New England Gingersnaps (from the Christmas Cookies Oxmoor House http://www.abebooks.com/Christmas-Cookies-Oxmoor-House-Alabama/291409388/bd)
I have a lot of cookbooks and I have one just for Christmas cookies that I have had for years. Believe it or not, this is the only recipe I have tried from this book. My teenage sons think we should make an effort to try all of the recipes. Maybe, but for now this one is really good. I nice balance of sweet and spice. These do not last long at my house.
New England Gingersnaps
Ingredients:
¾ cup butter or margarine (use butter)
1 cup sugar
1 egg
¼ cup molasses
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
Additional sugar
Method:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cream together the butter and sugar until they are light and fluffy. Add the egg and the molasses and continue mixing until they are well blended.
Sift together the flour, soda and spices. You can be generous with the spices. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix until smooth.
Chill for about 2 hours.
Shape the dough into ¾ inch balls and roll each ball in additional sugar to coat. Place on parchment paper lined baking sheet about 2 inches apart.
Bake for 11 – 12 minutes. Cookies will puff up and then flatten as they cool.
Makes about 6 dozen cookies.