Grandma’s Gingersnap Cookies

As much as I try to avoid sugar (especially when I’m pregnant), sometimes I just can’t help it, and I need something sweet! These are my favorite “healthy” cookies because they are high in iron (thanks to the blackstrap molasses) and made with good ingredients like farm fresh eggs, real butter, and fresh ground flour.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Butter – 2 Sticks (Pastured butter like Kerrygold is the best, organic butter is the next best, and butter without rBST growth hormones works too.)
• ½  cup Sugar (a little less even)
• ½  cup Brown Sugar (a little less even)
• 2 Eggs (Pastured are best.)
• ½ cup Molasses (Blackstrap has the most iron.)
• 3½ cups Fresh Ground Flour
• 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
• ½ teaspoon Real Salt
• 1 Tablespoon Cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon Cloves
• 1 Tablespoon Ginger (I like to use fresh ginger juice made in our juicer.)

Double Recipe:

• 2 cups Butter – 4 Sticks (Pastured butter like Kerrygold is the best, organic butter is the next best, and butter without rBST growth hormones works too.)
• ¾  cup Sugar
• ¾  cup Brown Sugar
• 4+ Eggs (Pastured are best…also, I love throwing an extra egg in my double batch.)
• 1 cup Molasses (Blackstrap has the most iron.)
• 7 cups Fresh Ground Flour
• 2 teaspoons Baking Powder
• 1 teaspoon Real Salt
• 2 Tablespoons Cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons Cloves
• 2 Tablespoons Ginger (I like to use fresh ginger juice made in our juicer.)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350˚F.
2. Mix butter and sugar in a standing mixer for 2-3 minutes on high speed until creamy.
3. Add the molasses and eggs and mix at low to medium speed until smooth and creamy.
4. Use a spatula and transfer to a larger bowl then add the dry ingredients.
5. Roll into balls and roll in sugar.
6. Lay out on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 8 minutes at 350˚F. (It should make 3 full sheets with a little left over.)
7. For a nice flat bottom, lay out on parchment paper to cool. (It absorbs the moisture and helps the cookie to be firm, yet still soft.) *The trick with these cookies is to not overcook them. When you take them out of the oven, you’ll think, “These are too soft, they can’t be done yet,” and yet that’s how you know that they are actually just perfect.

This recipe was passed on to me from my Mom who got it from my Grandma, and my Grandma has always made THE BEST gingersnap cookies. On Christmas, she sends these cookies to her children who live across the country and they wait for them with baited breath. My Grandma came over once and I had her walk me through the process step by step because no matter how closely I followed the recipe, I could never get them to turn out just right. Turns out, the trick was to cook them for 8 minutes instead of the 10 that I had been doing.