- If the weather outside is frightful,
these cookies will be delightful.
Gingersnaps are a richly spiced,
crisp cookie that comes together
so quickly with no chill time.
Hey, you're watching "Preppy Kitchen,"
where I, John Kanell,
teach you how to make delicious homemade dishes
to share with your family and friends.
These gingersnaps will be ready in a snap.
So let's get started.
We're gonna sift two and a half cups or 300 grams
of all purpose flour into a large bowl.
I'm using a scale but if you're using measuring cups,
just sprinkle the flour in and level it off.
Do not pack that flour in.
That's a recipe for disaster.
For leavening,
we're adding two teaspoons of baking soda,
so one and two.
In you go.
Three quarters of a teaspoon of salt.
It'll give a nice balance to these cookies.
And then it's time for the spices.
One teaspoon of cinnamon.
That is always a must for any holiday baking.
And add two teaspoons of ground ginger.
You get a lot of bite on these cookies.
1/2 a teaspoon of clove.
This is a really, really powerful spice and
if you're not a fan, I get it.
Why don't you use 1/2 a teaspoon of allspice instead.
Now cardamom,
it makes a big difference
but you could totally skip it if it's not for you.
Sift it out.
Look at these clumps.
See these clumps?
You don't want those clumps.
Our scale is done.
Thank you very much.
Whisk it up and set it aside.
It's time for our butter, sugar, and molasses.
Into the bowl of my stand mixer fitted
with a paddle attachment,
I'm adding three quarters of a cup
of unsalted room temperature butter
as well as the secret ingredient for this cookie, molasses.
If you like the smell of molasses,
let me know in the comments.
I find it horrific but it does magical things
in baked goods like cookies.
It'll add a lot of depth of flavor.
So one quarter of a cup.
It looks cool but it looks kind
of like something that a villain
in a horror movie would use.
Look at that.
Bah.
Okay, get it all out and to that,
we're gonna be adding three quarters
of a cup of brown sugar.
This adds a lot of caramel flavor as well.
And in case you didn't know,
brown sugar is just regular sugar mixed with molasses.
(chuckling)
It's not like some special, magical sugar.
So we're adding even more of the molasses flavor
by using brown sugar.
Cream it up until it's nice, light, fluffy, and yes,
you probably have to scrape the bowl down.
(mixer whirring)
Let's take a look.
This is a beautiful color and this is the perfect cookie
for your holiday platter.
When we put our decorations up
and I have a big cookie spread out,
this is gonna be one of the stars.
Although I do have several holiday favorites,
so I dunno.
Do I even have a favorite if I have several?
How does that work?
All right,
now it's time to add in one room temperature egg,
large if you can,
and mix it up.
While that's going,
add two teaspoons of a nice vanilla.
Now is when you wanna scrape that bowl down.
You could just keep mixing when you add the flour in,
but you want these cookies to not be tough.
Even if they're crisp,
they're not gonna be tough because the gluten
in the flour will not be activated
because we will not be over mixing.
It's a lot of negatives but it adds up to a positive.
It's time to dump the flour in.
In you go.
And if you watch this channel,
you know I'm a fan of pre-mixing.
So just fold in the flour to your wet ingredients.
It means less mixing,
less flour explosions.
I hate that.
Now mix on low until just combined.
It's almost combined.
And it just combined.
If there is a little bit of flour hanging out,
you can just use your spatula and finish it off by hand.
Just take a look in the bowl.
I can see at the very bottom there's a whole bunch
of this powdery flour nonsense,
so I'm gonna work it in.
The doughs all come together
and there is no chill time for this recipe.
So your oven should be set and heated to 350 already.
I'll add a caret about that
at the very beginning of this video
'cause I didn't mention that.
But we're gonna put this on to our baking sheet
and pop them into the oven.
It's as quick as that.
I'm gonna scoop all my dough out first
then roll it in my clean hands
and finally roll it in some sanding sugar.
The sanding sugar is optional.
You could use regular granulated sugar.
You could use cinnamon sugar.
The nice thing is that you're gonna get a little bit
of crunch and sparkle on the cookie
and it's like a nice,
nice finishing touch.
Okay, they're scooped out.
Roll 'em up.
Doesn't have to be perfect
but it's nice to get kind of a more cohesive shape
with less nooks and crannies.
When you pick up the balls of dough,
you'll feel if one is a bit heavier than the others
and you can just pinch off a little bit
of dough and use it on another cookie.
So unlike a shortbread cookie
or my no-spread sugar cookie recipe,
these will spread out and you just wanna make sure
to give them a little bit of room in between.
I would say around two inches.
This is holiday magic already.
And just like a Russian tea cake,
these are not jaw-wrenchingly sweet cookies.
We only used three quarters of a cup of sugar
for three cups of flour.
So the extra bit of sugar on the edge
will give you a little bit of that initial sweetness
which is really pleasant in a cookie.
If you want your gingersnaps really flat and crisp,
go ahead and gently press down on those dough balls
right before you pop them into the oven.
They'll bake up a little flatter and be a little crisper.
It's time for these cookies to go in
to the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit
for about 12 to 13 minutes.
The edge will be set and the center
will be a little bit soft
and continue to set after baking.
My gingersnaps are out of the oven
and cool enough to touch.
I'm gonna take a bite.
But before I do,
if you like this video,
check out my holiday cookie playlist.
All of my holiday cookies in one playlist for you.
And now it's time for a bite.
Look at this.
Ah.
(chuckling)
It kinda exploded.
It's just screaming holidays.
I can see the trees with snow and all the ornaments
in my mind eating this cookie.
I really hope you get a chance to make this recipe.
If you like my videos,
hit that like button and subscribe
and I'll see you in the next cookie video.