fortification fridays - love thy neighbor gingersnaps

These are the best gingersnaps ever. What better way to say thanks, neighbor, for the lawnmower loan!

You'll notice that they have fresh ginger, powdered ginger, and crystallized ginger. They are pretty and addictive and full of gingery goodness. I highly recommend doubling the recipe. Dough can be frozen in logs.

Love Thy Neighbor Gingersnaps

(slightly modified from recipe in Cookies Unlimited by Nick Malgieri)

Kitchen Needs: working oven
Serves: Makes about 40 small cookies, if you’re lucky.

A.
2 c. flour
2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
2 t. ground ginger
1 t. ground cinnamon
1/2 t. ground cloves

B.
12 T. (1.5 sticks) unsalted butter, softened (not melted)
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup molasses
1 T. fresh grated ginger
1/4 c. chopped preserved ginger (optional)

C.
turbinado sugar (like Sugar in the Raw brand) for rolling dough balls in before baking

Set racks in upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees. Combine ingredients in A. In another bowl, beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy (5 min or so). Add egg and beat until smooth.

Lower beater speed, then add half of dry ingredients, then the molasses. Scrape down bowl, then add rest of dry ingredients. Use a rubber spatula to mix if it is too difficult.

Form 1- to 2-inch diameter balls of dough and roll in a small bowl containing turbinado sugar. You can use regular sugar, but the bigger grains, blonde color, and melt-resistance of turbinado sugar makes a pretty cookie. I haven't tried muscovado sugar, but I bet that would be good, too.

Place balls on cookie sheets covered with foil or parchment, leaving about 2 inches between balls.

Bake about 15 minutes, or until cookies are crackled and darker in color and firm to the touch. (N.b. my light cookie sheet doesn’t allow them to crackle, but my dark one does, so you should not gauge doneness by crackle alone.) Cookies will crisp up as they cool.

Icon courtesy of the Portland Mercury.