Okay, so now that we have covered Sean’s cookie and Michelle’s cookie, it is time for the cookie that I made. There are a bunch of cookies I like that we eat fairly often, like chocolate chips, oatmeal raisin cookies and even Heath bar brickle cookies, but there is something about ginger snaps that I really enjoy. I love the deep ginger flavor a good one has, almost tasting spicy with a little bite to it. I can remember eating them out of the box when I was a little kid and just the smell of them alone is enough to get me thinking about them. I have made ginger snaps before, but I came across this recipe from Alton Brown a while back and had been holding back on it so that we could use these for part of our Christmas cookies. The best thing is that they are really easy to make. One thing to note about this recipe is that Alton uses weight measurements for a few of the ingredients instead cup measurements. I don’t have a kitchen scale, but if you do you can make good use of one here. I did some research online to get some conversion rates and they seemed to work out fine, so I have included the conversions here.
Alton Brown’s Ginger Snaps
9 1/2 ounces (2 1/4 cups) all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon ground clove
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
7 ounces (1 cup) dark brown sugar
5 ounces butter, room temperature
3 ounces (1/4 cup) molasses
1 egg, room temperature
2 teaspoons finely grated fresh ginger
4 ounces (2/3 cup) finely chopped candied ginger
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, ground ginger, cardamom, clove and kosher salt.
Place the dark brown sugar and the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat on low-speed until the mixture is light and fluffy, about 1 to 2 minutes. Add the molasses, egg and fresh ginger and beat on medium speed for 1 minute. Add the crystallized ginger and, using a rubber spatula, stir the mixture to combine. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir the mixture until it is well combined and the dough has formed.
With a 2-teaspoon sized scoop, drop the cookie dough onto a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet or half sheet pan approximately 2 inches apart. Bake the cookies on the middle rack of the oven for 12 minutes for slightly chewy cookies or for 15 minutes for more crisp cookies. Rotate the pan halfway through the baking process to ensure even cooking and browning.
Remove the pan from the oven and allow the cookies to stay on the sheet pan for 30 seconds before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat the process with the remaining cookie dough. Store the cookies in an airtight container for up to 10 days.
You can even freeze the cookie dough if you want to make it ahead of time and then use it closer to your desired date for the freshest possible cookies. Just scoop and freeze the cookie dough on a sheet pan and once it is frozen place the cookie dough in a resealable bag to store in the freezer. You can then bake the cookies directly from the freezer as the recipe instructions suggest.
One more thing about the recipe. The conversions can be a little confusing if you don’t have a scale and you may question if you have too much or too little of a particular ingredient.This recipe showed me that it is probably a good idea to have a kitchen scale for recipes like this. In any case, when I first mixed the dough it seemed way too loose and dry, as if it had too much flour. After some consideration, I decided to add another egg to help balance things out since that was the only liquid in the recipe other than the molasses. I think I could have added more molasses too and still have gotten good results but the taste might have been a lot stronger than I wanted. The extra egg seemed to even things out and the results were perfect. A very ginger-tasting cookie with just the right texture was what I ended up with.
That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for some more recipes. I made a nice Cuban pork shoulder and black beans in the slow cooker last night that was a great recipe that I will be sharing. Until next time, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!
