Gingersnap Cookie Recipe (2024)

1K Shares

Gingersnap Cookie Recipe (1)

During my interview at Chez Panisse, as I sat across the table from Alice Waters in the main dining room at the restaurant, she asked me, “What do you eat at home?”Since I’m not exactly convincing when lying, I told her.“I eat popcorn, mostly.” And continued, “I’m a restaurant cook. I don’t have time to eat at home.”

In spite of that, or because of my chutzpah, I got hired and worked at Chez Panisse, where I stayed a long time. And one of my favorite recipes that I made there was theGingersnaps from The Art of Simple Food.

Gingersnap Cookie Recipe (2)

At first glance, one might think— Who needs this book? But as I turned the pages, I realized that these are recipes for the staples that people could and should learn, and the book is a complete reference for anyone who wants some solid, well-tested basics new dishes to add to one’s repertoire. Unlike larger and bulkier reference tomes, the recipes in The Art of Simple Food are for the way many people cook today and the book is laid out with a simple design to make it very easy for anyone to follow the recipes. It would also make an excellent gift for someone new to cooking who maybe would like to tackle a Caesar Salad or homemade pizza dough but needs a clue as to where to begin.

Gingersnap Cookie Recipe (3)

Most of the recipes have just a few ingredients and if you’re anything like me, you’re often just looking for the basic proportions for things can improvise once you’ve gotten the knack of making it—so I appreciate having a recipe for a basic polenta torta, a stripped-down risotto recipe that lends itself to whatever variation one might choose, and recipes for sauces like spicy harissa, basil pesto (with winter-friendly variations), meaty Bolognese and homemade tartar sauce which would liven up a simple roasted dinner of fish, meat or vegetables.

As I read through the book, not only was I charmed by the simple line drawings by Patty Curtain, but by the friendly, approachable tone of the book. There was no preaching, just gentle guidance on how to coax the best flavors from what’s available, which some of the clearest, easy-to-follow instructions on techniques I’ve seen in a cookbook.

Gingersnap Cookie Recipe (4)

But most importantly, it bears the message the good food doesn’t need to be complicated, expensive, or hard-to-prepare.Some of the recipes I’ve bookmarked are the crispy Fresh-Pickled Vegetables, savory Gougères, Herb-Roasted Almonds, and Sushi Rice, all of which I’ve made over and over again, and they’ve become staples in my kitchen.

Gingersnap Cookie Recipe (5)

Print

Ginger Snaps

From The Art of Simple Food: Notes, Lessons, and Recipes from a Delicious Revolution (Clarkson Potter) by Alice Waters.These cookies get crisp when cool and are great holiday cookies. I like them coated with lots of crystals of coarse sugar, which is called Hawaiian washed sugar in the US, or cassonade here in France. (Coarse sugar is also available online.)You can also rev-up the spices, and add ¼-½ teaspoon ground cardamom, cloves, nutmeg or allspice to suit your taste.

Course Dessert

  • 2 cups (280g) flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 11 tablespoons (150g) butter, salted or unsalted, at room temperature
  • 2/3 cup (130g) sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/4 cup 80g) mild-flavored molasses*, (sometimes called 'light' molasses)
  • 1 large egg, at room temperature
  • my optional step: coarse sugar crystals for coating the cookies
  • Stir together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and black pepper.

  • In the bowl of an electric mixer, or by hand, beat the butter just until soft and fluffy. Add the sugar and continue to beat until smooth, stopping the mixer to scrape down any butter clinging to the sides of the bowl.

  • Stir in the vanilla, molasses and egg.

  • Mix in the dry ingredients gradually until the dough is smooth.

  • Divide the dough in two equal portions and roll each on a lightly-floured surface until each is about 2-inches (5cm) around. Don’t worry if they’re not perfect; you can neaten them up in a second.

  • Wrap each in plastic wrap then roll them lightly on the counter to smooth them out. Refrigerate, or better yet, freeze the cookie logs until firm.

  • To bake, preheat the oven to 350F (180C) and line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.

  • Slice cookie dough into 1/4-inch (a scant 1 cm) rounds with a sharp knife. Dip one side and press firmly in a bowl of coarse sugar if you want (you can also use granulated sugar instead), and place

    on baking sheet, evenly spaced apart. Leave a couple of inches, about 5 cm, between cookies since they’ll spread while baking.

  • Bake for 10-14 minutes, rotating the baking sheets midway during baking, until deep golden brown. The cookies will puff up a bit while baking, then settle down when they’re done. Bake on the lower end of the range for softer cookies, and more for snappier ones, depending on your oven.

  • Let the cookies cool two minutes, then remove them with a spatula and transfer them to a cooling rack.

Notes

Storage: The dough can be refrigerated for up to five days, or frozen for up to three months. Once baked, the cookies can be kept in an air-tight container for a couple of days but like anything made with butter, of course they’re best the day they’re baked.

*Outside the United States, molasses is often found in natural foods stores. For other overseas baking tips, check my post American Baking in Paris.

1K Shares

Gingersnap Cookie Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Why didn t my ginger molasses cookies crack? ›

Why don't my molasses cookies crack? Molasses cookie dough won't have those signature cracks on top if the dough is too wet. The cracks happen when the surface of the dough dries up. Rolling in sugar really helps this because the sugar binds the moisture and dries out the dough.

Why do my ginger snaps go flat? ›

The Problem: Your Oven Is Too Hot

If your cookies repeatedly turn out flat, no matter the recipe, chances are your oven is too hot. Here's what's happening. The butter melts super quickly in a too-hot oven before the other ingredients have firmed up into a cookie structure.

Are ginger snaps good for your stomach? ›

Ginger. Capsules of powdered ginger have been found to reduce nausea and vomiting. You could also try a cup of ginger tea, a glass of ginger ale (some people swear it works better if it's flat), a few gingersnap cookies, or a piece of ginger candy.

Are ginger snaps healthier than other cookies? ›

The smaller, crispy gingersnaps are a plain, round cookie and a healthier choice when compared to other cookies because they are usually lower in calories. Ginger not only adds delicious flavor to food, but it's also full of nutrients. There are lots of different vitamins and minerals in ginger.

What happens if you add too much molasses to cookies? ›

Doubling up on molasses softened the cookies significantly.

Molasses is also extremely dark in color, so this batch of cookies turned out to be a deep brown.

How do I get my cookies to crack? ›

The means that as the cookie expands, it starts to crack the dry surface. For this to happen, you need to dry the surface of the cookie by coating them in sugar, use sufficient leavening for the cookie to rise, and bake in a hot oven.

How do you make cookies fluffy instead of flat? ›

Adjust leavening agents: Baking powder and baking soda are responsible for the rise and structure of cookies. If your cookies are too flat, try slightly increasing these leavening agents. Conversely, if your cookies are overly puffy and then collapse into flatness, it could be due to using too much leavening agent.

Why are ginger snap cookies so hard? ›

Here are several reasons why your ginger snap cookies might have turned out hard: Overbaking: Cookies can become hard if they are baked for too long. Make sure to bake these cookies for 20 minutes at 300 degrees F. Too little moisture: If you didn't add enough liquid to the dough, the cookies can become dry and hard.

Why is my gingersnap dough too crumbly? ›

Add just enough flour to bring the dough together. Too much flour will make your cookies crumbly and dry. If your dough is too crumbly: mix in 1 tbsp of milk until the dough is soft and pliable again. Be sure to chill your dough for at least 3 hours.

Can you eat too many ginger snaps? ›

How much ginger should you take daily? Ginger is safe to eat daily, but experts recommend limiting yourself to 3 to 4 grams a day — stick to 1 gram daily if you're pregnant. Taking more than 6 grams of ginger a day has been proven to cause gastrointestinal issues such as reflux, heartburn and diarrhea.

Who should not take ginger? ›

Pregnant or breastfeeding women, people with heart conditions, and people with diabetes should not take ginger without talking to their doctors. DO NOT take ginger if you have a bleeding disorder or if you are taking blood-thinning medications, including aspirin.

Are ginger snaps anti-inflammatory? ›

Gingersnaps are a healthier alternative to other cookies, being that they are generally low in calories and have many benefits. The ginger that is in these cookies has anti-inflammatory properties, is known to help treat nausea and fight heart disease and other illnesses.

What is going on with Nabisco ginger snaps? ›

In announcing the settlement with the maker of Oreo and Chips Ahoy cookies, California Attorney General Kamala Harris on Friday said testing revealed that a serving of the ginger snaps contained lead levels up to nine times the threshold requiring a warning under California's Proposition 65.

What is another name for ginger snap cookies? ›

A gingersnap, ginger snap, ginger nut, or ginger biscuit is a biscuit flavoured with ginger. Ginger snaps are flavoured with powdered ginger and a variety of other spices, most commonly cinnamon, molasses and clove.

What makes gingerbread cookies crack? ›

The experts at King Arthur Baking also advise not using very much additional flour for rolling, as this can dry out the dough and lead to cracking.

What causes ginger biscuits to crack? ›

The butter and sugar may not have been blended well enough. When the sugar and butter are whipped well, the butter is aerated, which encourages the cookies to crack as they bake. The baking soda that was used may have been a bit stale. Baking soda helps the ginger molasses cookies rise.

Why didn't my crinkle cookies crack? ›

Why didn't my chocolate crinkle cookies crack? The most common reason for cookies that don't crack is either that the oven was not hot enough or the baking powder was expired. Be sure to allow plenty of time for your oven to heat, and use a fresh container of baking powder! Why are my chocolate crinkle cookies flat?

Why are my molasses cookies not spreading? ›

The most common culprit behind non-spreading cookies is too much flour. This may seem counterintuitive—after all, isn't flour a key ingredient in baking? Yes, but if you add too much flour, your cookies won't spread as they bake.

References

Top Articles
Yotam Ottolenghi’s aubergine recipes
Replica Swiss Chalet Sauce Recipe
Tyler Sis 360 Louisiana Mo
Average Jonas Wife
Safety Jackpot Login
Wizard Build Season 28
2024 Fantasy Baseball: Week 10 trade values chart and rest-of-season rankings for H2H and Rotisserie leagues
Blairsville Online Yard Sale
Best Pawn Shops Near Me
Zendaya Boob Job
The Rise of Breckie Hill: How She Became a Social Media Star | Entertainment
Bros Movie Wiki
Palace Pizza Joplin
Mini Handy 2024: Die besten Mini Smartphones | Purdroid.de
Gdlauncher Downloading Game Files Loop
Lancasterfire Live Incidents
Zalog Forum
Kcwi Tv Schedule
Somewhere In Queens Showtimes Near The Maple Theater
Miltank Gamepress
Wkow Weather Radar
Caring Hearts For Canines Aberdeen Nc
Urban Dictionary Fov
Walgreens On Bingle And Long Point
Garden Grove Classlink
Truck from Finland, used truck for sale from Finland
Reserve A Room Ucla
Restored Republic
24 Hour Drive Thru Car Wash Near Me
Wega Kit Filtros Fiat Cronos Argo 1.8 E-torq + Aceite 5w30 5l
Craigslist Central Il
Everstart Jump Starter Manual Pdf
What Time Does Walmart Auto Center Open
Skroch Funeral Home
Hair Love Salon Bradley Beach
Craigslist Neworleans
Car Crash On 5 Freeway Today
Arcane Odyssey Stat Reset Potion
Why Gas Prices Are So High (Published 2022)
Tokyo Spa Memphis Reviews
Craigslist Ludington Michigan
Uvalde Topic
Man Stuff Idaho
My Gsu Portal
Christie Ileto Wedding
Random Warzone 2 Loadout Generator
Horseneck Beach State Reservation Water Temperature
Wwba Baseball
View From My Seat Madison Square Garden
Where To Find Mega Ring In Pokemon Radical Red
Les BABAS EXOTIQUES façon Amaury Guichon
Room For Easels And Canvas Crossword Clue
Latest Posts
Article information

Author: Domingo Moore

Last Updated:

Views: 5595

Rating: 4.2 / 5 (73 voted)

Reviews: 88% of readers found this page helpful

Author information

Name: Domingo Moore

Birthday: 1997-05-20

Address: 6485 Kohler Route, Antonioton, VT 77375-0299

Phone: +3213869077934

Job: Sales Analyst

Hobby: Kayaking, Roller skating, Cabaret, Rugby, Homebrewing, Creative writing, amateur radio

Introduction: My name is Domingo Moore, I am a attractive, gorgeous, funny, jolly, spotless, nice, fantastic person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.