Ginger Snaps...without the snap

When Labor Day is over, I move into "autumn" mode. I love everything about the fall season: ginger snaps, pumpkins, scarecrows, caramel covered apples, open windows at night, crickets, the list goes on. A few days ago I had a hankering for ginger snaps...but sometimes these cookies are a bit to crunchy for me so I looked for a ginger cookie recipe that produced a softer cookie...here's one I found:

Supersized Ginger Chewies
Elinor Klivans; BigFatCookies

2 ¼ cups unbleached all purpose flour
2 t. baking soda
¼ t. salt
1 t. ground cinnamon
1 t. ground ginger
½ t. cloves
1 ½ sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
¼ cup molasses
About ¼ cup granulated sugar
(t=teaspoon; T=tablespoon)

Position rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Sift the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and cloves into a medium bowl and set aside. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the butter and brown sugar until smoothly belnded, about 1 minute. Scrape the sides of the mixing bowl as needed. Add the egg and molasses and mix until blended and an even light brown color, about 1 minute. On low speed, add the flour mixture, mixing just to incorporate it.

Spread the granulated sugar on a large piece of waxed paper. Roll ¼ cup of cookie dough between the palms of your hands into a 2 inch ball, roll the ball in sugar and place on one of the prepared baking sheets. Continue making cookies, spacing them 2 inches apart.

Bake the cookies 1 sheet at a time until the tops feel firm but they are still soft in the center and there are several large cracks on the top, about 14 minutes. Cool the cookies on baking sheets for 5 minutes, then use a wide metal spatula to transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

The cookies can be stored in a tightly covered container at room temperature for up to 4 days.

Yield: 14 cookies

The flavor of these cookies was perfect...beyond compare. I substituted half the butter with Fleishmann's margarine as I thought the butter would produce a cookie too thin for my liking. These cookies still turned out very thin, but very soft.



I would like a thicker cookie...the picture in the cookbook shows a much thicker cookie. I wonder if using all margarine would help this? Although I enjoyed the buttery flavor which was discernable even with all the other spicy flavors going on. I'm open to your feedback and suggestions!

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