Not-So-Snappy Gingersnaps

October 15, 2010 in cookie

This is cookie number 3 in my 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies series. I’m starting to freak out because the higher that number gets, the closer to the holidays we are. In 9 short weeks, it will be Christmas! Please tell me I’m not the only one freaking out.

For my third cookie, I went with gingersnaps. My only experience with gingersnaps prior to this recipe was the boxed ones. You know, the ones that could break your teeth. Well, a few weeks back I wanted to make a pumpkin cheesecake with a crust made out of gingersnaps but I really wasn’t in the mood to go to the store for a box of cookies so I made some. And they were fantastic. So I made them again. Then again. Three times in less than a month. Un-freakin-believable.

They are nothing like the boxed things. They are crisp but not overly so and soften up significantly as they sit. They also have so much more flavor than the ones from the box and you can taste each one of the spices. I will make these all season and probably well into spring. They’re that good.

If you haven’t checked out the 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies roundup, please do! There were 30+ posts last week and I swear I bookmarked more than half of them.

Not-So-Snappy Gingersnaps
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Ingredients
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 11 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
  • 2/3 cup sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/4 cup molasses
  • 1 large egg, at room temperature
  • sugar, for coating
Instructions
  1. Stir together the dry ingredients.
  2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, or by hand, beat the butter just until soft and fluffy. Add the sugar and continue to beat until smooth, stopping the mixer to scrape down any butter clinging to the sides of the bowl. Stir in the vanilla, molasses and egg.
  3. Mix in the dry ingredients gradually until the dough is smooth.
  4. Divide the dough in two equal portions and roll each on a lightly-floured surface until each is about 2-inches around. Wrap each in plastic wrap then roll them lightly on the counter to smooth them out. Refrigerate, or better yet, freeze the cookie logs until firm.
  5. To bake, preheat the oven to 350F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
  6. Slice cookie dough into 1/4-inch rounds with a sharp knife. Dip one side and press firmly in a bowl of coarse sugar if you want, and place sugar-side up on baking sheet, evenly-spaced apart. Leave a couple of inches, about 5 cm, between cookies since they’ll spread while baking.
  7. Bake for 10-14 minutes, rotating the baking sheets midway during baking, until deep-golden brown. The cookies will puff up a bit while baking, then settle down when they’re done. Bake on the lower end of the range for softer cookies, and more for snappier ones, depending on your oven. Let the cookies cool two minutes, then remove them with a spatula and transfer them to wire racks to cool.


adapted from David Lebovitz

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