Chewy GInger Snap

There is a nine and a half year age gap between my little brother and myself. When he was still in elementary school, I was already out living on my own and attending university. While he was in grade four, his school put together a cookbook and he decided since I liked to bake and cook it would make the perfect gift for me for Christmas. It is one of the sweetest gifts I have ever received.

This Ginger Snap recipe comes from that cookbook. I used it for my first attempt making ginger snaps and they turned out so well I haven’t bothered trying a different recipe since. They have become a family tradition and it now isn’t Christmas without a batch of these chewy, spice filled cookies. Judging by how quickly my 3 year old made his disappear this afternoon, I don’t think it is a tradition that I will be breaking anytime soon.

Ingredients

3/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup molasses
2 1/2 cups of flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cream butter and sugar well.
Beat in the egg and molasses.
Stir in baking soda, ginger, cinnamon and salt.
Gradually add flour and mix well until combined into a soft dough.
Shape into approx. 1 tsp balls and roll in sugar.
Place balls on parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes.

I typically roll my ginger snaps in a mixture of red and green sugars for Christmas to add a festive touch. This year, I decided to get a little fancier and dipped them in melted white chocolate and sprinkled them with some Wilton holly shaped sprinkles I found at Michaels. Either way they are delicious!

These ginger snaps were also the final item for the tins of baking I was packaging up for my siblings. Last year I had the bright idea to use coffee filters in the tins to separate each of the baking items and it worked so nicely I thought I would share. They keep the flavours for mixing and add a nice white ruffle throughout the basic Dollar Store tins I used.