Ginger Snaps
Awaiting Trial Recipe version 1 · Filed by the Court (seed pool) · Adapted from 'Ginger Snaps' — The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book by Fannie Merritt Farmer, 1910 edition as read on Wikisource / Project Gutenberg eBook #65061 (public domain) (Ch. XXX, Gingerbreads, Cookies, and Wafers). Measures and oven temperatures modernized. Conversion: the original's 3 1/4 cups flour (406 g) are swapped straight for a gum-containing 1:1 blend at the same weight (USDA basis 125 g/cup); no other change. The flour amount is above the ≤2-cup easy-conversion preference, but cookies are the rule base's HIGH-confidence straight-swap category and the dough carries no egg or milk to complicate the swap. Farmer's Molasses Cookies, which she directs to 'proceed as for Ginger Snaps,' were not filed separately (see yields).
Molasses heated to boiling and poured over shortening, with flour, soda, ginger, and salt. The dough is chilled hard, rolled as thin as possible, and cut small — Farmer's whole method is aimed at snap, and she warns that extra flour in rolling makes the cookies hard rather than crisp and short.
Why this complexity: Dough is rolled as thinly as possible, in small portions; Dough must be kept cold throughout rolling.
Ingredients
- 406 g gluten-free 1:1 baking blend (with gum) (about 3 1/4 cups), plus a little more for the board, for the original 3 1/4 cups flour (406 g, USDA basis 125 g/cup)
- 1 cup molasses
- 1/2 cup shortening
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 tablespoon ground ginger
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
Method
- Heat the molasses to the boiling point and pour it over the shortening. Stir until the shortening is melted.
- Add the blend, soda, ginger, and salt, mixed and sifted. Mix to a firm dough.
- Chill thoroughly, at least 1 hour; keep the bowl of dough in a cold place while you work.
- Heat the oven to 350°F (a moderate oven). Take one-fourth of the dough at a time, roll as thinly as possible on a board dusted lightly with blend, and cut with a small round cutter dipped in blend.
- Place close together on buttered sheets and make 7 to 9 minutes, until firm and crisp. Gather the trimmings and roll with the next portion.
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