Tags: 12daysofchristmascookies Christmas cookies Holiday Sweet Tooth
It’s not officially Christmas until I’ve bought my annual tin of gingersnap cookies from World Market. Those delicious little treats in the adorable tin set my holiday season off every year. There must be over two hundred cookies in that tin, and I’ve never finished off an entire tin, but I make a sizable dent each year. The fireplace on, a cup of perfectly brewed tea, a stack of five-or-so gingersnaps, The Crown on Netflix, and I’m one happy little camper.
You can buy decent gingersnaps at just about any supermarket these days, but there’s something about that tin that sends me scouting out a World Market every year. My excuse is always, “but those tins are reusable and really functional for storage!” I guess that’s true, but I’ve only ever saved one—my sewing tin.
As far back as I can remember, my mom has always stored her sewing stuff in a large metal tartan patterned tin. I can remember digging in that tin for safety pins or just admiring my mom’s extensive button collection. Even now that I’m older I still go digging through her sewing tin anytime I’m at her house…looking for treasures I suppose. In my own home, everything Adrian and I own is meticulously organized in perfectly matching clear plastic bins, everything except my sewing stuff. My sewing stuff is in a patterned metal tin, just like my mom’s.
Funny thing is, I generally don’t like crisp cookies. I wholeheartedly believe that cookies should be all soft and ooey gooey deliciousness. I’m an avid The Great British Bake Show watcher and every time they’re tasked with baking cookies (“biscuits”) I just don’t see the appeal. I’ll catch myself shaking my head when Paul or Prue complain that the biscuit isn’t crisp enough…that’ll be a hard pass for me, thanks! The ONLY exceptions to my ooey gooey rule are shortbread and gingersnap cookies and ONLY because I dunk shortbread and gingersnaps in tea.
As much as I love my tin of crisp gingersnap cookies, I decided a few years back that gingersnaps needed to be giving the ooey gooey treatment. I tinkered with eight recipes before I had created the perfect snap-less gingersnap. They’re still packed to the brim with all that beautiful ginger/spice flavor, but they’re gloriously soft and fluffy. The perfect holiday cookie!
SNAP-LESS GINGERSNAP COOKIES
- 1 cup brown sugar
- ¾ cup butter, softened
- 1 egg, room temperature
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground clove
- ½ tsp pumpkin pie spice
Preheat oven to 350°
In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt and spices. Set aside.
In the bowl of your stand mixer, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and beat until well incorporated.
Add flour mixture and beat on low speed until just combined (no not over mix!)
Roll teaspoon size amounts of dough between your palms to form little dough balls. Then roll each ball in white sugar to coat.
Place on baking sheet and bake 7-10 minutes, or until just golden brown.
