When I was younger, I travelled several times to Sweden and fell in love with the gingersnap cookie they call pepparkakor. This cookie is one of those thinly rolled out cookie doughs that are then cut into holiday shapes. Those of you that know me, know that although I have made many of the rolled out kind in my bakery days, these types of cookies are simply too time consuming for me to make. I prefer to make assorted flavors of dough for drop cookies, where the dough can be made well ahead of time (or even frozen), and then baked off when you or the family crave a fresh baked cookie.
I developed this recipe to mimic the crisp pepparkakor cookie I fell in love with in Sweden. To get a crispier version, I just bake the scooped out dough a little longer than usual. If I feel like a softer cookie or something in between, I simply adjust the baking time to achieve the desired result. This is a shortening based cookie, but if you prefer to add butter you can substitute the exact quantity of butter for the amount of shortening in the recipe. Just remember that the cookie may spread a little more because butter still has some water in it, and you may have a softer cookie than those you will get from the original recipe. I also like to add a little black pepper to my gingersnap cookies for a little extra bite. I find that I just don’t get the same zing from powdered ginger that I get from fresh ginger, so adding a little black pepper makes all the difference. It is highly recommended, but definitely not necessary.
Crispy Gingersnap Cookies (makes about 2 dozen 1 ounce cookies)
¾ cup (5 oz) shortening
¾ cup (5.3 oz) granulated sugar
¼ cup (3 oz) unsulfured molasses
1 egg (1.8 oz)
2 cups (10 oz)flour
1 teaspoon ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
2 teaspoons baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup sugar for rolling cookies before baking **optional
½ cup chopped, caramelized ginger **optional
Cream the shortening with the sugar and molasses until creamy, then add the egg and continue to mix until it is all well combined together. Sift together all of the dry ingredients and add them to the shortening mixture. Using a 1 ounce scoop, scoop out the dough onto a paper lined tray, and either bake the cookies right away or portion them out and freeze them for later use. Some cookie dough flavors bake off better from a frozen state, but this recipe is very versatile and can be used either way. I like to roll the cookie dough in some granulated sugar before baking but it is not necessary. Bake the cookies at 350°F for approximately 12 minutes, or until the edges feel firm to the touch. If you like them to be a little crispier you can bake them just a little longer. These are truly delicious.
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