I have been baking today and the above picture shows the most perfect ginger snap I’ve ever made. The recipe is adapted from the book bigfatcookies by Elinor Klivans, which I gave to Ray for Christmas (one of my many finds from Out of the Closet thrift store). We don’t eat refined sugar so I used maple sugar instead. Here is the recipe with my adaptations, but if you prefer regular sugar simply substitute the maple for refined.
Super-Sized Ginger Chewies
1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking soda 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon ground ginger 1/2 teaspoon cloves 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature 1 cup maple sugar 1 large egg 1/4 cup molasses about 1/4 cup maple sugar
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Sift the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and cloves into a medium bowl and set aside. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the butter and maple sugar until smoothly blended, about 1 minute. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl as needed during mixing. Add the egg and molasses and mix until blended and an even light brown color, about 1 minute. On low speed, add the flour mixture, mixing just to incorporate it.
Spread the maple sugar on a large piece of wax or parchment paper. Roll 1/4 cup of dough between the palms of your hands into a 2-inch ball, roll the ball in the maple sugar and place on one of the prepared baking sheets. Continue making cookies, spacing them 2 inches apart.
Bake the cookies one sheet at a time until the tops feel firm but they are still soft in the center and there are several large cracks on top, about 14 minutes. Cool the cookies on the baking sheets for 5 minutes, then use a wide metal spatula to transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.
The cookies can be stored in a tightly covered container at room temperature for up to 4 days.
I highly recommend this cookie. The texture is firm, but soft in the middle. My 2nd batch stayed a little too long in the oven and the cookies were crispy, which is also good. (They just need a glass of milk to go with them.)
If you like ginger cookies, then give this recipe a try. Ray’s response after taking one bite was, “May I have another cookie, please?”
On that note, I’m headed upstairs to bed. This day started with a trip to Ojai and ended with several hours of cooking for the festivities tomorrow and on Christmas Day. At this point, I’d say it’s not unreasonable to look forward to a warm bath and then bed. It is, after all, almost 10:30!
How’s the Christmas preparation going at your house? Fill me in!
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