Gourmet Gingersnap Cookies

Ginger is one of the healthiest and most widely used herbs, and it can be used in countless different recipes including Asian dishes, fruit dressings, and most delectably - ginger-breads and ginger-snaps. The only difference between ginger-bread and ginger-snaps, is that ginger-snaps are a little crisper, and are sweetened with molasses as opposed to brown sugar, or honey, or any other natural sweetener. Here is one of my favorite recipes for ginger-snaps.

What You Will Need:

1/2 cup of sugar

1/2 cup of shortening

1 cup of molasses

1/4 cup of milk

1/2 a teaspoon of vanilla

3/4 of a teaspoon of salt

1 1/2 teaspoons of ginger

1/2 a teaspoon of baking soda

1/4 of a teaspoon of all spice

1/8 of a teaspoon of cardamom

2 1/2 cups of flour

First, thoroughly mix the wet ingredients - molasses, milk, vanilla, melted shortening - in a large mixing bowl. When these ingredients are mixed well, add the sugar. Continue to stir until the sugar is mixed in well and the liquid is not granular.

In another bowl mix the dry ingredients - salt, ginger, baking soda, all spice, cardamom, and flour - with a fork. Make sure to mix well. When the mixture is a uniform color add one cup of the dry mixture to the wet mixture and stir until the dry mixture is consumed. Continue adding the dry mixture until all is added to the wet mixture.

Put the bowl with the dough in the refrigerator for at least one hour to cool and set. The colder the dough the easier it will be to work with: as long as it is not frozen.

After the dough has become cool and easy to work with - and the oven has been pre-heated to 350°F - there are two options available. Personally, I like my cookies a little thicker - it gives them a bit of a chewy texture. In order to keep the cookies soft and chewy, put a little flour on your hands and scoop out a bouncy-ball-sized chunk of dough. Roll the dough into a ball, and smush it gently between your hands so you have a quarter-to-fifty-cent sized flat piece of dough. Place the dough on a greased cookie sheet and continue until the dough is used up, or your cookie sheet is full.

If you like your cookies a little crisper, roll the dough out on wax paper until it is about 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick. When the dough is rolled out, you can use a cookie cutter or a knife to cut the dough into pieces or shapes.

Place cookies in the oven for 10-15 minutes. Take them out and let them cool before removing taking them from the pan. Then sit back with a big glass of milk, and devour them. This recipe makes about two dozen cookies.