Ginger Snaps

(re-posted from my other blog, The Insomniacs Kitchen, January 3, 2012)

I am addicted to these. I have made four batches in 2 weeks. I love them with a half teaspoon of freshly ground pepper in the recipe and extra ginger. The flavors bloom over days if they last that long.

I am not quite ready to put away the holiday cookie tins. The cold wind and 8 degree forecast had me starting up another batch of cookies. This time it's ginger snaps. Years ago my favorite children's book editor Dick Jackson told me that he had heard from an in-law who had worked in a cookie factory, that ginger snaps were made from spicing up all of the leftover cookie dough scraps mixed together at the end of the day, including the bits swept up from the floor! I loved the image and have never forgotten it.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup dark brown sugar
3/4 cup corn oil
1/2 cup dark molasses (not blackstrap)
1 egg or  better yet a  flax egg (which makes the cookies crisp)*
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1-2+ teaspoons ground ginger (or finely grated fresh or frozen ginger root)
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon cocoa powder (optional)
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg (optional)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
In a large bowl, mix together the brown sugar, oil, molasses, and egg. Combine the flour, baking soda, salt, cloves, cinnamon, and ginger; stir into the molasses mixture. Roll dough into 1 inch balls before placing them 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets or cast iron skillets or baking stones.
Bake them for 7 minutes in a preheated oven. Cool on wire racks. Store in an air-tight jar or tin. They are delicious with hot tea.

*Add flaxseed meal and water to a dish and stir. Let rest for 5 minutes to thicken. Add to recipes in place of 1 egg (as original recipe is written).

-adapted from Mom's Gingersnaps All Recipes.com

(re-posted from my other blog, The Insomniacs Kitchen, January 3, 2012)