Alton's Ginger Snaps Recipe

Ingredients

9 1/2 ounces all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon ground clove
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
7 ounces dark brown sugar
5 ounces unsalted butter, room temperature
3 ounces molasses, by weight
1 large egg, room temperature
2 teaspoons finely grated fresh ginger
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4 ounces finely chopped candied ginger

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a medium mixing bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, ginger, cardamom, clove and salt.

Place the brown sugar and butter into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat on low speed until light and fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the molasses, egg and fresh ginger and beat on medium for 1 minute. Add the crystallized ginger and using a rubber spatula, stir to combine. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir until well combined.

With a 2-teaspoon sized scoop, drop the dough onto a parchment lined half sheet pan approximately 2-inches apart. Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 12 minutes for slightly chewy cookies or 15 minutes for more crisp cookies. Rotate the pan halfway through cooking.

Remove from the oven and allow the cookies to stay on the sheet pan for 30 seconds before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with all of the dough. Store in an airtight container for up 10 days. If desired, you may scoop and freeze the cookie dough on a sheet pan and once frozen, place in a resealable bag to store. Bake directly from the freezer as above.
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REVIEWS:

Quick and easy. had a lazy saturday with a family visitor and whipped them up in no time. will never buy store bought ginger snaps again. Alton has done it once again!

So amazing. I did not even add the fresh ginger, I used light brown sugar and used agave syrup in place of molasses and these were still sooo delicious. My new favorite cookie!

Absolutely yummy.

I love the flavor in these cookies! I probably should have chilled the dough because I prefer thicker cookies, but as my husband said "they are called ginger snaps." Watch them in the oven because 8 minutes seemed to work out the best for me. And for the other Denver reviewers, I made the dough exactly per the recipe with no problems. The dough was a little wet, but it worked out just fine. Perhaps you guys didn't weigh everything out? Will make again!

After reading the reviews I was expecting a really spicy (the ginger kind of spicy cookie. It wasn't, but it was still good. Mine didn't thin out like his either (which looks really nice in the picture) even when I added some extra water in the second batch. To make it spicier, I spread some royal icing (AB's recipe and topped it with chopped up candy ginger and the sugar from the candied ginger - it added a really nice crunch and made it a little spicier. Although after the icing and topping it was the perfect cookie, I am still going to try again to see if I did anything wrong. I will add a tad bit more ginger powder and I will coarsely chop the ginger this time.

This is a fantastic recipe. As other reviewers have said, it's a wet dough, but don't be alarmed, the cookies come out wonderfully. I love the three types of ginger. It's a nice, spice cookie and the cardamom adds an exotic twist. I buy my cardamom at the Indian grocer near my house, it's much less expensive there. We baked 12 minutes and the cookies set well but were still nice and chewy.

Wow. And I didn't think I was a big ginger snap fan. Perfect texture, and nice spice! Even my 5 year old raved (and I was sure they'd be too ginger-y for her. Yum. Will definitely make this again in the future.

These cookies are simply not good. I love spicy, I love ginger, but these cookies have way too much ginger in them. I agree with the other reviewer that they have a funny aftertaste. I also had to bake them much longer than called for to get them to crisp up. I forgot I made these in the past and didn't like them then either. Disappointing, to say the least.

Great recipe! Makes a crispy-chewy cookie aka the holy grail! I substituted gluten free flour and used pumpkin instead of egg to make a pumpkin spice cookie. It's not pumpkin-y enough for me just yet, but I will keep tinkering. Thank you Alton!

They tasted AMAZING! My brother who's hard to please even said they were 'spectacular'. I told him it was thanks to Alton! Thanks for this recipe :.