Name: Gooey Gingerbread Skillet Cookie
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 1 h
Yield: One 10-inch (25-centimetre) skillet cookie, serves 8 to 10

Gooey Gingerbread Skillet Cookie

When it comes to Christmas cookies, it’s hard to find something more emblematic of cheer and glad tidings than gingerbread. Here at Ooni, we take it one step further, cooking our gingerbread in a skillet for a gigantic, gooey, sweet and zingy twist on the festive classic.

A self-proclaimed cookie aficionado, recipe creator Katie Rice has tried and tested a lot of different cookies over the years and this is one of her favourites. Using just flour, sugar, an egg, salt and butter, she infuses flavour with molasses, ginger, cloves, cinnamon and vanilla, plus some chopped crystalised ginger for extra oomph.

Starting with a well-greased cast-iron skillet pan ensures you’ll get those coveted crunchy cookie edges and that nothing sticks to the surface. Dry ingredients are mixed, followed by creaming the butter and sugar together, and the molasses adds that warm brown colour we all want for gingerbread.

Finally, before baking, we sprinkle the skillet cookie with granulated sugar for extra sweet crunchiness. Once you take the cookie out of the oven and it’s cooled, we like to serve ours with a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream on top for a match made in dessert heaven.

For more festive treats, check out our recipes for Honey-glazed Ham and Roasted Pineapple Pizza, Pumpkin-shaped Dinner Rolls, Brown Butter Skillet Cornbread and Butternut Squash, Ricotta and Fried Sage Pizza.

Difficulty

Servings

One 10-inch (25-centimetre) skillet cookie, serves 8 to 10

Prep Time

30 minutes

Cook Time

20 to 30 minutes

By Katie Rice

Note

If using a Volt, this skillet cookie goes in the oven without any covering. If you are working with a Karu, Koda, or Fyra model, cover the skillet with a piece of tinfoil. This helps to ensure that the top doesn’t get burned throughout the cooking process. If cooking in a conventional home oven, follow the same steps below sans foil!

Method

1. If cooking in a Volt or conventional oven, preheat the oven to 175 °C.

If cooking in any other Ooni oven, aim for 175 °C on the stone baking board inside. Use the infrared thermometer to quickly and accurately check the temperature of the middle of the stone.

2. Grease the bottom and sides of a 10-inch (25-centimetre) cast-iron skillet pan with 1 tablespoon (about 14 grams) of butter – you can use part of the already softened butter.

3. Whisk the flour, ground ginger, cinnamon, baking soda, cloves and salt together in a medium bowl; set aside.

4. Beat the remaining softened butter and sugar together in a large bowl with a whisk or in the bowl of the electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes total.

At the halfway mark (1 ½ minutes), turn the mixer off and scrape the sides of the bowl with a silicon spatula to ensure your ingredients are well incorporated. Continue mixing for another 1 ½ minutes.

5. Tip: If doing this by hand or with a hand mixer, these steps will all take longer.

Because of that, use the visual cues, not the timings, to let you know when you should move to the next step.

6. Add the molasses, egg and vanilla to the bowl and mix on medium speed until well combined and light in colour, about 3 minutes total.

7. Add the flour mixture to the bowl and mix on low speed to combine the ingredients.

After a few seconds, increase the speed to medium. After about 30 seconds, turn the mixer off and scrape the sides of the bowl with a silicon spatula, then continue mixing for a few more seconds.

8. In a small bowl, toss the crystallised ginger with a pinch of flour until each piece is coated.

(This will prevent the ginger from falling to the cookie’s base). Fold the crystallised ginger into the flour mixture with a spatula.

One hand holding a medium bowl while the other hand folds crystallised ginger into a flour mixture with a spatula.

9. Use a rubber spatula to scrape the dough into the prepared skillet, gently spreading it to the edges and smoothing over the top.

Wet your fingers with water to prevent sticking and gently press the dough into the sides of the skillet. Sprinkle the dough with ½ tablespoon (8 grams) of granulated sugar.

10. Bake for 10 minutes.

Wearing your oven gloves, take the skillet out of the oven and turn it 180 degrees for an even cook. Bake for another 10 to 15 minutes or until the sides are lightly browned but the center is still quite soft.

11. Tip: If you take the cookie out of the oven after the second bake and it still seems undercooked or wet and shiny around the edges, feel free to pop it back into the oven for another 5 minutes.

12. Remove the skillet from the oven and let it cool for approximately 10 minutes.

13. Serve warm with a large scoop of ice cream on top.

Enjoy!

Katie Rice

Katie Rice is a writer living in Austin, Texas. She has an MFA from the University of Virginia and is the Content Manager for Ooni Pizza Ovens. You can find her writing and recipes in Bon Appetit, Food52, TASTE and on her website, www.katiericewriter.com.

Equipment