In 1998, I was invited by Pat Adrian, director of the Good Cook division of the Book of the Month Club, to judge the group’s annual office baking contest. There were luscious cakes, pies and cookies of all types, but these gingersnaps were the hands-down winners. Julie Ellis-Clayton, the winner of the contest, was kind enough to share her recipe with me.
| Total: | 55 min |
| Prep: | 35 min |
| Cook: | 20 min |
| Yield: | about 40 cookies |
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1/4 cup molasses
- 1/2 cup sugar in a shallow bowl, for finishing
Instructions
- Set racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees. Combine the flour, baking soda, salt, and spices in a bowl; stir well to mix. In the bowl of a standing electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together on medium speed the butter and sugar for about 5 minutes until very light, fluffy and whitened. Add the egg and continue beating until smooth. Lower speed and beat in half the dry ingredients, then the molasses. Stop the mixer and scrape down bowl and beater. Beat in the remaining dry ingredients. Remove bowl from mixer and use a large rubber spatula to finish mixing the dough. Use a small ice cream scoop to scoop out 1-inch diameter pieces of dough. Roll into balls between the palms of your the hands, then roll in the sugar. Place the balls of dough on the prepared pans leaving about 3 inches all around each, to allow for spreading. Bake the cookies for about 15 to 20 minutes, or until they have spread, the surface has crackled, and they are firm to the touch. Slide the papers from the pans to racks. Store the cooled cookies between sheets of parchment or waxed paper in a tin or platic container witha tight-fitting cover.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 40 servings |
| Calories | 91 |
| Total Fat | 4 g |
| Saturated Fat | 2 g |
| Carbohydrates | 14 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 0 g |
| Sugar | 9 g |
| Protein | 1 g |
| Cholesterol | 14 mg |
| Sodium | 66 mg |
Reviews
I cannot tell you how many times I have made these cookies for my husband. He absolutely LOVES them. My only issue with this recipe is that the recipe states it will make about 40 cookies, but I do good to get 26 cookies. I have used a 1 tablespoon scoop to scoop the dough out, as well as a scoop that is about 1/2 tablespoon. What I wound up doing is putting all of the dough on a sheet of plastic wrap, and I shape it into a log. Then I put it in the refrigerator to allow it to get nice and cold. When I pull the dough log out of the refrigerator and unwrap it, I use a sharp chef’s knife to slice the log into 2 parts length wise, and then I slice it into individual slices. I lay the slices of dough on my parchment lined half sheet pan. I sprinkle a cinnamon sugar blend over the top of the slices and bake them in a 350 degree F oven for 17 minutes for the first pan, and I make another pan ready to go in as soon as the first pan comes out. I set that timer for 16 minutes. I get about 32 cookies with this method. My husband says that the texture of the cookies now reminds him of a speculaas cookie from his home country of the Netherlands. That is an incredible compliment!
Super crispy and we thought plenty of ginger flavor. I simplified the instructions some and they turned out perfect. I dropped spoonfuls of dough on the cookie sheet and hand sprinkled a little sugar instead of rolling into balls, and let them cool a few minutes on the cookie sheet instead of sliding onto rack on the parchment.
These are entirely okay cookies, but they’re neither as gingery nor as crisp as I’d like.
If I were to make them again, I would:
– use my darkest cookie sheet and preheat it (I skipped that step in the instructions and my first batch came out more like those big, soft molassess cookies)
– make them smaller than instructed. (I used my 1″ diameter scoop for that same batch, and it was a mistake.) My crispest ones were half that, easily. Keep them about the size of the tip of your thumb for thinner ones, though they don’t quite get that same crackly top.
– double the ginger
– maybe add some chopped up crystalized ginger if I’m going hard
Again, these cookies are entirely okay. They’re crisp if you cook them a smidge longer than you’d bake most cookies (15-20 was pushing it, the bottoms on a bunch of mine got toasty). If you bake them a little less than that, they’re perfectly fine molasses cookies with a lovely chewy texture. It’s just hard to make them snappy.
Not at all crispy. Flavor was okay but not gingery enough and far too sweet.
Neither incredibly crisp or gingery. These are predominantly molasses cookies with a slight ginger flavor. I wouldn’t make these again.
I don’t know what happened but my cookies were thick and did not flatten. The taste was good but because they did not flatten, they were doughy. I used 325 degrees temperature because I burnt them the last time i used 350. I thought a lower temperature and longer bake time should work better.
Also, I think my scoop was too big. It was more than 1 inch in diameter. Could that be why they didn’t flatten?
Somebody please help.
Delicious!
This recipe makes awesome gingersnaps. Using my “small” ice cream scoop, it only made 27 cookies. I think 1 tablespoon per cookie would yield closer to 40. I didn’t roll the cookies in suger because I find cookies burn more readily when I do so. The difference between chewy gingersnaps and snappy ones comes down to the difference of just a minute or two bake time. Keep an eye on them and you’ll notice them flattening out – this means you’re getting close. You’ll want to keep watch on them anyway – because of the molasses, the color is dark and makes it difficult to tell how done they are. They’re delicious either way. Chances are, you’ll end up with some chewy ones and some snappy ones and everyone will be happy.
I have been making this exact recipe with 2/3 cup oil (which equals 12 Tablespoons butter) for a few years. I found it in The Church Potluck Supper Cookbook (page 182, pub 2003). I used 2/3 cup clarified butter. This is a good recipe, and for a period of time they are crisp, but in humid Florida, they turn limp again. They spread out to double their size in the oven. I also doubled the amount of ground ginger (otherwise they have no zing), cut back on the cinnamon by 3/4s, and added half as much again more sugar, bc this recipe isnt very sweet.
I don’t have a stand mixer, but I found a 70’s or 80’s rock music song on the radio, such as phil collins or boston, is a good substitute for a 5 minute timer while blending, using the ” one up from lowest” setting on your hand held. Also, using the upper level rack in in the stove was a good idea that a previous post had.