I never really was a big fan of gingersnaps. I have been use to the Nabisco gingersnap cookies my dad gets. They are so hard, and taste...odd. I figured if this is what they taste like, then no thank you! Then, it all changed!
One night while cuddled up on the couch with my Donny, I was lucky enough to finally watch one of my favorite shows on TV: America's Test Kitchen. If any of you have not seen this show before, YOU MUST!!! Now, I would have just calmly and quietly watch the episode and go "Eh it's just gingersnaps, I'll wait for the next segment." Then, she added something that instantly caught my attention: Cayenne pepper and black pepper! NO WAY! I was on my feet, pointed at Donny and said "You, me, store, NOW!" And we were out the door.
I was not disappointed with this recipe (I even became a gingersnap fan!). Not only that, I learned a bit about how to get that crisp in this bite size cookies from The Science Behind Gingersnaps. Let me explain:
Picture gluten in the dough (when water and the flour combined) as a rubber balloon, and baking soda is the air inside the balloon. When we make cookies with these ingredients in them, you notice the cookie begin to rise and create a airy cookie structure. Too much baking soda, results in a one collapsed cookie. Just like too much air in the balloon, POP, no more balloon. However, for gingersnaps that a good thing. Adding a little more baking soda to the dough, you get a thin crispy cookie. You get the snap in the gingersnap. OH SNAP!
OK, fun fact over, let us begin!
The Ingredients
Flour, sugar, brown sugar, baking soda, butter, cayenne pepper, ground clove, ginger (fresh and ground), molasses, one whole egg and a egg yolk, salt, and ground black pepper.
Next, take a skillet and put your butter in. Melt butter, and remember to swirl it around so it does not burn. You want the melted butter to be a nice golden brown. Reason for browning the butter is to try to get as much of the water as we can that is in butter. Butter is 16 percent water. You will notice the the butter bubbling during this process. That is the water escaping. You want as little water in the batter as possible to give the cookie its crunch. Once the bubbles lessen, and the top just looks foamy, then it is done. Transfer to a bowl.
Whisk ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves, pepper, and cayenne with the brown butter. Let it cool for about 2 minutes then add the brown sugar, molasses, and fresh ginger. Add the egg and the yolk. Mix in the flour mixture.
Before you preheat the oven, make sure that you adjust the oven racks to upper-middle and lower-middle. Starting on the upper rack half the time, then switching to the lower rack, allows for more moisture to escape. As you can tell so far from this recipe, we are trying to eliminate as much moisture as we can. Moisture is a no go! Once you have the racks all situated, preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a pie dish or a small bowl add the granulated sugar. Take teaspoon portions of the dough and roll it into 1" balls and roll it lightly in the sugar until all coated. Add twenty dough balls per sheet.
Place one of the sheets on the upper rack and bake for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, transfer the upper sheet to the lower rack and rotate 180 degrees. Place the other sheet on the upper rack at this time. Bake for about 10- 12 minutes until the cookies on the lower rack just begin to darken around the edges. Take the lower rack cookies out to cool and place the upper rack on lower and bake 15-17 minutes longer. Transfer the baked cookies , with the parchment still underneath, to a cooling rack. And VOILA! You got yourself some delicious smelling, mouth-watering gingersnaps!
There ya have it! Check out the full recipe at American's Test Kitchen. They are really amazing, so I advise you to check out their entire site! Join their website, its free, and you can access so much more of their amazing tips. Enjoy! :)
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