.

Regardless of whether you are baking these from the fridge or after a spell in the freezer, the dough should come almost fully to room temperature before baking. Bring it out around the same time you start pre-heating your oven. If this cookie dough is too cold when it goes into the oven, you’ll wind up with overcooked edges and raw centers at 12 minutes.

Mustard Spice Cookies

These cookies are like a chewy ginger cookie, but addition of whole-grain mustard makes them something special and supremely addictive.

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Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 12 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour 32 minutes minutes

Servings: 20 cookies

Ingredients

• 2 ¼ cup all-purpose flour
• 3 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (8 ounces) unsalted butter room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 large egg room temperature
• 2 tablespoons molasses
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup preferably grade B and the darker the better
• 2 tablespoons whole-grain mustard* like Maille
• 1 tablespoon heavy cream
• Turbinado sugar** for garnish

Instructions

• Whisk together the flour, spices, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl.
  
• Beat the butter on medium speed for 1 minute to loosen. Add the sugar, turn the speed to medium-high, and beat until fluffy and lighter in color, about 3 minutes.
   
• Add the egg and beat on low until just combined.
  
• Add the molasses, maple syrup, mustard, and cream, then beat on low until just incorporated.
  
• Add the flour mixture and mix on low until incorporated, about 30 seconds.
  
• Scoop the dough into 1-inch (1.5 ounce) balls, place them in a Rubbermaid container (layers separated by parchment paper) or in a large Ziploc bag. Refrigerate the dough for at least 1 hour or up to overnight.***
  
• Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
  
• Place the dough balls on the sheet with about 1-2 inches of space in between, as they will flatten out a fair about. Sprinkle with turbinado sugar (if desired) and bake for 12 minutes, rotating the pan after the first 6 minutes. The cookies are done when they are just golden brown around the edges. The middle may still look a little wet, but the center will set as the cookies cool.
  
• Let the cookies cool completely prior to serving.
  

Notes

*Experiment a bit with the kind of mustard you use, although I recommend you start with the original first. I made these with a blackberry honey mustard, and they turned out quite beautifully (both in color and in taste), but of the two mustards, I slightly preferred the whole-grain mustard in these cookies.

**Feel free to use regular granulated sugar in place of the turbinado, although the turbinado sugar does add an extra level of depth to the cookies.

***If freezing the portioned dough, let it sit at room temperature at least 30 minutes before baking.