We made these soft gingersnaps quite often while I was growing up. While they may not look that exciting, these cookies have a great flavor and texture. They are perfect to round out a winter cookie tray with our Snowballs and Coconut Date Balls.

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To make it easy to get the gingersnaps all the same size, I use a cookie scoop to portion out the dough before rolling it into balls. Also, these cookies don’t spread out too much on their own, so be sure to flatten them to the desired thickness before baking.

If you like your gingersnaps to be on the crispier side, you can cook these an extra minute or two until they are just starting to brown. They will harden up quite a bit as they cool, so it’s easy to overdo it. If that happens, add a piece of white sandwich bread to your cookie jar to soften them up a little.

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Soft Gingersnaps

Makes 6 dozen cookies.

Ingredients

• 4 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons cloves
• 2 teaspoons ginger
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable shortening
• 1 cup sugar, plus more for rolling
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup molasses

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350◦ and grease two rimmed baking sheets with nonstick cooking spray.  
• Whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and ginger in a large bowl.
• Using an electric mixer on medium speed beat the shortening and sugar together, scraping down the sides as needed.  Add the eggs and then the molasses, beating and scraping down the sides after each addition. 
• Add the dry ingredients to the shortening mixture and beat on the lowest speed until fully incorporated.  
• Shape the dough into approximately 1-inch balls, then roll in sugar to coat.  Place 2-inches apart on the baking sheets.  (You should be able to fit about 24 to a pan.)  Using the bottom of a glass or other flat surface, flatten the balls into small disks.
• Bake until the cookies are puffed up and just set but haven’t started to brown yet, about 8-9 minutes.   Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for 2 minutes, then use a thin spatula to move them to a wire rack to fully cool. 
• While the first sheet is baking, roll the balls for the second sheet, then repeat with the original sheet for the final cookies.