"G" is for Gingersnaps

Greg will usually look at a recipe and then start changing it. Drives me insane because he just seems to wing it and things always turn out pretty darn good. For this recipe, he takes no credit. It comes from "Cookies Unlimited" by Nick Malgieri, page 194, published in 2000. Chef Malgieri takes no credit either, but received the recipe from the winner of a baking contest he judged. Greg's gotten rave reviews when he bakes these so it's no wonder these were the winning entry.  


The Good Cook's Gingersnaps

Ingredients:
2 cup flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
12 Tbs unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks)
1 cup sugar, plus 1/2 cup for finishing
1 large egg
1/4 cup molasses


Directions:
Combine flour, baking soda, salt and spices in bowl and mix together. In electric mixer with paddle attachment, beat butter and 1 cup sugar on medium speed for about 5 minutes until light and fluffy. Add egg and mix. Lower speed and beat in half the dry ingredients, then molasses. Scrape down sides of bowl and beater. Add remaining dry ingredients and mix. Remove bowl from mixer, scrape and do one final mix of dough by hand.

Place remaining 1/2 cup sugar in small, shallow bowl. Use small ice cream scoop to make 1-inch balls of dough. Round out balls of dough by rolling in your hands, and then roll each dough ball in sugar. Place on cookie sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes until cookies have spread, colored and surface crackles slightly. Cookies should be firm to touch. Slide paper from cookie sheet onto cooling rack, but leave cookies on paper for 5 more minutes before removing. Cookies will crisp up as they cool. If you try to pull them off immediately, they usually stick to the paper.

We recommend using a coarser sugar for rolling so that you can actually see the sugar after they've baked. If you use a extra fine or even just regular sugar, it soaks right in.

Okay, Greg couldn't resist making an adjustment, but that doesn't mean it's his recipe. He adds 1/4 tsp vanilla when he adds the egg. Greg likes adding vanilla to lots of things, but that's a whole other blog post in itself.