I'm not going to lie. These are my favorite cookies this winter. My Great-Grandma Pfeifer made my mom these cookies when she was a girl, my mom made them for me and now I make them and eat them all by myself because I love them too much to share with my children. Not really, my kids love them too!
They make a chewy cookie with a little bit of a crust on top. Did I mention that I love them. Maybe you will too. They sure make your house sell Christmassy and yummy!
Ingredients:
2 1/2 C whole wheat flour
2 1/2 C white flour
1 C butter - softened
1 C sugar
1 large egg
2 T cider vinegar
1 C molasses
1/2 C milk
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
3 T ground ginger
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
Add sugar and butter together, mix well. Add egg, vinegar, molasses and milk and cream all wet ingredients until fluffy.
Sift dry ingredients together. Then add to wet ingredients.
Chill for at least an hour. Scoop balls of dough out and roll in sugar before putting on ungreased cookie sheet. Cook 11 minutes at 350 degrees. Remove from cookie sheet and cool on racks or brown paper bag. Enjoy!
A few recipe notes...
The last batch I made, I did not have any whole wheat flour, ground ginger or ground cloves. I made them anyway. So I used 5 cups of white flour instead of the whole wheat and white flour combination listed above. Instead of ground ginger, I took my wrasp and grated about 1 tsp of fresh ginger. Instead of ground cloves, I used 1/2 tsp of allspice. They turned out delicious.
When my mom would make them, she would first grease her cookie sheets, then put the dough balls on the directly on the them. She would take a glass that had a pretty cut pattern and dip it in sugar and then squish the balls down with the sugar coated glass. These made for pretty cookies, but I think my way makes for more chewy cookies. If you flatten them first they will be more crunchy. So if you are a fan of crunchy cookies smash them first. If you are like me and like them to be chewy with a crunchy surface just roll the balls in sugar and put directly on an ungreased cookie sheet prior to baking. You don't need to grease your cookie sheet as the sugar will help them not stick.
Also, if you would like a molasses cookie instead of a gingersnap, just leave out the ginger and they are still divine!
The most important thing?
Eat lots of them. Dip them in milk and enjoy!
Maybe tomorrow I'll share Ben's favorite cookie this year; Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookie.
Merry Christmas!
