Chewy Gingersnaps

This recipe is a classic at our house at Xmas/Yule time. My Grandma has been making these cookies for as long as I can remember and everyone loves them. She always slightly under cooks them so that they're just the perfect amount of chewy and a little crisp around the edges.

I have, scandalously, toyed with her recipe and sometimes substitute cardamom for the ginger in this recipe to make something a little more unusual.

Chewy Gingersnaps

Cream together:

• 3/4 cup shortening
• 1 cup white sugar

Add:

• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup molasses

Mix together with a whisk in a small bowl:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 Tbsp ginger (or cardamom instead)
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt

Mix dry ingredients into wet. Make sure the dough is thoroughly mixed then wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill for about an hour.

Roll into balls; I have a cookie dough scoop for this that gives me totally even blobs of dough like a little ice cream scoop. I think this is probably the best cookie invention ever and you can get them in a variety of sizes.

Roll each dough ball in white sugar and place on baking sheet. Press lightly with a fork or fingers.

Bake cookies in a pre-heated 350F oven for about 12-15 mins. I would do a small test batch at 12 mins to see what they're like when they're cooled a bit because they will crisp as they cool.

The exact time you want to bake them will depend on how big you make yours and how chewy or crisp you like them. I like to make them little so I don't die of guilt if I eat six of them, while my daughter likes to make six cookies out of the whole batch of dough because she doesn't have the patience to bake more than one tray of cookies.