5 Savory Spices That Will Elevate Cookie Dough

Ground cinnamon, cardamom, and ginger are staple spices for baked treats. But when I really want to up the ante, I reach for a jar of something a little more savory. A pinch of savory spice is my favorite trick for giving cookies an unexpected boost of flavor. And all it takes is a small pinch — just enough so that when you bite into them, you notice that there’s an aroma or flavor you weren’t expecting, without overwhelming the other flavors. It’s a great way to elevate some holiday treats! Here are five of my favorite savory spices for baking, plus the ideal cookies to add them to.

A pinch of freshly ground black pepper is just the ticket for giving your favorite spiced molasses and gingerbread cookies a little extra punch. It lends depth to spice cookies and marries all the usual warm baking spices together. But don’t just take my word for it — we learned this smart trick from Dorie Greenspan. The molasses spice cookies from her cookbook, Baking: From My Home to Yours, call for a pinch of freshly ground black pepper along with the usual spices like cinnamon, ginger, and allspice.

Try it here: Soft & Chewy Gingerbread Cookies

This spice blend, which typically includes a mix of cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, black pepper, cumin, and coriander, is a staple in Indian cooking and also lends itself well to baking. It’s incredibly warming, offers just a touch of a sweetness, and has a spicy backbone that works nicely in seasonal baked treats. Use an equal amount in place of ground cinnamon in your next batch of snickerdoodles or peanut butter blossoms. One half to a full teaspoon is also a welcome addition to elevate mild-mannered treats, like meringues, biscotti, buttery shortbread, or oatmeal cookies.

Try it here: Super-Soft Snickerdoodle Cookies

The warm kick of cayenne pepper is a great friend to chocolate. Cayenne pepper is one of the ingredients in our chocolate Mexican wedding cookies, although you can easily add it to any type of chocolate cookie, like crinkle cookies or chocolate truffle cookies, to balance out the sweetness. A little goes a long way, so all you need is a pinch (as a rule of thumb, use 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon per batch) to give your favorite cookies a twist.

Try it here: Chocolate Mexican Wedding Cookies

You probably haven’t considered reaching for ground coriander when baking cookies, but this cool spice plays extremely well with citrus flavors (especially anything orange) and more traditional warm baking spices, like cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. Oatmeal cookies, fruit-filled thumbprints, and gingerbread cookies are all great places to add up to 1/2 teaspoon of ground coriander.

Try it here: Raspberry-Ginger Oatmeal Thumbprints

That jar of curry powder in the back of your spice cabinet is good for a lot more than pots of warm, fragrant stew or curried chicken. A pinch of the aromatic powder pairs particularly well with all things coconut, as in no-bake sesame coconut ginger cookies and coconut snowballs, and it lends a deliciously unexpected twist to buttery shortbread.

Try it here: Coconut Snowballs