Ginger cookies

Well, enough doom and gloom for now.  I've been baking  and it's amazing how a good ginger cookie can make me feel better.  I'm doing some research into recipes for ginger snaps without the snap.  I love the flavour of ginger snaps but I much prefer a softer cookie.

Recently at a friend's house I had one that met my criteria: it was soft and chewy without the crackle top.  She gave me this recipe and I quickly set about making the cookies.




Here's the recipe she gave me.  It said to bake them 8 to 10 minutes.  After 8 minutes they still didn't look done to me so I gave them two more minutes.  They looked good coming out of the oven (see above).  But after they'd cooled they were crunchy and snappish, not at all like the soft, chewy cookies my friend had served.

Not that they weren't delicious, they were.  And by the way, I don't use margarine when baking, so these were made with salted butter. They were rolled into balls and then dredged in sugar before baking.

I have two theories.  One is that the shorter 8 minute baking time makes a difference.  The other is that if I don't roll them in sugar I won't get the cracked top and the texture will be softer.  I guess this calls for some more experimentation.  I'm not sad about that as my first batch is almost all gone; eaten up mainly by yours truly.  I just can't stop eating these cookies.


On second thought, maybe my waistline is better off without the experiment.  But what the heck, Christmas comes but once a year and I can always give some away. If you have the secret of soft, chewy ginger cookies I'd be pleased to hear from you.