Her Modern Kitchen

Eating & Living in Austin, Texas

Cookies

Chinese Five Spice Gingerbread Cookies

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With a modern twist on a holiday classic, these Chinese Five Spice Gingerbread Cookies use a blend of cinnamon, cloves, fennel, star anise, and peppercorns in place of traditional ground ginger for an added kick of warm, holiday spice!

Gingerbread cookies are probably my favorite holiday treat. They’re simply classic.  I love how clean and pretty they look on a plate with beautiful white frosting piped around the edges. They’re so versatile — easily transitioning from a late morning snack paired with a cup of coffee or perfectly fitted for a light dessert after a heavy holiday meal. My love for gingerbread inspired me to create these Chinese Five Spice Gingerbread Cookies.

Chinese 5 Spice Gingerbread Cookies

Chinese 5 Spice Gingerbread Cookies Snowflake

My Chinese Five Spice Gingerbread Cookies encompass all the classic elements of the gingerbread you find around the holiday season — molasses, crisp yet slightly chewy texture, and spice but with the substitution of Chinese Five Spice, the heat of the cookies are a bit warmer and spicier than the classic. There’s also a dab of honey added with the molasses that adds a hint of ‘something sweet’ when you bite into the gingerbread! I love the touch of honey combined with the Chinse Five Spice!

Chinese 5 Spice Gingerbread Cookies Placemat

Chinese 5 Spice Gingerbread Cookies

Chinese 5 Spice Gingerbread Cookies

If you’re unfamiliar with Chinese Five Spice, it’s a blend of cinnamon, cloves, fennel, star anise, and schezuan peppercorns. It’s also a staple in Chinese cooking used to add a sweet, savory element to dishes.  It’s also often incorporated as part of a marinade or dry rub when cooking meat. You may also find Chinese Five Spice in rice or vegetable dishes. When added to baked goods, it brings warmness which is why it works well in place of ground ginger in these Chinese Five Spice Gingerbread Cookies.

I was able to locate Chinese Five Spice in the bulk spice section at HEB here in Austin but if you’re unable to find it at your local grocer, you can easily make the mixture on your own or order this one from The Savory Spice Shop.

Chinese 5 Spice Gingerbread Cookies Close-Up

Chinese 5 Spice Gingerbread Cookies

If choose to make your own for my Chinese Five Spice Gingerbread Cookies, simply follow the below instructions from The Kitchn and grind together

  • 2 whole star anise
  • 2 teaspoons Szechuan peppercorns (or generic peppercorns)
  • 1 teaspoon cloves
  • 1 teaspoon fennel
  • 1 cassia or cinnamon stick, broken into a few pieces

When you’re ready to make the Chinese Five Spice Gingerbread Cookies, be sure to plan a few days ahead of time in order to accommodate a full day of refrigeration after the dough is made. I realize a full day may seem excessive but it’s 100% necessary for all the spices to come together and truly flavor the dough before you roll it and cut it into cookies.

To decorate my Chinese Five Spice Gingerbread Cookies, I used a simple royal frosting. I love that royal frosting is so pure and white. It also creates a beautiful contrast against the toasty gingerbread cookies while adding a touch a sweetness to the warmth of the Chinese Five Spice.

Chinese 5 Spice Gingerbread Cookies

Chinese Five Spice Gingerbread Cookies

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Chinese Five Spice Gingerbread Cookies
 
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With a modern twist on a holiday classic, these Chinese Five Spice Gingerbread Cookies use a blend of cinnamon, cloves, fennel, star anise, and peppercorns in place of traditional ground ginger for an added kick of warm, holiday spice!
Serves: 48 cookies
Ingredients
  • *For the Cookies*
  • 3 cups flour
  • 1½ teaspoons baking powder
  • ¾ teaspoon baking soda
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons Chinese Five Spice
  • 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
  • ¾ cup brown sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • ⅓ cup molasses
  • 2 tablespoons honey
  • 2 teaspoon lemon zest
  • 2 tablespoons milk (2% or whole)
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • *For the Royal Icing*
  • 3 tablespoons meringue powder
  • 1lb confectioner's sugar
  • 3-4 tablespoons lukewarm water
Instructions
  1. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, soda, salt and Chinese Five Spice and set aside
  2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the softened butter until light and fluffy
  3. Add in the brown sugar and cream for 2 minutes
  4. Scarpe the sides and add in the egg, molasses, honey, vanilla, and lemon zest
  5. In 3 additions, add in the dry ingredients followed by the 2 tablespoons of milk
  6. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured countertop and form it into a flat disc
  7. Tightly wrap the disc in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 24 hours
  8. To bake, preheat the oven to 375* and line your baking sheets with parchment or silicon mats
  9. Section the dough into four pieces and roll each section to ¼ inch thickness
  10. Using cookie cutter, create shapes and place them on the prepared baking sheets, 1-2 inches apart
  11. Bake for 9-10 minutes
  12. Remove from oven and cool completely before decorating
  13. To prepare the frosting, in a large mixing bowl beat together the confectioner's sugar and meringue powder. Slowly drizzle in 3-4 tablespoons of lukewarm water until the desired consistency is reached.
  14. Place the frosting in a piping bag with a small tip and decorate the cookies.
  15. Let the frosting set completely before storing the cookies.

 

 

 

 

Honey Lavender Sugar Cookies

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There’s something about lavender that makes me feel fancy and elegant. Whether it’s a lavender lotion, a burning candle or even lavender-scented cleaning products, lavender is just a mood-inducing scent that makes life feel a bit more luxurious. My love for lavender inspired me to create these Honey Lavender Sugar Cookies – a fancy, elegant cookie with a bit of class!

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These Honey Lavender Sugar Cookies definitely evoke a sense of elegance when you eat them. And, just like lavender’s soothing effects, these cookies definitely put you in a rest and relaxation mindset.

I created these Honey Lavender Sugar Cookies as a cookie to be savored and enjoyed while kicking your feet up. Even while making these cookies, I savored every moment — taking my time as I measured out each ingredient, making sure each addition of flour was fully incorporated, carefully sprinkling the purple sugar on top and flattening each cookie to just the perfect height before placing them in the oven.

Honey Lavender Sugar Cookie

Working with the lavender and honey, ingredients that I consider special, forced me to be present throughout the whole baking process as I didn’t want to spoil such delicate ingredients. When I was finally ready to enjoy my freshly baked Honey Lavender Sugar cookies, I savored every bite, enjoying these delicate cookies while with my feet up while diving into a good book. It was my little moment of relaxation and calm.

Honey Lavender Cookie Process

Honey Lavender Sugar Cookies - Unbaked

I absolutely love how these Honey Lavender Sugar Cookies turned out. They are a soft sugar cookie, like the kind you’d expect to find in a bakery. The Honey Lavender Sugar Cookies have a tender center and are the slightest bit fluffy. The honey, although only requiring a third of a cup, is quite present but never overpowering. The honey itself compliments the hints of lavender that are studded throughout the cookie. The final sprinkling of purple sugar on top before baking adds the tiniest bit of crunch and sweetness while also giving the cookies a bit of glimmer, personality and of course, class.

Honey Lavender Sugar Cookies - Purple Sugar

Honey Lavender Sugar Cookies - Group

Honey Lavender Sugar Cookies - Complete

Honey Lavender Sugar Cookies
 
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Serves: 36 cookies
Ingredients
  • For the lavender honey
  • ⅓ cup clover honey*
  • 1 tablespoon + 2 teaspoons dried lavender, divided
  • Cookie ingredients
  • ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
  • ½ cup granulated sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1¾ cup all-purpose flour, sifted
  • 1 teaspoon cream of tarter
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • For the purple sugar
  • additional ½ cup sugar
  • 1 drop purple or violet food coloring**
Instructions
  1. Make the lavender honey:
  2. In a small saucepan, heat the ¼ cup honey and 1 tablespoon of dried lavender until the honey begins to boil, stirring occasionally for 3-5 minutes
  3. Once it boils, remove the honey from the heat and let it cool to room temperature***
  4. Make the purple sugar:
  5. Make the violet sugar (for topping the dough balls before baking) by combining the purple food coloring with the half cup of granulated sugar
  6. Gently massage the sugar and food coloring until evenly distributed****
  7. Set the sugar aside once colored
  8. Make the cookie dough:
  9. To make the cookies, place the softened butter in an electric mixer and cream on high for 2-3 minutes
  10. Scrape the sides of the bowl and add the sugar and cooled honey to the creamed butter
  11. Once well combined, add in the egg and vanilla extract, beating another 1-2 minutes
  12. In a medium sized bowl, sift together the flour, cream of tarter, baking powder, soda, and salt
  13. In 3 separate additions, add the flour mixture to the butter and sugar mixture, incorporate each addition fully and scraping down the sides before adding the flour addition
  14. Lastly, add in the final 2 teaspoons of dried lavender using a wooden spoon so as not to break the lavender
  15. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicon baking mat and scoop tablespoon-sized balls of dough onto the mat about 2 inches apart
  16. Top each dough ball with a heavy sprinkle of purple sugar and using a flat-bottomed glass, press the dough balls into discs to about ¼ inch height
  17. Put a final pinch of purple sugar in the center of each disc and tap lightly to set it in place before baking
  18. Bake the cookies at 350* for 8 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through so the cookies bake evenly
  19. Remove the cookies from the oven and allow them to cool for 2-3 minutes on the pan
  20. Finish cooling the cookies on a wire rack or paper towel placed on the counter
Notes
*I prefer clover honey specifically because it has a distinct flavor but any other would work as well
**I prefer gel food coloring, as it's easier to work with and doesn't wet the sugar as much but the regular liquid food coloring would work as well
***Do not use hot or warm honey to make the cookies. I also do not advise putting the honey in the fridge to cool as it will crystallize resulting in lumping cookies
****Use a gloved hand or a spatula to massage the food coloring into the sugar to avoid staining your hands purple

Honey Lavender Sugar Cookies - Pinterest

Old Fashioned Drop Cookies with Mocha Frosting

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If you love cookies, mocha, and cake then my Grandma’s Old Fashioned Drop Cookies with Mocha Frosting are the perfect sweet treat for you!

Old Fashioned Drop Cookies - Frostin

These Old Fashioned Drop Cookies with Mocha Frosting are cookies I’ve been eating since I was a small child. They’re my Grandma’s recipe, and although I can’t recall her ever making them for me, I do remember my Mom making them all the time.

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My Mom has a thing for mocha flavored foods and this was one of her favorites! Surprisingly, the only mocha flavoring in the cookie is in the frosting and it’s nothing more than a single teaspoon of instant coffee. Even with such a tiny shot of coffee, the flavor is spot-on — melting perfectly into the slightly sweet, soft chocolate cookie.

Mocha Frosting

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Ginger Spiced Cookies

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These cookies are a delicious cross between a snickerdoodle and a gingerbread!

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They contain the warm, flavorful spices of ginger, cinnamon, clove and molasses found in gingerbread yet they’re soft, chewy and rolled in sugar in the same way as a classic snickerdoodle.

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They are delicious no matter how they are eaten — warm, straight out of the oven,  dunked into a steamy cup of coffee, or frozen straight out of the freezer with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and drizzle of caramel sauce.

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I absolutely love these cookies and they’ve been in my family’s repertoire for at least 10 years. This recipe was shared with me by a fellow lifeguard-friend whom I was working with the summer after my Senior year of high school.

There was a group of us, all fresh out of high school or in our first years of college, who spent every summer together for 3 or 4 years, working as lifeguards at Hamlin Beach in upstate New York. We’d eat most meals together, workout together, train together, and always, party together.

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It was only natural that we became the best of friends each summer after spending so much time together. But each year, once Autumn came about, we all departed on separate paths. Even now a days, we ‘keep in touch’ passively via Facebook. Watching one another graduate college, get married and start a family or move across the country. I am very lucky that Kevin (the lifeguard behind the recipe) shared his secret to these Ginger Spiced Cookies with me before we all lost touch.

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It’s strange how we don’t even talk anymore but this cookie always reminds me of those summers and my friends at that time during my life. Isn’t it funny how food does that? How it brings you back to a specific moment in time? Making you pause, smile and watch as the memories play in your mind? I love it.

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This recipe is one that makes close to 6 dozen so at the time, it was more than enough for a hungry group of lifeguards to share. The cookies don’t have any chocolate or caramels in them so they were safe for us to have about in the sun all day without the fear of melting.

Although I love the original cookie recipe just the way it is, I modified it a tad by adding candied ginger.

This single element makes it seem a bit more ‘grown up’ and mature — matching my current state of life. I love the added chew the finely diced candied ginger brings to the cookie along the small bite of gingery heat that’s hidden inside.

Although the recipe states to roll the dough into round balls then into sugar, you can definitely skip this step if you’re in a rush or don’t feel like any extra effort. They’re still just as delicious even without the sugar coating!

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This Ginger Spiced Cookie is one that I will continue to make for years to come, eventually sharing with my own family, and each time, I’ll reflect on those amazing, fun summers spent with my lifeguard friends on the shores of Lake Ontario.

Do you have any foods that bring back a special memory?
Where have some of your favorite recipes come from?

Ginger Spice Cookies
 
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These cookies are a wonderful cross between a snickerdoodle and a gingerbread. They contain the warm, flavorful spices of ginger, cinnamon, clove and molasses found in gingerbread yet they're soft, chewy and rolled in sugar in the same way as a classic snickerdoodle.
Author:
Serves: 6 dozen
Ingredients
  • 4½ cups all-purpose flour
  • 4 teaspoons ground ginger
  • 1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon cloves
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 1½ cups butter flavored shortening
  • 2 cups granulated sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • ½ cup molasses
  • ½ cup finely diced, candied ginger (optional)
  • ½ cup granulated or course sugar, for rolling
Instructions
  1. In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, baking soda, and salt.
  2. Set aside
  3. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the shortening and 2 cups of sugar until fluffy.
  4. Add in the eggs and molasses and beat well.
  5. Add in one third of the flour mixture and mix on low to combine.
  6. Continue until all flour is added and thoroughly combined.
  7. Stir in the candied ginger pieces until dispersed throughout.
  8. Shape the dough into 1 inch balls and roll in the remaining ½ cup of sugar until fully coated.
  9. Place the cookie dough on an un-greased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart.
  10. Bake at 350*F for 12-14 minute or until cookies are light brown and slightly puffed.
  11. Do not over bake or the cookies will lose their chewy quality.
  12. Let the cookies stand on tray for 2 minute before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

 

 

 

 

Valentine’s Day Sugar Cookies

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I’m a sucker for any holiday as it gives me an excuse to bake holiday-themed goodies. This year, I couldn’t help but be swept up by the mass of hearts, pink, and red that greeted me at Target earlier in the week, so of course, I quickly snatched up a set of heart cookie cutters with the intent of making some holiday themed cookies!

Lace Hearts

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Chocolate Cherry Wine Cookies

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My Mom had this saying, which she always found hilarious, though she never drank.  I’m sure you’ve heard it…

So in honor of the little meme that makes my Mother giggle,  today I cooked with wine – and restrained myself from sipping straight from the bottle. 

The cookies I chose to make combined my favorite red wine pairings – dark chocolate and dried cherries.  These cookies were healhified per my usual means and turned out delicious.  They can not only be considered heart healthy from the antioxidants found in the red wine, cherries and chocolate but they’re also low-cal and low-fat.  Very diet friendly!

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If you’re in the mood for a treat and have some excess red wine to use up, I definitely suggest this recipe.
It’s probably best paired with a freshly opened bottle of red wine!

Chocolate Cherry Wine Cookies
 
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Rich chocolate cookies with a hint of red wine and dried cherries.
Serves: 38 cookies
Ingredients
  • 1¾ cup all-purpose flour
  • ¾ cup unsweetened baking cocoa
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • ¼ cup Smart Balance butter
  • ¼ cup Chobani 0% plain yogurt
  • ¾ cup sugar
  • ¾ cup light brown sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • ½ cup dry red wine
  • ½ cup chopped dried tart cherries
  • ¼ cup semi-sweet chocolate chip minis
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 375°.
  2. In a separate bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt, stirring with a whisk. Place sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at high speed until well blended.
  3. Add vanilla, wine and egg; beat well. With mixer on low speed, gradually add flour mixture. Beat just until combined.
  4. Fold in cherries and chocolate chips.
  5. Drop by tablespoonful 2 inches apart onto nonstick baking sheets.
  6. Bake at 375° for 8 minutes or just until set. Remove from oven; cool on pans 5 minutes. Remove from pans; cool completely on wire racks.
Nutrition Information
Calories: 76 Fat: 1.45 Carbohydrates: 14.5 Sugar: 8.7 Protein: 1.18