Ginger Snaps in a Snap!

A few years ago, some good friends and I had the idea that we would start a small
(actually, very small) farmer's market on the green in our little town in central New Hampshire. I was the baker and my friends grew beautiful flowers and vegetables and had farm fresh eggs. Every Sunday morning we would pack up our offerings and sit together for a few hours as people came by to pick up a few things. Although I had a variety of baked goods for sale, these cookies were very popular and sold out every time. I like this recipe because it uses oil instead of butter and they mix up in a flash. They taste great with a glass of cold milk or a cup of tea.

This recipe originally came from my mom. Growing up, the cookies did not have the crystallized ginger in them and yet were still really tasty. Now that it is more readily available, I think we both now only bake them with the added crystallized ginger.

    Ginger Snaps   

 375 degree oven

  Makes 24 generously sized cookies

 Stir together in large bowl:

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup molasses

    3/4 cup vegetable oil

 1 teaspoon cinnamon

    1 teaspoon ground cloves

    1 teaspoon ground ginger

 1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

Then stir in 2 cups of flour, 2 teaspoons baking soda and 1/2 cup chopped, crystallized ginger.

Take a healthy tablespoon size of dough and roll it into a ball. If you would like, roll the ball in sugar, and put on cookie sheet. I gently tap down the top of each cookie. Bake 9-12 minutes on the top rack in your oven. I bake two sheets at a time and just switch racks halfway through. I bake them until the top is cracked and the edges look crisp. I like the center of my cookies to still be a bit chewy. If you want a truly crispy "snap", bake for another minute or two, but be careful. The sugar and molasses in this recipe mean that it can go from crispy to too crispy in a flash!

Let cool on a wire rack, pour yourself a glass of cold milk and enjoy!

yours in baking-
p