My Favorite Gingersnaps Food

GRANDMA'S GINGERSNAPS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• In a medium bowl, cream together the margarine and 1 cup white sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg and molasses until well blended. Combine the flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda and salt; stir into the molasses mixture to form a dough. Roll dough into 1 inch balls and roll the balls in the remaining sugar. Place cookies 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets.
• Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

INCREDIBLY CRISP GINGERSNAPS

Steps:

• 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.

GIANT GINGERSNAPS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Arrange racks in upper and lower thirds of oven. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Whisk together flour, ginger, baking soda, allspice, mustard powder, salt, and pepper in a bowl. Beat together butter, date sugar, and 1/2 cup raw sugar in a separate bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in syrup and egg. Reduce mixer speed to low and gradually beat in flour mixture until a soft dough forms. Turn out dough and wrap in plastic wrap; refrigerate 1 hour.
• Cut dough into 14 pieces and roll each into a ball between your hands until smooth. Transfer to prepared baking sheets, spacing at least 3 inches apart. Flatten into 2 1/2-inch rounds (about 1/2 inch thick). Sprinkle with remaining tablespoon raw sugar.
• Bake, switching positions of sheets halfway through baking, until set, 12 to 15 minutes. Let cool 1 minute on baking sheets, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely, about 20 minutes.

LARA'S TENDER GINGERSNAPS

Steps:

• In a large bowl, beat brown sugar and butter until blended. Beat in egg and molasses. Combine the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon and cloves; gradually add to brown sugar mixture and mix well (dough will be stiff). Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours., Preheat oven to 350°. Shape dough into 1 in. balls. Roll in sugar. Place 2 in. apart on greased baking sheets. , Bake until set, 9-11 minutes. Cool for 1 minute before removing from pans to wire racks.

FAVORITE GINGERSNAPS

Steps:

• Cream shortening and sugar.
• Add molasses and egg, beat well.
• Add sifted dry ingredients and mix.
• Roll into marble size balls and dip in sugar.
• Place 2 inches apart on greased cookie sheet.
• Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes.

AFTER-SCHOOL GINGERSNAPS

Steps:

• In a bowl, cream butter, sugars, molasses and egg. Combine flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and ginger; add to creamed mixture and mix well. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to 1/8-in. thickness and cut into desired shapes. Place on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 375° for 5-6 minutes or until set (do not overbake). Remove from pan to cool on wire racks.

FIVE-SPICE GINGERSNAPS

Steps:

• Make dough:
• Whisk together flour, five-spice powder, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl.
• Pulse ginger with 1/4 cup sugar in a food processor until finely ground.
• Add syrup, butter, egg, and remaining 3/4 cup sugar to processor and blend until mixture is thick and creamy, about 3 minutes. Add flour mixture and pulse just until a dough forms. Form dough into a disk and chill, wrapped in plastic wrap, at least 8 hours to allow flavors to develop.
• Bake and ice cookies:
• Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 325°F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Quarter dough. Keeping remaining 3 pieces wrapped in plastic wrap and chilled, roll out 1 piece of dough on a lightly floured sheet of wax paper with a lightly floured rolling pin to 3/4 inch thick. (If dough becomes too soft to roll out, chill on wax paper until firm.) Cut out rounds with cutter and transfer to 1 lined baking sheet, arranging cookies about 2 inches apart.
• Bake cookies until slightly puffed and a shade darker, 10 to 12 minutes. Cool 5 minutes on sheet. If desired, make holes with piping tip near edges to hang cookies, then transfer cookies (still on parchment) to a rack to cool completely. (Cookies will flatten slightly as they cool.)
• While first batch is baking, roll out and cut another batch, arranging cookies on second lined sheet. Bake in same manner, then gather scraps and chill until dough is firm enough to reroll, 15 to 20 minutes. Make more cookies with scraps (reroll scraps only once) and remaining pieces of dough, cooling sheets and lining them with fresh parchment before using.
• If using icing and coloring it, transfer small batches of icing to small bowls, 1 for each color, and tint with food coloring. Spoon each color of icing into a separate pastry bag, pressing out excess air. Twist bag firmly just above icing, then decoratively pipe icing onto cookies. Let icing dry completely (about 1 hour, depending on humidity) before serving or storing cookies.