I enjoy a good gingersnap but have never been able to find a recipe till now that gives that heat at the end. Got my latest issue of Cooks Illustrated and there was a recipe for gingersnaps. I love Cooks Illustrated because they put so much work into making a recipe "right". I can attest to that because for a several years I actually tested recipes for this magazine. They take their recipes very seriously. Long before it is published a lot of work and testing goes into making sure there are no problems. The fellow that developed this recipe spent a great deal of time figuring out how to get the tops to crack, get the burn at the end of eating the snap, getting the cookie to that dry crunch so typical of a classic gingersnap and just making a darn good cookie.
Basically it all comes down to the increased amount of baking soda used for the rise, how long the cookies are in the oven, rotating the baking sheets midway through the baking time and most of all...using cayenne pepper for the burn!
After I made the cookies the cayenne was in fact what has always been lacking in all recipes. Rotating baking sheets did indeed play a crucial roll, you just have to do as author dictates and you are insured a perfect gingersnap. A timer is necessary or you can a little mixed up...
Very easy recipe can be found in the current issue of Cooks Illustrated. Melt butter in skillet...and meanwhile get your mise en place in order...this guarantees no errors...
Place butter in bowl with eggs, molasses and add flour, spices and leavening. This recipe calls for lots of ginger, cinnamon, cloves and cayenne!
Blend till all ingredients are moist.
Cover and chill. This makes a very very wet dough...you will wonder how in the world will I make a dough ball...but...it works...trust the guy who put in all the hours developing this recipe!
While cookies are in oven...I made more balls and kept them on the parchment paper, so an easy transfer was possible.
Voila! Wonderful gingersnap cookies with the traditional cracked top, snappy and crunchy and most important the burn at the end!
So grab some milk or "a cuppa" and enjoy!
Elizabeth
1 comment:
Those cookies look so good...Hope you enjoyed some of them.
We were just 2 here this year. One son with me. We had lots of good food and watched football..
It will be 5 years in March since my husband died so suddenly. It was congestive heart failure..
We laughed and had a good Sunday and I found him dead in his chair Monday morning....A SHOCKER.....!Hope you are doing better..Alice
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