How to make gingersnaps

When I was little, my granny would bake these delicious gingersnap cookies every time we visited. These cookies were the highlight of every trip to Granny’s house. (That, and, of course,the joy of seeing my family…). I, having now reached the almost-adult-y age of 17, have decided that it’s high time I learned how to bake. Determined to succeed, I dug through the family recipe “book”. This collection of recipes is really more like a pile of loose papers, of which many appear to have been written on a type-writer, than anything even remotely resembling a book. I valiantly searched through the jumbled mess, coming across recipes such as the one labeled “Not-Eatable” (???) and another that, though incomplete, had the helpful instructions to “call one of the aunts for directions” scrawled on the bottom. Triumphantly, I discovered “Granny’s Gingersnaps” towards the bottom of the stack.

 

So, if you are indeed interested in the fine art of gingersnap-cookie-baking, here is a handy how-to post.

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1 tbsp ground ginger
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1 unbeaten egg,
1/4 cup molasses

Directions:

 1. Mix flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Cream shortening until soft in a separate bowl.

2. Add sugar to shortening gradually, creaming with each
addition of sugar. Beat in egg and molasses to shortening/sugar.

3. Add dry mixture and blend well. Form dough into balls and roll in sugar.
4. Place balls 2″ apart on un-greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees until the tops are slightly rounded and cracked.

5. Leave for 3-5 minutes on cookie sheet before placing the cookies on a drying rack. If not eating immediately, cover once cool so that the cookies do not harden.