We love ginger snaps, but my wife, Denise, says I can’t call these ginger snaps because ginger snaps are hard; I like them soft. When I bake them, I make half of them hard by keeping them small and half soft by making them large. That way we’re both happy. I am so grateful to What’s Cooking America for this wonderful recipe!
Best Gingersnap Cookies Recipe:
Prep Time: 20 mins, Cook Time: 12 mins, Total Time: 42 mins
Servings: 2 dozen cookies
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter or vegetable shortening, room temperature
- 1 cup (firmly-packed) brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup molasses (regular or un-sulphured)*
- 2 1/4 cups flour (all-purpose)
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon, ground**
- 2 teaspoons ginger, ground**
- 1/2 teaspoon cloves, ground**
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- Sugar (granulated) for rolling cookies in
Instructions
- In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, egg, and molasses until light and fluffy. Add flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and salt; stir or beat until well blended. Cover the dough and refrigerate at least 1 hour or overnight.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Note: Make sure your oven is fully heated before baking the cookies. They need to get hit with the full force of the heat to start the cookies baking on the outside. As the inside cooks and rises it should force the cracks in the cookie as they expand. If your oven is not getting hot enough, you may need to increase the temperature by 5 to 10 degrees for the next batch. - Lightly grease or spray with non-stick cooking spray your cookie sheets.
- Place some granulated sugar in a bowl large enough to roll the cookie dough balls.
- Using your hands, shape dough into 1-inch balls for the harder cookie or a much larger ball for the softer cookie. Then roll the balls of dough into the granulated sugar, coating them thoroughly.
- Place balls, 3 inches apart, onto prepared cookie sheets.
- Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until light brown (cookies will puff slightly and then collapse slightly, and tops will be covered with little cracks). Remove from oven and cool on wire racks.
Recipe Notes
* Lightly grease or spray (non-stick cooking spray) your measuring cup before adding the molasses. This prevents the molasses from sticking to the cup.
** Check your ground spices (cinnamon, ginger, and cloves) to determine if they are still fresh, as stale spices will make your gingersnaps flat tasting.
Try them with the frosting from the Lemon Blueberry Cake recipe