Gingersnaps

After a very long week(end) of being very sick, laying in bed, hacking up both lungs, and trying to get them back in, I think its time for something nice and comforting.

Gingersnaps.

This is where it all began for me.
When I was helping in the Homewood kitchen in '07 (that long ago??), I got tired of making the same old, same old...Dad's Cookies, Chocolate Chip, Haystacks, etc, etc. I mean, chocolate is great. But sometimes....sometimes....you need a little variety.
So I called up the mother, and asked for "that gingersnap recipe". She used to make these for us when we would go camping. Huge batches of them. And my brothers and I would live entire camping trips on these cookies.
To me, these are THE camping cookies. The sustenance of camping life. The nectar of the outdoors.
So when I got my greedy little hands on the recipe, I promptly quadrupled the amounts and baked the most enormous batch of gingersnaps known to man. Or something. I did have a huge Hobart mixer at my disposal, after all.
And here is the important part of the story: these cookies made me famous. Everyone adored the new mug-up snack, and kept asking for more, and more, and more!
I tweaked the recipe, making it spicier and more luscious than ever before; made it my own. Gingersnaps became the new favorite, and it was fun making food that made people so happy! I was hooked. There's nothing so satisfying as making yummy things for people I like! But since I'm at home, nursing a sickly body and you don't want my to get my germy hands on your food, I'm going to share the recipe with you!

Gingersnaps

3/4 Cup Butter or Margarine, softened (We both know in our hearts which is right. And I don't mean for our arteries)
1 Cup Granulated sugar
1 egg
1/2 Cup Molasses

2 1/2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
2 tsp Baking Soda
2 tsp Ginger
1 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp Cloves
1 tsp Nutmeg

Cream the margarine butter and sugar well. Beat in egg. Drizzle in molasses, and mix well.
In a small bowl combine flour, baking soda, and spices. You can also throw in 1/2 tsp of salt if you like, but I never usually put salt in my cookies. Mix it all up real good, and then start adding it in portions to the batter, and blend.

Once its all mixed, roll it in little balls, and then dip one half of each ball in a little bowl of granulated sugar. Then put it on the baking sheet. Grease the sheet unless you have nifty Pampered Chef stoneware, like my mom does!

Bake the cookies at 350F, for 10-12 minutes, but no longer! Usually 10 is long enough, because you don't want them to get dark around the edges. You want them to get all crinkly and split, so you can see the oozy goodness inside. Then pull them out, give the sheet a little tap on the stovetop and they will fall and get really chewy and good! There's nothing worse than gingersnaps that are dry and crumbly. Ick.

This recipe makes...I dunno...somewhere between 2-3 dozen. I think. They just seem to disappear so fast, I can't count em. They go down really nice with a big glass of cold milk, too. Mmmmm!
Enjoy!