Spelt Ginger Cookies with Lemon Cream Cheese Filling

picture of ginger cookies with a lemon filling

 

These spelt ginger cookies were first published on my former blog, The Culinary Jumble. The photos have been updated but the recipe remains the same.

In some countries, Sweden for example, it seems that ginger cookies are reserved for specific times of the year, namely Christmas. However, in the UK, we enjoy them absolutely any day we like. How awful would our cuppas be without a Gingernut dunked in ’em?

Although these ginger cookies are not quite the same as Gingernuts, in terms of texture (these are crunchy but nowhere near break your teeth time as with our British biscuit), the flavour is all there.

 

picture of ginger cookies with a lemon filling

 

These spelt ginger cookies are filled with lemon cream cheese frosting left over from my carrot cake (am I the only one who always has leftover frosting?). Oh, but it was put to good use in between these ginger cookies. The hint of lemon along with the sweetness of the frosting tasted sublime up against the ginger.

The measurements below made four huge, and eight more normal sized (the huge were too big, really) ginger cookies, which was 24 in total. You can make them any size you like but you may need to adjust baking times accordingly.

If you liked this recipe for spelt ginger cookies, check out my other spelt flour sweet treats.

 

Spelt Ginger Cookies with Lemon Cream Cheese Filling

Course Cookie

Ingredients

Cookies

  • 120g white sugar
  • 65g brown sugar
  • 180g butter (softened)
  • 1 egg
  • 60ml dark syrup (see note 1)
  • 220g spelt flour (see note 3)
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon ground cloves

Filling (see note 2)

  • 55g cream cheese
  • 55g butter (softened)
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla sugar
  • 100-200g icing sugar (as much as needed)

Instructions

  • Pre-heat the oven to 190°C (375°F). Line two large trays with baking paper.
  • Beat the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy. Add the egg, mix, and then the syrup (molasses).
  • In a separate bowl mix the remaining dry ingredients together. Add to the wet ingredients and work until everything is combined and a very sticky dough is formed.
  • Using either a spoon or your hands, scoop up balls of dough (remember, the dough is supposed to be sticky, so if using your hands, you won't be able to form a perfect ball). I made both large (1.5 tablespoons) and smaller cookies to experiment, so how big you would like them is up to you (baking times will need to be adjusted accordingly though).
  • Drop the cookie mixture on to the prepared trays with tons of space in between (they are prolific spreaders). Bake from between 10-13 minutes depending on their size. The cookies puff up a little, but drop back down to make fairly flat cookies and I noticed that the larger cookies became flatter than the smaller.
  • Allow cookies to cool for a while before transferring to a wire rack. Let them cool completely before filling.
  • For the filling, follow the instructions for my carrot cake (link in notes)
  • To assemble: take two cookies of similar size and turn one upside down so the flattest part is facing you. Pipe or spread the frosting over and then place the other cookie on top. Sprinkle with a little icing sugar and enjoy!

Notes

  1. You can use molasses, treacle or dark syrup.
  2. These are appropriate measurements - the filling I used was leftover from my carrot cake and so the amount required is just an estimate.
  3.  You can use regular (plain) flour instead of spelt. Just use 240g instead of the 220g mentioned.
Spelt Ginger Cookies with Lemon Cream Cheese Filling


Do you have a question or comment? I'd love to hear from you!