Gingersnaps

I grabbed this recipe from a friend's cookie book. This is a pretty standard gingersnap recipe. These cookies turn out moist and flavourful - very ginger-y! And this recipe yields an awful lot of cookies. Hope you're hungry! This dough is very thick - we used a big KitchenAid mixer that was capable of mixing this dense concoction.

Ground ginger and freshly grated ginger are not interchangeable in this recipe. Use the ginger powder that you can find in any bulk or grocery store. The nutmeg and cloves are what I added to make these cookies extra spicy. If you don't like either, leave them out.


3/4 c. unsalted butter, room temperature
1 c. granualted sugar + 1/4 c. extra for rolling
1 egg
1/2 c. fancy molasses
2 1/2 c. flour
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. ground ginger (I make these "heaping" teaspoonfuls!)
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. each nutmeg and ground cloves
1/2 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 350 F. Prepare two large cookie sheets lined with parchment paper. You will need to make these cookies in batches in the oven - only put one cookie sheet at a time in your oven, on the middle rack, or your cookies will burn. This dough, unlike cake batters and more time-sensitive cookies, can sit and wait for each batch to be done in the oven. There is no rush.

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the egg and beat well. Add molasses and beat until smooth. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients in two additions, mixing thoroughly after each addition. Roll into 1-inch balls, and roll the ball completely in granulated sugar. Place the balls on the cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake for exactly 10 minutes.

The book said it yields 90 cookies! But we made ours twice the size, appx. 2-inch balls, so we got about half that. As a result, our cookies were less crispy, more chewy!