Gingersnaps

I love when people ask me to do some baking for them, it is an excellent excuse to bake, have a little taste then get it out of the house so I don’t eat it all!  The latest request was Gingersnap Cookies.  Having never made a gingersnap I was very nervous about making them to give away, it was kind of like playing darts in the dark.  I had to pick a random recipe, that I thought might be good, and hope to hit the bull’s eye.  As I started to look for a recipes I quickly realized there were two types of gingersnap cookies, crisp and soft.  I had to put my search on hold until I found out for sure what kind they were looking for.  They decided on soft.  Now the hard part, trying to pick ‘the recipe’ out of millions!  I searched and searched until I found ‘Gingersnap Cookies Chewy and Soft’ from Food.com.  After reading Katherine’s notes and the rave reviews I knew it would be the one to try.

Photos and spacing are a little off – new version of wordpress media needs some work – sorry

Gingersnap Cookies Chewy and Soft

2 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup white sugar
1 cup butter
1 egg
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup sugar, on a plate for later

Directions:

1. Mix the flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon and cloves well and set aside.

2. In another bowl beat the sugar, butter, egg and molasses for  1 to 2 minutes

3. Add the dry ingredients and stir by hand.

4. Take what ever size ball you like ( I used 1/2 a tablespoon)  and roll into a ball.

5. Roll in sugar.

7. Bake at 350 on an ungreased cookie sheet (air-insulated type is the best)** I had one so I used it but not sure if it is absolutely necessary**  for 14 minutes.  Cool slightly on cookie sheet, then transfer to a cooling rack.

This was a great recipe!  Turns out I really liked them.  They were not at all as I was expecting, though I am really not sure what I was expecting.  The aroma from the spices that filled the kitchen was amazing, it almost reminded me of a spice cake or a pumpkin pie.  The texture was very nice, the outer  cookie had a bit of a ‘crisp’ when you bit it but the center was a little more dense than cake.  The odd crunch from the sugar-coating was a nice contrast to the texture.  I think they were quite delicious.   They were my first ones, I will probably tweak them a tad, maybe some more ginger, or use fresh ginger.  This recipe is definitely a keeper, Thank you Katherine!

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