Chewy, crispy Ginger Snaps with healthy whole grain goodness
Friday, February 4, 2011 at 21:38 You might have noticed the other day, when I posted the recipe of the luscious applesauce/apple compote, that I made mention of how good it would be with some ginger cookies. That comment has stayed with me all week, so that by this afternoon, I couldn’t stand the strain.
Out came the big ol’ Kitchen Aid stand mixer and the various containers of whole grain flours from my dedicated ‘baking cabinet’. A place of many wonders.
This is so damn good. I was talking to my beautiful step-daughter ( she calls while on her commute homeward to Marin County from the South Bay - hands free, of course) on the speaker phone, as I whipped these up. Yes, our conversations can go on and on and on.
By the time I had them out of the oven and onto the cooling racks, she was starting to sound a little sad, hungry and whiney …. “You’ll probably need some cold milk to go with those…” Sniff. I was picking at the crispy parts that fell off of one and making ooh-y, goo-goo-y, lovey sounds.
“Oh, jeeze, Ronda! That’s right!”
Yup. Cold milk and warm ginger snaps. Chewy. Yet crispy. With just that sweet intersection between the perfect notes of coffee, chocolate and sweet ginger. These ‘snaps’ are almost on the savory side, not too sweet. They would make the perfect finish to a meal.
Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Now start your engines!
Makes about 30 cookies
You will need a total of 3 cups plus 2 tablespoons of *’flour’. In Maven’s World that meant:
1/4 cup each of spelt, kamut, barley and millet flour
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons of finely ground cornmeal
1-1/2 cups of whole wheat flour
3 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder. Maven happened to have some Dominican Republic drinking chocolate in the cupboard, so guess what she used.
2-1/2 teaspoons of ground ginger. Make sure it isn’t ground ginger that’s been in the cupboard for the last year and is stale.
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of cloves
1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon of salt, preferably sea salt
1/3 cup of dark raisins - pulsed in a food processor to a paste
1 cup butter. I used one stick of regular butter (since that was handy in the fridge) plus 1/2 cup of Land O’Lakes spreadable butter with canola oil. Don’t use a butter spread with water in it.
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup blackstrap molasses
2 teaspoons of baking soda, dissolved in 1 tablespoon of boiling water
1/3 cup granulated sugar (you’ll roll the balls of cookie dough in this before baking)
Sift the flour(s), cocoa powder, salt and spices together in the bowl of an electric mixer. A stand mixer is great for this, since you will have a stiff dough. Put the butter, brown sugar, and raisin paste in and mix using the whisk attachment. Beat on medium speed until fluffy. Beat in the molasses.
Add the baking soda mixture and beat thoroughly. Remove the dough from the mixing bowl, shape it into two rounds, which you’ll wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.
Prepare at least two baking sheets with parchment paper. I have a European convection oven which will take up to five cookie sheets. Shape the dough into 1/2 inch balls, roll them in the granulated sugar, and place them about two inches apart on the baking sheets. These cookies spread. I use a small ice cream scoop - the kind with the thumb lever to release the ball - to portion the dough.
Bake until the surfaces crack slightly, about 10 to 12 minutes. If you want a crisper cookie, bake a minute or so longer. When you remove them from the oven, they’ll be really soft so don’t try and put them directly onto the cooling racks. Let them sit for about five minutes, then take a spatula or fish turner to slip them onto the wire cooling racks. Let them really cool to firm up and become crispy.
Enjoy with cold milk.
They will keep, stored in an airtight container, up to 3 days.
You might think that you’d just gobble these things down, but because they are so packed with whole grains, I find that a couple ‘do it for me’. That’s the beauty of whole grains. They fill you up and keep you full (without the blood sugar spikes) - which is one reason they’re so great for controlling your weight. Plus, in using so many of these different grains, I think the whole is greater than the sum of the parts - so to speak. You’re getting the benefit of the micro-nutrients from all these different grains.
*Obviously, I hope, you realize that you can simply use all-purpose flour. You can also use just whole wheat flour, too. I keep canisters - large and small - of these flours in my baking cupboard. I love millet, corn meal and barley in things like these cookies - since they add a subtle savory sweetness. The barley flour adds a neat texture and loads of protein. You could also use oat flour, brown rice flour, sweet potato flour (hey, that might be really neat!) … experiment!
-maven
cookies, ginger, gingersnaps, whole grains, whole wheat in Light & Healthy, food, recipes, techniques 
