One of my family’s Christmas cookie traditions is making these fabulous gingersnaps. I remember helping to roll the balls of dough in sugar, standing on a chair in the kitchen and peering through the oven door as the cookies baked.
The rolls of dough are easily made and frozen, which makes them easy to pull out on a whim. In fact, the dough is better when at least refrigerated overnight, since the hardened dough bakes into a cookie with a crusty, sugary outside and a soft inside. You can mix it up the same day as well, but the dough is best made ahead of time.
Recipe reprinted from this 2011 post. Originally from this cookbook.
Ingredients
2C Shortening
3C Sugar
3 eggs
3/4C Molasses
6C Flour
2T Baking Soda
1/2t Salt
1T Ginger
1/2T Cinnamon
Instructions
Cream shortening and sugar together. Add eggs and molasses. In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking soda, salt, ginger and cinnamon together. Add this mixture little-by-little to the wet ingredients. If the mixture is too sticky, add a bit more flour. Refrigerate dough overnight in 4 tubes of wax paper, or freeze for an extended period of time.
To bake the dough: Preheat the oven to 350. Take tablespoon-sized bits of cookie dough, roll them into a ball, and roll them in granulated sugar. Place them on a non-greased metal pan. The cookies should bake between 8-10 minutes, or till the edges are set and the tops are cracked. Don’t overcook them, since they’re best when soft on the inside.
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