gingerbread cookies

As a rule I try to stay clear of baking because I always seem to mess it up, and failing at baking is the worst since you can never salvage it like something stove top. But this blog feels like a push to try some harder recipes -- and also, I just finished reading We Have Always Lived in the Castle and if you've ever read it you will understand why it was imperative that I start cooking gingersnaps on a Tuesday after work. I'm not really sure what the difference is between gingerbread and gingersnaps. The recipe I followed from Alice Waters' The Art of Simple Food said 'gingersnaps,' but they turned out very fluffy and cake-like even in cookie form.

So I'll give you a brief walk through of my baking "process" (if you can call it that), and you'll see why I try to avoid it at all costs.

The first problem started before I even took out ingredients, when I decided to half the recipe (the original yielding 30 cookies seemed like more than James and I were up for eating, even on a good week). This resulted in some shoddy math, and having to do things like make 3/4 of a teaspoon by using the 1/2 and the 1/4. Then my mind started wandering -- "wow, it's amazing how bad I am at simple fractions. You'd think this would come up more often . . ." -- and I accidentally mixed up the teaspoons and tablespoons. I had to start over on the dry ingredients.

I did a similar thing with the butter trying to convert 3/4 of a stick and a tub of Smart Balance into the recipe's required 'stick and 3 tablespoons' , only to remember after measuring it all out that the amount needed to be halved. Oops.

After finally winning the battle against batter, I got to the step where you wrap the dough in plastic to chill. Realizing I had no plastic wrap, I was forced to cut up a large ziplock bag instead. It worked...kind of.

Three hours later, when the batter was supposed to be cooled, it turned out to still be too soft. Something I only discovered after it stuck to my countertop.

Here's the thing though: after all that I still ended up with light, fluffy cookies that weren't burnt (not even a little!) on the bottom. This is a first. Did I actually manage the right ingredient proportions in spite of myself? Was it the magic of Alice Waters? Who knows. What I can tell you is that the opening to 'Darjeeling Limited, Hotel Chevalier, is exactly the length of time it takes to bake gingersnaps. Just in case that ever comes up for you too.


ingredients (original proportions):

2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 stick and 3 tablespoons butter
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg

Combine flour, baking soda, and spices (ie: all your dry ingredients) in a mixing bowl.

In another large mixing bowl whisk butter (softened) with sugar until the mixture gets light and fluffy. The idea is to get air bubbles into the butter which will help the cookies rise in the oven.

Add egg, molasses, and vanilla to butter and sugar mixture.

Add your dry ingredients to the bowl and mix just enough that everything is combined evenly. Don't overdo the whisking or you will get rid of all those nice air bubbles you just put into the butter.

Wrap dough in plastic wrap (or apparently a large cut-up ziplock bag will work too) and chill for at least 2 hours.

When dough is ready, roll it into small balls (1 inch or so in size) and place on greased cookie sheet. Pour some more sugar (I used demerara sugar for this step) into a small plate. Wet the bottom of a glass and dip into sugar before flattening each dough ball on the pan.

Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 10 minutes.