Crisp on the outside with a crunchy crystal topping. Soft and deliciously chewy on the inside with pieces of crystallized ginger adding extra snap to these spicy cookies. With twice as much ginger, these cookies are double trouble – you can never eat just one.

Warning: Forming cookie balls in your hands, brushing them with egg white, and then rolling them in sugar crystals can be messy. But then, of course, it’s devilish fun licking your fingers clean.

 

Ingredients (40-45 cookies)

½ cup finely chopped crystallized ginger

2 – 2 ½ cups flour

2 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp ground cinnamon

¼ tsp ground cloves

¼ tsp salt

½ cup butter, melted

1 cup natural cane sugar (or white)

6 tbsp (¼ cup + 2 tbsp) molasses

1 egg

1 egg white

¾ – 1 cup sugar crystals

 

1. Chop the crystallized ginger into small pieces.

2. In a medium bowl, combine 2 cups flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and salt.

3. Preheat the oven to 325F (160c).

4. Melt the butter. In a large bowl combine the butter, sugar and molasses. Mix well.

5. Crack the egg into the liquid mix and beat it in well.

6. Stir in the flour mix and crystalline ginger. Stir until combined. The batter should be quite stiff. If it isn’t, mix in some more flour until it stiffens up.

7. In a small bowl, lightly beat the egg white. In a second small bowl, place the sugar crystals.

8. Wet your hands, pinch off some dough, and roll it into a 1 inch (2.5cm) ball. In the palm of your hand, brush the dough ball with egg white and roll it in the sugar crystals.

9. Place the coated ball on a buttered and floured baking sheet. Place balls a minimum of 1 inch (2.5cm) apart on the sheet.

10. Bake for 16-19 minutes. When done, the cookies’ surface will be slightly cracked or porous in places.

11. Allow the cookies and baking sheet to cool for about 5 minutes, until cookies firm up a bit. Then, transfer them to a cooling rack and allow to cool completely.

Stored in an airtight cookie tin, these ginger snaps keep well. Even if, by some weird chance, they should last long enough in your house to actually dry out, they are delicious dipped in a cup of tea. Not that we get much of a chance to ever indulge in this pastime, as these tantalizing little temptations never last long enough In The Devil’s Kitchen.