Softbatch Cream Cheese Gingerbread Cookies

The week before Christmas. The ranch is quiet in the way Montana ranches are quiet in winter — cold and still and enormous, the sky low and gray, the cattle bunched near the windbreaks, the horses doing nothing very diligently in the south pasture. I like winter quiet. I grew up with it. It's different from the quiet inside my own head, which is not peaceful — the ranch quiet is the quiet of things that are fine, that are doing what they should. The inside quiet is something I'm still learning to achieve.

Patrick and I cut a Christmas tree Wednesday. There's a stand of young firs on the northeast corner of the property that Dad has been harvesting one from every year since the mid-1980s, when Colleen decided she wanted a real tree and Patrick planted the seedlings himself rather than drive to a tree lot. We went out on the ATV — I drove, Dad rode — and cut the one that looked right, a six-footer that would fit the living room corner, and dragged it back and set it up in the stand Mom had ready. She decorated it that evening. Patrick and I sat in the living room and watched her do it. She knows where every ornament goes and why — which ones were her mother's, which ones I made in grade school, which ones have the history she can tell in three sentences and which ones she just keeps because she keeps things.

I've been struggling with the sobriety this week. The holiday feeling is everywhere and I've been white-knuckling it. I called Gary three times. He answered three times. He said something Thursday that I wrote down: "You don't have to feel good about it. You just have to not drink." I said, "That's a low bar." He said, "The bar is exactly as high as it needs to be."

Mom made gingerbread Saturday. The house smelled like Christmas. I ate four pieces and felt something approaching okay.

Mom’s gingerbread has always been the smell of Christmas to me — more than the tree, more than the cold, more than anything else that week tried to throw at me. After four pieces and something approaching okay, I wanted to make my own version to keep close: same deep molasses warmth, same soft crumb, but with cream cheese folded into the dough the way a good moment folds into a hard week — quietly, and making everything a little softer. This is the recipe I reached for.

Prep Time: 15 min | Chill Time: 30 min | Cook Time: 10 min | Total Time: 55 min | Servings: 24 cookies

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp ground ginger
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp fine salt
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
4 oz full-fat cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar, plus 3 tbsp more for rolling
1 large egg, room temperature
1/4 cup unsulfured molasses
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Instructions

Whisk the dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
Cream the butter and cream cheese. In a large bowl, beat the softened butter and cream cheese together on medium speed until light and smooth, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add the brown sugar and 1/4 cup granulated sugar and beat until fully combined and fluffy.
Add the wet ingredients. Mix in the egg, molasses, and vanilla extract on low speed until fully incorporated, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
Combine. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and stir until just combined. The dough will be soft and slightly sticky.
Chill the dough. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, or up to 24 hours. Do not skip this step — it firms the dough and deepens the spice flavor.
Preheat the oven. Heat oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Place the remaining 3 tbsp granulated sugar in a small bowl for rolling.
Shape the cookies. Scoop about 1 1/2 tablespoons of dough and roll into a ball. Roll each ball in granulated sugar to coat, then place 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets.
Bake. Bake for 9 to 11 minutes, until the edges are just set and the centers still look slightly underdone. They will firm up as they cool — pull them early rather than late.
Cool. Let the cookies rest on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. They’ll stay soft for up to 4 days stored in an airtight container at room temperature.

Nutrition (per serving)

Softbatch Cream Cheese Gingerbread Cookies — The Ones That Made the Week Okay