Thursday, December 8, 2011

Gingersnap Cookie Recipe

The original recipe (which I've only slightly altered) for these cookies was a wedding gift from a friend of my husband. These cookies are some of his favorites.

If you eat these straight out of the oven, I mean, just cool enough not to burn your mouth but still really warm, you might think you're in heaven. I do!

What You Need:
1/2 cup Shortening
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter (softened)
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
3/4 cup molasses
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 - 1/2 cup sugar for coating the cookies

Why yes, this does look an awful lot like my gingerbread recipe. But it's not the same. Less flour and more baking soda. But yes, there will be some deja vu in the instructions for mixing, but there are changes for the baking.

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, salt, soda & spices. Set aside.


In a mixer bowl, cream together shortening, butter and brown sugar.

Add eggs and mix to combine. Add molasses and mix to combine.

Add flour mixture until no white streaks remain. (Do not overmix!)

Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for about one hour. This dough will be very soft, so be careful when wrapping it.

When the dough has chilled, preheat the oven to 350-degrees.

Using a dough scoop, or a teaspoon, roll the dough into a ball in your hands.

Again, because this dough is so soft, this can be a challenge. Be prepared for sticky hands.

Drop the ball into a small bowl of sugar, and coat with the sugar.

Place on a parchment paper-covered cookie sheet. Be sure to give them about an inch or so on either side. They will flatten and spread as they bake.

Bake for 8-10 minutes at 350-degrees. DO NOT OVERBAKE! They really won't get much darker in the oven. If you notice the edges starting to darken, they're not going to be soft inside. These cookies should be cracked and crispy on the outside, but very soft on the inside.

Let them cool on a rack, and store them in an airtight container-- if they make it that long.

These cookies do freeze well, though I prefer to freeze the ball of dough, and bake them fresh in small batches, because I think I may have mentioned how good they taste straight from the oven.

Here's my cheater's trick... when I want to make both gingersnaps and gingerbread men... which I usually do... (They taste different, I don't know why, but they do!) I will mix up a double batch of the gingerSNAP recipe above, using 6 total cups flour. Then, I will take out one-half of the dough, and wrap it to make the gingersnaps. (I use a kitchen scale, but you can probably eyeball it.) I will then add an additional 3/4 cup of flour to the remaining dough, and that's my gingerbread dough. Voila! Two cookies at once!

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More Cookie Recipes/Ideas
More Holiday Baking Ideas
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3 comments:

  1. This is almost identical to my great-grandmother's recipe, which my mother has been making for years (and now I do as well). They are my husband's favorite.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I made them with dark chocolate and it tasted amazing. Thank you! I was looking for a good recipe for these type of cookies.
    Indian Vegetarian Food Recipes

    ReplyDelete
  3. I made these last Christmas and they were so good! I think I need to go buy ingredients and make them today. Mmmmm

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