It's a busy time in my kitchen. My kids and I have been knee deep in flour-sugar-butter-molasses combinations. They decided to give their teachers cookies with elaborately decorated containers, and with six teachers to bake for, it's a time-consuming adventure! Unfortunately, the kids lost interest after the first batch was complete. Fortunately, my husband rolled and baked about 4 dozen gingersnaps last night. Which reminds me – do you know about this book?
Chocolate Chip Gingersnaps
We love gingersnaps and adapted an old favorite family recipe to include chocolate chips. The combination is excellent. The great thing about these cookies is that you can make the dough in advance, let it sit in the refrigerator and bake them when you have time. And they freeze beautifully. Frankly there are few things as delicious as a cold cookie (right from the freezer) dipped in a hot beverage (like coffee or hot cocoa).
Yum.
Without further ado, here's our recipe for Chocolate Chip Gingersnaps, adapted from this family favorite.
Ingredients
1 cup of butter, at rom temperature
1/2 cup of sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1 large egg
1/3 cup molasses
2 cups of all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon ground allspice
3/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup chocolate chips (I prefer the chips with 60% cocoa or more)
*optional: 3-4 tablespoons of sugar for rolling the dough before baking
Method
Preheat the oven to 350. Combine the butter and sugars until fluffy either with a hand mixer or with a spoon. Add the egg and molasses and mix well. Slowly add the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, cloves and nutmeg making sure to scrape the sides of the bowl so that all ingredients are thoroughly combined. Add the chips and mix again. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Roll the dough into one inch balls (make sure to leave at least 1 inch of space between the balls). You can give the dough balls an extra roll in sugar at this point or not. I opted for no sugar this time. Bake for approximately 10-12 minutes. Let the cookies cool completely before removing them from the sheets.